What counts as a really high value treat?

[GameofPhones]

The problem is my dog is very small, with small mouth. He's adult (recently adopted) but puppy sized. I've been using pieces of grated cheese, which he likes, but is now used to. I'd like to use something higher value to train him out of reactivity.

Never seen a reaction like to hot dog sausages

Thanks for that - I had no idea. I picked it up as an idea at Puppy Training Classes where one wee dog was getting Roquefort as a high value treat.

I have a chi, and we use small bits of dehydrated liver, or slivers cut from a frankfurter.

Our recall training really improved when I had those cheapo Tesco beef strips that you can break little bits off, pesky mutt likes them better than my lovingly prepared homemade liver cake that has every other dog in the park at my feet!!! 😂

To those feeding their dogs stilton and Roquefort!

No, dogs cannot have blue cheese because it contains a substance called roquefortine C, produced by the fungus used to make blue cheese, which can be toxic to dogs.

Guess anything which works for that individual dog - mine is so food orientated she would do any thing for anything. I could use a pea as a high value treat and she'd go crazy - even a sprout. 😁

Noooo, please don't give your dog stilton. It's really not good for them due to the fungus in the mold. My dog loves it too (he pinched some once) but they really shouldn't have it regularly.

You can't train out reactivity. It's a conditioned emotional response.
You need to find out the reason for the reactivity and work towards conditioning an emotional response which will make the stimulus pleasing.

This is a behaviour issue not a training issue

Just using high value treats aren't going to work

Lots of good suggestions on treats here, but it sort of doesn't matter unless you've got a really good understanding of why your dog's reacting. Is he frightened? Or is he highly aroused? Is he reacting to everything, or (for example) just entire males? Is he neutered? All of that will feed in to how you try to deal with it.

I'm seeing a behaviourist at the moment for my own boy's nobheadery and the main thing that's made the difference is not putting him in positions where he's likely to react. Our lives are quite different to how they were a few months ago, but he's much calmer and coping much better when we do encounter triggers (for the most part). I save super-high-value treats for recall and for husbandry sorts of things, and for when he's learning new stuff.

He's been confined to house and yards for the month I've had him, due to vaccination quarantine, so I don't yet know all his triggers. But they definitely include dogs passing by, and some people passing by (interestingly not all). Also a big pigeon that's sometimes around the yard. He's very scared of big dogs. I was thinking of giving a high value treat whenever a dog passes by, to try to train him out of barking (sometimes screaming) at them. Obviously, once outside, I will be giving other dogs a wide berth anyway.

For my dog it’s primula squeeze cheese

Chicken. Cheese. Sausage (hot dog/cocktail). JR Pet Pate is like crack for most dogs and is also high quality being pure meat. Tesco Meaty strips cut up small. Be sparing, use common sense (cheese is fatty, hotdog is salty and full of shite - moderation is key) and introduce new food gradually. Liver/sardine cake.

Experiment. Some dogs love fruit/veg. I’ve had dogs in class who will
do anything for carrot/green beans. .

If I gave my eldest labrador sausage in any form, he'd be in the garden eating grass at 3am with runny poo.

Yet the other labrador can and does eat dead rabbit/pheasant/poo without any stomach issues at all.

I used to take carrot chunks for training. And a massive carrot in my pocket to get them out of the river if we needed to go home. Shout 'carrot' in a sing song voice and wave the giant orange stick in the air. Both dogs would run like the wind for that carrot which they'd get once back onlead!

Behaviour is emotional
Training is physical

Behaviourists deal with things like fear, anxiety, arousal etc

Trainers deal with physical teaching. Sit, down, recall etc

I would see a registered behaviourist, your vet will have one they can recommend.

You need to be careful as it's quite easy to accidentally reward them for barking; and in any case, without knowing why he's doing it, you might not be doing the right thing. If you talk to your vet, they should be able to refer you to a behaviourist, and it'll be covered by your insurance. In the meantime, management - I try to always sit with my boy if he's looking out of the window, but if he's being a barky horror, we sit somewhere else. Another option is translucent film over the window so he can't see things to bark at.

But good treatos will be really useful anyway so it's a great thread to start!

Liver. I used to bake it and cut into small pieces then freeze so I could take some out each day.
Tiny pieces of strong cheddar.
Hot dog sausages
dried sprats (can cut them up with scissors to required size)

Well I got some of the little liver 'aspirins' and some smelly fish treats. My little dog could smell them straight away before the Amazon package was open, and still scrabbling at the package after I'd taken the treats out (and hidden them). Looks as if they might work! So thanks for these suggestions.

Mine loves all food!

Training out of lead reactivity is hard. Mine likes other dogs off lead but barks and lunges on lead if he sees one. He got attacked by a German Shepherd when he was young and I think in his case neutering made him more anxious.