In starting to train our 4-month-old puppy we gave him several different kinds of treats. But he has not shown any interest in any of them. He wouldn't even eat lamb puff, but seems to get quite affected and over-excited by it. Wonder if anyone has any experience to share?
Hi Leo, and welcome to the forum. Unless your puppy is fed raw, you can just use his normal puppy food as training treats, and deduct what you use in training from his meal allowance.
Perhaps he isn't hungry enough to be interested in the treats? How are you attempting to give him the treats, does he understand why?
You could try cheese and maybe some turkey or chicken. Some dogs are picky, mine are and it took awhile to find what motivates them. Or peanut butter flavored soft training bites.
Biting is a normal behavior for puppies and it rarely causes harm, however, it is very important that this behavior is stopped before your dog reaches adulthood. As you probably know, at that stage a bite could inflict some serious injury. However, you should not expect this to be eliminated overnight. As soon as your puppy starts to bite, you should give a loud, yelping OUCH! Glare at the pup, get up and move away. That's how I did it with my Lab Bobby. What do you guys think?
Bailey was not interested in treats when we first brought her home at 4 months old. It was hard to train her with no interest in treats so I know where you are coming from. She did have some stomach issues that we medicated and got rid of but she still does not have a "Lab Appetite" and it is hard to get her to finish her food. We are using all dry and try for 1.5 cups twice a day. Some days she finishes and some she doesn't but it is more of a grazing. We were using kibble, her regular dog food (Blue Buffalo) as treats and she would eat them but was not excited. For some reason last week she became really interested in treats. We are now using a mix of dental sticks that have been broken up and some kind of Duck treat that my wife picked up and she is really loving them and it has helped with training. Try a variety of kinds and flavors. I am thinking about making some goose jerky in-house for her. Has anyone done this?
I would just move away or leave the room. I wouldn't go ouch or yelp as some dogs find this really exciting and would be spurred on to more over excitment and mouthing.
