Hi all, We have now survived almost 2 weeks with our new pup (Rory the Fox Red Labrador) and, after managing to finally get to our own bed last night for a full nights sleep (11-6:45) are feeling some rays of positivity! My question today is around feeding... I read regularly that free-feeding is a bad idea (not that it would work with a lab anyhow, given the voracious appetite!), as it is better to feed at set mealtimes in order to regulate your pups "movements". However, when I look into pretty much ANY item of training or behavior management that we would like to work on, the solution always involves food/training treats (taken from their daily ration). For instance, the items I am thinking about are: basic recall training in the garden (use high value rewards); teach to be alone (use stuffed frozen kong); eradicate onset of whining (click and treat for silence); socialization trips (use treats to create positive associations). So, do you not almost naturally end up with a situation wherein the pup is being almost constantly fed throughout the day and having very small meals at mealtimes? Does this cause any issues? As ever, thanks for your invaluable help! Pete
I’m playing with my dogs’ food at the moment, so what I’m about to say doesn’t hold true right now, but has previously and will do again shortly... My lot (3 Labs) get very little food in their bowls. They get the vast majority of their food as training treats spread throughout the day, or as enrichment. For example, frozen kongs, snuffle mats, treats hidden around the room for them to hunt out etc. I have no problems with regularity; they all have their schedules of when they poo. My youngster regularly needs to poo in the night still, but that’s whether she has meals or not - and something I can address easily now summer is here. As the dogs get older, you can certainly start using environmental rewards more rather than food in many cases (eg once the dog understands that waiting when the door opens means he gets to go through, the “going through” becomes the reward, but it’s easiest to train with treats at first) but if you continue to train new behaviours with your dog throughout his life, treat rewards will likely always be a part of that, as it’s the most convenient way of rewarding. And, also for keeping existing behaviours topped up; my dogs have good recall but I regularly play recall games with them which involve food so that the recall stays strong. Food given in a bowl is very convenient to us humans but each piece of kibble (or whatever you’re using) is an opportunity to build strong behaviours, relationship and enrichment for your dog, so it is rather a waste to just plonk it down in front of him. It can sound mean asking your dog to “work” for his food, but, believe me, they love it! My dogs’ favourite times of the day are when we’re playing our games.
Hi Snowbunny, That you for your really helpful response! It didn't take long for us to notice that our little Labrador already had the ability to wolf down a meal placed in his bowl in around 30 seconds (for some reason I thought that perhaps this was something that Labradors would "grow into", but alas...), and so we have actually already moved to barely using the bowl and instead using many of the ideas you have expressed in your post at meal time. so far we have tried scatter feeding, food hidden within toys (or towels, or squashed kitchen roll tubes...), little piles hidden around the room to find, using meals to create positive association with his crate, etc. I guess the major difference is that we have been doing this in a solid block such that the whole allocation of food for that meal is used during a 15-20 minute session of this kind of fun, three times per day. However, I have noticed that he is not very "trainable" (within the bounds of his own demonstrated abilities, as a 9 week old pup!) at these times as he is simply too hyped up to focus. It like the food itself is acting as the kind of distraction that we should be avoiding for training. So what I am hearing is that there would be absolutely no negative outcome to reducing the amount of food given at these mealtimes and really spreading the rest across the day to facilitate training, games, kongs for practices being alone, etc. That is really good news to hear! Thanks again Pete
Hi @RedRory , I'm not a very experienced trainer, Cassie is the first dog that I've trained using positive reinforcement. When she was tiny I followed Pippa's advice about training with food and how to do so so that they learn "food manners", I found it in the Labrador Handbook, but I think it's on the main site too. I'm really glad that I did that. Rory looks like the most beautiful puppy ....hmmm, and for my next dog....
My boy needs to not be hungry when he trains, as it makes him a bit frantic trying to work out how to get the food. He’s a real ball of energy anyway, but being hungry makes it worse. So in that case, I’d do some scatter feeding, give him a kong or use a snuffle mat to lower his arousal and fill his tummy a bit before entering into a training scenario.
