# Engagement



## Kathrynil (Dec 2, 2019)

I need some tips on engagement. Kias is great with training. He can focus...-when he wants to. Do i need a better food, a toy he loves? What do I need to make him driven to get the food or toy whenever I'm training him? I guess I'm asking for tips on building drive towards getting something. He doesn't strive to get the food, he just accepts it when he's good. Can I just get some tips?

I'm reading through some of the other engagement threads as well, but any suggestions and tips would be great.


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## CeraDean (Jul 9, 2019)

Keep in my mind that I’m not an expert. But I’ll still let you know what I do with my pup. I believe ours are around the same age, five months.

When I want work style engagement, I use the special treats (turkey dogs and cheese). He only gets these treats when he’s really working with me. I try to train about 3 times a day expecting true engagement. I also give him a life rhythm by doing a very similar sequence of training preparation and decompression.

So before we work, he goes in the kennel. Then I set up the work material like the tripod, camera, mats, and pivot bowl. Or lay a track, hide an object, etc. He watches and gets pumped for work. Then I let him out of the kennel and tell him what we are going to do. “Do you wanna work/track?” I pump him up and let him know what to expect. At this age I don’t expect more than about five minutes of hardcore engagement. I always try to end it on a jackpot before he loses focus. Once the session is over, I tell him “all done” with some praise and put him back in the kennel for a few minutes to ‘think about what he learned.’ This also gives him downtime while I clean up.


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## Bramble (Oct 23, 2011)

Leerburg offers a a course on engagement with Forest Micke.





Leerburg On Demand | Engagement Skills with Forrest Micke







leerburg.com





The Collared Scholar also has a couple courses on it.








Build Rock Solid Engagement







collared-scholar.mykajabi.com












Build Engagement for Dog Sports


We've bundled FIVE of our best selling courses to give you all of the tools you need to build a rock solid relationship with your dog. Build your dog's drive, work ethic, focus and engagement and have a blast doing it in this comprehensive online video training course.




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Are You Building Engagement or Missing the Mark? | The Collared Scholar


It seems that the more dog training evolves, the more buzzwords start floating around the Internet. Trainers and textbooks coin new and sexy terms to explain their dog’s behavior, and handlers latch on to new concepts as dog training gets more and more progressive. After a particularly...




www.collared-scholar.com


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## islanddog (Jun 27, 2016)

Make a list of all the things your dog gets excited about (wants). Set things up so that training equals those things. This may be slightly different from nilif/earn to learn if you are looking for and adding excitement (I do). 

Here's how it works in my house. Sonic has not much toy/play in him. He likes food, and training with food, but it doesn't excite him. Chasing squirrels through the bush excites him. Walks, especially those preceded by a car ride result in chasing squirrels through the bush...so........

I set him up to earn that car ride. 

Before each walk we train in the front yard. If he's being boring or disengaged, we keep training. He rarely is because he wants that car ride very very badly, which mean he's rocketing through the commands (or around the yard, I do diy agility) and slamming his toy with gusto. The toy has become his 'walk' token. So he wants the toy very very badly also. When he's sufficiently peppy, he 'wins', and is allowed to run to the car with his toy. If it's just a leashed walk, I'll hurry up with leashing him so he keeps his toy until he drops it. 

This is just one example of using not so obvious rewards for engagement. If you try something like this, you need to start small, sit, good sit, bolt into the car. And build the sequences backwards.
Let your dog know that you are the source for his best experiences.
Short short short training sessions too.
If you need longer sessions, hold them in a space where there is nothing in the world more exciting than you (this is why dog class can be pretty good (advanced dog class where other dogs inspire boredom)) and squirrels aren't dancing in the trees.


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## islanddog (Jun 27, 2016)

CeraDean said:


> Keep in my mind that I’m not an expert. But I’ll still let you know what I do with my pup. I believe ours are around the same age, five months.
> 
> When I want work style engagement, I use the special treats (turkey dogs and cheese). He only gets these treats when he’s really working with me. I try to train about 3 times a day expecting true engagement. I also give him a life rhythm by doing a very similar sequence of training preparation and decompression.
> 
> So before we work, he goes in the kennel. Then I set up the work material like the tripod, camera, mats, and pivot bowl. Or lay a track, hide an object, etc. He watches and gets pumped for work. Then I let him out of the kennel and tell him what we are going to do. “Do you wanna work/track?” I pump him up and let him know what to expect. At this age I don’t expect more than about five minutes of hardcore engagement. I always try to end it on a jackpot before he loses focus. Once the session is over, I tell him “all done” with some praise and put him back in the kennel for a few minutes to ‘think about what he learned.’ This also gives him downtime while I clean up.


I love this idea. I am convinced my guy doesn't like training indoors, but now come to think of it, he loves getting his nails dremelled (I treat it like a training thing), and come to think of it, it has the elements you describe, the set-up, him watching me, etc... I'm going to rethink that training thing next rainy day. Thanks for describing your routine.


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

brilliant. using a car ride as the ultimate reward. 
When I take my dogs for long walks around the neighborhood, going back into the yard to be able to run naked (no leash or collar) is a great reward. I am working on heeling to the front gate. It's not easy for my dogs, they really really want that free time to run and play fetch with me.


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## Slamdunc (Dec 6, 2007)

Become more interesting to your dog than anything else in the world. Become more exciting and engage more with your dog. Make your dog work for his toys / treats then praise the daylights out of your dog when correct.


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