Bribery Fears And Food Worries

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So many people worry that they're bribing their dogs, first of all. And secondly, they also worry that they may always have to do this.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Yes. What are your thoughts? Oh you you've hit a topic that I'm really passionate about.

Everyday Training Uses For Food

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sext in a Squirrel podcast. I'm Lauren Langman. I'm one of the world's leading dog trainers, and it's my mission to help owners become their dog's top priority. In each episode, you'll discover how to gain trust and communicate with your dog like never before, creating unbreakable bonds that make you the most exciting part of their world. Okay, so every piece of food has a purpose and really redesigning the way we think about feeding our dogs. Now, Michelle, you're joining me today and you see lots of owners from the ground up, from the grassroots, right from the very, very beginning of their journey. And so many people worry that they're bribing their dogs, first of all. And secondly, they also worry that they may always have to do this.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Yes. What are your thoughts? Oh, you're you've hit a topic that I'm really passionate about. They're also worried that they're gonna have a dog that's gonna pester them for food all the time if they use food. And it's one of the biggest challenges as a trainer that I have, where people just they they're oh my god, I always have to use food. Why am I using food? And my best analogy, I love a good analogy, is I don't work for free. I get a paycheck at the end of the month. So the dogs all have different reinforcements, and food is probably one of the easiest ways that you can communicate to your dog that they're doing what you want them to do.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

So some basics that we might use food for. Let's just do a little bit of like tips, tennis. And I'm gonna say recall. I reward my dog all the time for proximity to me. So when I'm out on a walk, I walked seven dogs earlier, uh, and it was really enjoyable. And the thing I find really enjoyable about it compared to like five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten years ago, is my dogs all want to hang out close. Yeah, they all like being close, they're all close to me. It's such a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Yes, relationship. Exactly, relationship. What would one of yours be? We were talking earlier about vehicles. Every time my dogs go in the vehicle, they get a few little bits of food because I want it to be a positive experience for them. I want them to feel safe and comfortable and happy. And that's a nice way for me to communicate to them that you're going into somewhere that's good.

Moving Dogs Without Chasing Them

SPEAKER_00 2:26

When I was out and about with Skittles this weekend and we were hanging out in cities and doing a bit of a city break, I reward a lot for loose lead walking because loose lead walking I feel needs paying in the bank for her, especially seeing as she discovered something we've not discovered before. Uh-oh. Pigeons. You know what? We just don't see pigeons here, or at least not at that scale. And so at every opportunity, she was like her little head was like bubbling over. And every corner had at least 25 pigeons sat in it or on it or round it or through it. And so I definitely could see a different dogging her around all pigeons. So every piece of food mattered because really, if I didn't, then by the end of the day, I wouldn't have any left or any dog brain left. So for me, loose lead walking, go on. Another one of yours that might be good for where your food matters.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

So for me, where I live, I live, there's people with dogs all around my garden. And I've got two, a lovely neighbor, she's got beagles, and the beagles are a bit loud. One of my dogs doesn't really like that. So she gets food when she goes in the garden. So I might scatter feed it, she might get something to chew on. So I make sure that instead of her running up the fence line and barking with the beagle, she's just chilling out and hanging out in the garden. And it's a non-event for her. That's none of her business. She doesn't have to worry about it.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Nice. Another one that I'm going to say I use my dog's food for is I use my dog's food for medications. So actually, Brave has medications. So I often mix her food with medications in my hand or because she'll take a capsule in my hand with food medications. But actually, and Brave, for those people that don't know, she's got spinal conditions, she has nerve pain, she's on gavapentin and she's on painkillers. And so for her, that's just the norm and it has been for a long time. But both of them are to be taken with food. So I actually use her food cleverly and during games, but then I often mix a little tablet and she never ever notices. Go on, last one from you, and then last one from me. One other way you might think every piece of food matters. I'm going to use my food in this way. Visitors.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

So people coming to the house, people coming into the training center. So if anybody walks through the door, whether it's the house or we're training in the arena here, uh, the dogs get food.

Calm Homes Through Noise Pairing

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Now Alison with Luna might be listening. Alison with Luna was training when I went into the arena and I went into the arena to grab a box. Chris then went behind me to grab another box, and Marnie went behind him to grab another box. All three within about 15 minutes. I was in the side room at the time. And every time that little dog barked, and so it shows that that just isn't how everybody thinks. For me, I'm the same. If anyone knocks on the door, says hello, walks in, I feed the dog, I feed the dog, I feed the dog, I tell the dog it's okay, it's nothing to worry about, it's not something that you need to concern yourself with. And it's absolutely visitors or strangers or stranger danger, it's something to work on. Now, one last thing, and this one for me, in a multi-dog household, is multi-dog gold in terms of how I use my food. And that is just actually moving my dogs for me to be. Yes. So I might move, and I'll give you an example of 10 movements in my house in a short period of time. I've got a crate in my doorway, it's a greeny crate, like a turquoise colour. I would move Skittle from the crate to the gravel sort of area next to my house where she can go out for a quick wee, come in dry, mud-free. I'm a big advocate of mud-free. So mud is not my friend. My second movement might be Katie from her pen, she's got a big puppy pen to the main garden. My third movement might be Skittle from the corridor into the main garden. My fourth movement might be from the gravel to have your feet dried. My fifth movement might be from the laundry area out to the corridor to a towel. My sixth area might be from the main courtyard into the glass room because we've got a side room, it's I always call it the glassroom. My seventh movement might be from the glass room out to the courtyard and to have a coat on. My eighth movement might be lead collar, harness on, ready for a walk. My ninth movement might be to the vehicle, and my tenth movement might be from back from the vehicle, back to the house again. So that all of those are movements, all of those movements I reinforce my dog for. And that means that I'm never trying to catch my dog. I'm never trying to grab my dog. I'm never trying to like get hold of them to put their collar on or their lead on or the coat on or their harness on or any of that stuff. They want to come. Yeah. They want to be close. They want to hang out because I feel my pockets before I go anywhere. And those people who think, Oh, you're bribing them. No, I'm rewarding them for what I want. And I don't feel, I don't feel the stress I used to feel like chasing them where they would annoy me. Like if they did, it would annoy me and be like, for God's sake, I am chasing my dog. And if you've ever had a cockespaniel, they're fast. Yes. And they're infuriating. Hurting them from the garden was addressing it. Wake up to it. Is it was a Mexican guy thrilled? I said, Is the coca spaniel like the border collie? And I messaged him back and I said, No. And he said, What do you mean? I said, they are completely different. They couldn't be any more opposite. He said, Is it like a collie to train? I said, no. He said, What is it like? I said, a gun dog. He said, What does that mean? I was like, Have you never trained a gun dog? He's like, No. I said, Well, you need to get over here and train them. They come here and have a holiday. I'll show you gun dogs and you want to train like cockespaniels, I'll give you a cockespaniel to train. But they're so different, they're so whizzy. Yes. And they are also very opinionated in their own direction and they've got no eye and they know no stalk and no herding, but very different dogs. And so for me, it's really important that we acknowledge that to train the dog in front of us. Like for my dogs, the spaniels want to get in the vehicle, whereas the collies don't want to get in the vehicle. So I want to reward the vehicle a lot for the collie's, whereas the collie's don't necessarily want to have the lead put on, and the spaniels are just going to knock you out when you put the lead on. So give you a black eye when you put the lead on. So they're also different. The big thing for me is you need to be educated in the dog in front of you. So use the food appropriately for that dog struggles. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

The garden example, it's a collie. Put the collie in the garden, she gets scatterfed, so she's not running the fence with the beagles. I absolutely do not scatter feed the spaniels. There's just not enough of it. No, well, they they don't need help to learn how to sniff. Nope. So the spaniels get fed from a hand. And if they go out in the garden and the beagle's barking, I go out with them. Yeah. And I'm rewarding them for focusing on me.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

All the time, train the dog in front of you. So all the time train the dog in front of you. Okay, so every piece of food has a purpose. What else do you have to say, Michelle? So it's how I get a calm household.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

So I've got multi-dog household as well. I've got wheezy spaniels, I've got collies that can be very reactive to noise. I live in a surrounded by houses, lots of activity, kids around me. And your neighbours always love.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Is that right?

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Yeah, they love dogs.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

You can't see the sarcasm here. But I think both Michelle and I have similar neighbours. My neighbours are actually a long way away, but they seem to like to be in your business. And so they would certainly be the types of people who would um dislike noise. So we both manage noise quite intensely. And but for me, the noise is byproduct of often a dog, a household who's chaotic. So actually, the more I can keep calm, which is what Michelle Michelle's saying here, the better. Michelle lives much more sort of city or rural, like not as rural as us, and therefore your neighbors are in closer proximity, similar tendencies on neighbours, but the intensity is higher because they're the closer, yes, and the closer proximity is there. So how do you use your ditch, the bowl, and your food for calmness and promoting calmness? And why is that important when you've got your neighbor so close?

SPEAKER_01 9:37

So I've always got something prepped in the freezer. So I've got filled Kongs, I've got filled tracheas, lick mats, basically calming activities and then the use of spaces in the house. And as you do, I move the dogs using food. So there's a radio playing, one of the colleagues might be having a filled Kong in their crate while the neighbor's kids are playing outside screaming and yelling. It just is being smart with what I've got at my disposal and making sure the dogs are content and happy. I if there's a noise outside, this morning it was recycling day. So the second I heard the bin men and the beeping, loud recycling truck, and they're dumping stuff and there's lots of clattering. Every time there is a noise, the dog's got food.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

So immediately there's a positive pairing. If there's a noise outside, a loud bang, food appears. And before long, they put it start associating noises like that. Instead of barking at it as a threat, there's something good that happens every time there's a noise, and it's food.

Cooperative Care For Grooming And Vets

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yeah, yeah. And that's just part of their daily, daily like rituals and daily food they get. My dogs similarly go in the garden often next door to other neighbours on site. And so again, it's just managing noise around other dogs. So the food is such a good way of building calmness during your everyday. Now, another thing I know we both use food for is cooperative care. What do we mean by cooperative care? And how do you use food with a dog like River, for example, to actually build that? And why does she need it? Because she's not hairy, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Oh, so I've got Spaniels. She is, I don't know what is up with her, but she collects twigs, leaves. She's got mats in her coat. I blink and she's got something that I've got to fix with her coat. She just, the others are easy, they're low, low maintenance, but her coat takes quite a bit of work. And it just is the nature of the hair. It's baby hair. So cooperative care, we use food to make it a positive experience. And I always want to know that she's okay with what I'm doing. So one of the games that that we'll do is she plays dead. So she lays flat on the floor, pops some food in front of her. As long as she lays flat, I can lift up her elbows. Favorite spot for a knot is right under here. So under her elbow, I can lift up, I can sort of comb it out, take a bit of some scissors and trim the little bit of knot that always builds up in there. If she lifts her head or moves, I know that she's not okay with it. And if she stays still and lets me do it, she gets a piece of food from the floor.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

So easy. So nice. And in terms of um a dog like River, how has that helped with you being able to groom her or handle her? Or why does that actually help with cooperative care? Oh, Spaniels are wriggly.

Offers, Trials, And Closing Requests

SPEAKER_01 12:04

So if I didn't have that, if I wasn't able to use the food, and we're playing a game called Mousetrap, basically.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

So games-wise, guys, if you haven't already, the One Pound Games Club trial is on. Jump in and grab your one pound games club trial. Because for the one pound trial, you get a lot, right, Michelle?

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Oh, you get all the games, access to everything. So stop barking, 10 days to separation, anxiety.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Stop and jumping. Like there is a mega suite, and it's all for a pound. There's a one pound trial, jump in and grab it. But go on, carry on. I really interrupted you.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

That's okay, but mouse trap's one of the games. So and it's in there a whole track of mousetrap. With every iteration of how you can use it. So the food's in front of her, she's lying flat on the floor. If I didn't have that skill to be able to lift her elbow up and trim under here with a pair of scissors, I'd be like, I don't know what it would be like. Could you imagine trying to hold a wriggly dog?

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Well, I had I had a scenario the other week that one of our students, I was really sad actually, lovely Sophie, um, had her dog sedated to be able to just take some leg hair. Oh wow. Like really, I just feel like that's so trainable in a dog like that. It's a trainable dog. The other thing I was going to add, I was vet checked yesterday, so I had to have a vet check for a big major competition I was at. And the major competition competition, it's a prestigious event, it's televised. They don't want any dog to go out there on television and and showcase poor health or as under as we would understand. And so anyway, when I was having a vet check with a dog who's people reactive, dog reactive, nervous in environment, all I did was got the chin target. They just lifted one leg, lifted the other leg, and they kind of said, Oh my god, I wish every dog was like this to handle. And this is a nervous dog, a dog who's dog reactive, a dog who's people reactive, a dog who doesn't like scenarios, and yet there she is, head on, like headrest, lifting leg, lifting leg, lifting other leg, lifting back leg, like just amazing and incredible.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

I forgot about what happened with Ripper earlier in the year, uh, because it really wasn't that big of an event, but it potentially could have been. She we took her to the secure field, she had a great afternoon running around. A couple days later, I think she stuck her nose absolutely where it didn't belong, but it got infected and she had a big sore going down the bridge of her nose. So took her to the vet, and the vets are brilliant, they use food. We've got an amazing vet.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

We have an amazing vet. That's another thing, guys. Train your vet, but also take your food to your vet and make it part of your vet trip.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

And the vet was brilliant. River lay on the ground, she put her chin on the ground and rested it there, and the vet was able to really have a good look at it and make sure, first of all, that was clean and make sure there was nothing else going on, and apply some cream to it, some antibiotic and antifungal cream. And river allowed her to do it. She was rewarded with food and it made the whole process so seamless and easy. It was absolutely amazing. And it that it probably hurt. It was probably itchy, sore, maybe even stingy.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Yep, couldn't have been comfortable. So if we haven't convinced you already, every single piece of food matters. Every single piece of food counts. And the best part is you can do the same with your dog. If you haven't already, like Michelle said, jump in on the One Pound Games Club trial because the games matter. Absolutely. And there are so many cool games. And then secondly, someone could even do a one-to-one, right, Michelle? Do you do like an intro one-to-one? So come and train with us, have an introduction.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

So if you're a new customer, then we've got an offer where you get you pay 20 pounds and you can have an hour call.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

All to yourself. Yeah. All to yourself. Anywhere in the world, we've had Singapore, Barbados, uh, Bermuda, we've had Australia, New Zealand, America, and from Florida to Chicago to Texas to New York City. Yep. Really, you you name it formal. Like literally, we've had everyone, absolutely, everyone in the house. So, guys, make an amazing rest of your day, whether it's morning or evening or afternoon. For me, all time are PJ time right now, because you know what? I just feel I've had I've I've had a full-on week. But you guys, you're amazing. You're rock stars. We love having you here. Share the podcast. And if you haven't already, we'd really appreciate if you rated it and made sure that you made yourself a bit of a follower. Be part of what we do and keep changing the world game by game, day by day.