# how to train toy poodle who isn't food motivated?!



## Cindy12 (Mar 30, 2020)

I would love your input. I've spent several months learning dog training techniques, and now I have a toy poodle who doesn't care about food. I seriously don't know how to go about training a pup that is not food motivated. Also, she eats so little that any training would be over in about 1 minute, which is how long it takes her to get full and reject food -- I've even tried high-value foods like hot dogs and cheese and ham. She'll eat a little and just is done. She seems to thrive on praise and cuddles, but how do I clicker train with praise? Maybe I'm trying to do too much at once? She's only 10 weeks old and we've had her about 6 days. Any light you can shed would be greatly appreciated. 

Attached is a photo of our little sweetie.


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## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

Hi welcome to toy poodle ownership and tiny tummies.
Training sessions should be short and successful, use the puppy's food as treats.

I have always and means always have trained my toy puppies on praise alone, never used a clicker, and use a quiet happy voice. 

I know horrid, awful but I trained my dogs to able to walk and generally behave around and listen to my elderly mother who would not ever have treats. 

Yes praise only can work just takes longer.

Honedtly I think you are expecting too much, too soon.

Patience it will come.

Your pup is new

I usually think of pups as they are learning English because they have no idea what you are saying or even wanting because even miming what you want ... well you get the point.

It just takes time


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

She’s an infant.  I wouldn’t even be thinking about that just yet. But @Phaz23 may have some good tips for you.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

One minute is probably about the right length of a formal training session for a pup that age, but the key to future training is to use what she finds rewarding - play, praise, toys, tug, cuddles, food, whatever. Food is easy and most dogs will work for it, but it is far from the only reward.


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## Darling Darla (Sep 20, 2020)

She is adorable. Still way too young for any real training. Her attention span is short. Concentrate on recall and the sit.


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## Phaz23 (May 31, 2020)

PeggyTheParti said:


> She’s an infant.  I wouldn’t even be thinking about that just yet. But @Phaz23 may have some good tips for you.


Oh yes I had/have this little problem with Tekno. He is very fickle and fills up quickly, I had to help expand his palette by offering him little pieces of new food daily and also sometimes pairing so-so foods with things he loved like cheese. In training Tekno really likes earning his food and is more likely to take it when my energy is up and I throw it out to the side of him to activate his prey drive to chase. He also is highly toy motivated. I bought some furry, dangly, “high-value” toys from cleanrun.com and I only use them while training. One of his highest value rewards is tugging and playing fetch. I also have to respectfully disagree that 10 weeks old is too young for serious training, puppies are incredible at learning just like babies and pick up new things MUCH faster than older dogs. I think it’s a perfect time to introduce as many enrichment skills as you can. A couple of programs I highly recommend are Susan Garret’s Recallers, Home School the Dog, and CrateGames; also Fenzi’s Baby Geniuses class, and Mad Cap University’s free Puppy Course. I think overall make sure training is indistinguishable from playing and that it moves between play to learning fluidly. That will keep the energy and reward of training up.


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## Phaz23 (May 31, 2020)

This is also an awesome book for puppy enrichment and training, The Focused Puppy









Clean Run Focused Puppy


This book integrates the authors’ FOCUS (Fun, Obedience, Consistency, Unbelievable Success) Training System techniques with the developmental stages and specific needs of pups and young dogs. The goal is to help you prepare your puppy to become an excellent companion as well as a potential...




www.cleanrun.com


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

She’s gorgeous. I have an adult silver minipoo and a new apricot minipoo puppy.

I brought my minipoo puppy home at 10 weeks and he didn’t seem to be food focused either. Not only that but I could only get him to eat from my hands which is a good thing. I want my dog focused on me and feeding from my hand in the beginning helps that process. They quickly learn to eat from a bowl when they settle down and are a little older. 

Like Phaz, I disagree, this is the perfect age to start training in teeny tiny doses through the day. I find my puppy has the attention span of a gnat but he’s getting better with age. I do several sessions a day for very short periods and I end before my puppy loses interest and wanders off. If your pup does a few sits and then wanders over to a toy, you probably did one sit too many so watch your puppy to gauge how attentive she is and always end on a good note. 

I use my puppies food in training. He came home on kibble and barely ate any. I thought, oh no, I’ve got a picky poodle. Turns out I expected him to eat too much and he needed something added to the kibble. I added FreshPet puppy food which has the texture of pate. I cut it up small pieces and smush it into the kibble which made him more interested in eating. I cut it into tiny squares for treats. I like to use puppy food instead of random treats in the house because they eat so little that I want it all to be good nutrition. Outside the house and in class I use high value treats like chicken, peanut butter (lick off my finger) etc. I use teeny tiny treats and for a tpoo they will be tiny, smaller than a pea. Right now he eats and trains with a small portion of his food but as his attention span increases my goal is to use all his food in training. 

I incorporate toys and praise along with treats. Tug toys, squeaker toys and balls are great. To encourage my dog to walk close to me in a loose heeling pattern I dangle toys then play tug as an example. 

Click is an accredited clicker trainer so I hope she joins in. I click and treat..... if a cuddle or praise is her reward... then click and cuddle or click and praise. The click marks that the dog performed the behavior correctly and you follow quickly with the reward. Then a release cue. 

Are you signed up for a puppy class? I find it helps me with what to teach each week.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

I think we all agree early training is important. It’s good for establishing boundaries and expectations, and it’s great for bonding, especially when done in the form of play.

But @Cindy12 is specifically wondering how to get training sessions to extend beyond 1 minute, which I think is actually a perfect length at such a young age.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

PeggyTheParti said:


> But @Cindy12 is specifically wondering how to get training sessions to extend beyond 1 minute, which I think is actually a perfect length at such a young age.


1 minute is a long time At that age which is why you do several sessions. Next week, she will be able to train a little longer, as the puppy matures


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Skylar said:


> 1 minute is a long time At that age which is why you do several sessions. Next week, she will be able to train a little longer, as the puppy matures


Exactly. That’s why I don’t want her to feel like she’s got a problem to solve here with her new puppy.  They’re doing fine.


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## Cindy12 (Mar 30, 2020)

Thank you for your insights everyone! I really appreciate it. I had in my mind how I thought the trainings "should" be, so your input helps me adjust my expectations and avoid disappointment. I will try for shorter sessions. And thank you also for the recommendations on training programs. I will check them out! 

Also, I have to say, you guys are such a wonderful community! So supportive and helpful. I'm glad to now officially be a part of it.


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## Phaz23 (May 31, 2020)

PeggyTheParti said:


> I think we all agree early training is important. It’s good for establishing boundaries and expectations, and it’s great for bonding, especially when done in the form of play.
> 
> But @Cindy12 is specifically wondering how to get training sessions to extend beyond 1 minute, which I think is actually a perfect length at such a young age.


ohhhhhhhhhhh yeah, 1 minute is great and may even be pushing it. 30 seconds is probably more like it + lots and lots of play.

Tekno gets to 5-10 minutes only when he is at his very best and we're doing something super fun and he's confident about it.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Phaz23 said:


> ohhhhhhhhhhh yeah, 1 minute is great and may even be pushing it. 30 seconds is probably more like it + lots and lots of play.
> 
> Tekno gets to 5-10 minutes only when he is at his very best and we're doing something super fun and he's confident about it.


Peggy wouldn’t want me to tell you this, but she was probably more like 10 seconds to start. Lol. But she learned so fast. Pushing it would have slowed our progress.


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## Phaz23 (May 31, 2020)

PeggyTheParti said:


> Peggy wouldn’t want me to tell you this, but she was probably more like 10 seconds to start. Lol. But she learned so fast. Pushing it would have slowed our progress.


hehe oh yeah this boy has ADHD. I'm learning more every day about how to speed up my reinforcement and shorten my training sessions. It's amazing how difficult it is to do LESS things loool


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## Basil_the_Spoo (Sep 1, 2020)

Poodles are people pleasers. Try turning up the level of praise and enthusiasm like your kid just scored their first soccer goal.







They feed on your energy. Don't worry about anyone watching. It will bring a smile to their face.


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## Cindy12 (Mar 30, 2020)

Made huge progress today in training! Meat-flavored baby food! Positive reinforcement with every tiny, miniscule lick of the finger. What a revelation!! I've already seen a huge difference with the clicker. It's wonderful!


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