# How food motivated is your GSD?



## Dolus (May 14, 2010)

I've heard a lot about GSD's not being particular food motivated, which of course has up and downsides. Having having a food motivated dog is rather convenient for the repetitive obedience exercises, on the other hand, not having to worry about food snatching is also nice 

Anyway, I was wondering how every one elses GSD's take to food, since our last dog didn't care to work for food at all:

How food motivated is your GSD? What kind of GSD is it (working line, showline)? What gender is it?


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## Jason L (Mar 20, 2009)

Ike is very food motivated. 8 months old. Working line. I still do almost all his obedience with food instead of a ball or a tug.


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

Stark is 13 months old (DDR x West German Showline) male and is NOT very food motivated at all.

It makes me work harder to try and find things that motivated him. Tug is big but not always the best reward in certain situations. 

I really wish he was food motivated. I can leave a steak on the floor and he won't touch it.. lol. He is fed raw and I have issues with him not eating some days. Like tonight he ate his RBM and left his MM and oM... ugh! He is perfectly healthy, good weight (nice and lean), high activitely level, medium to high drive but definitely not food motivated.


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## bianca (Mar 28, 2010)

Molly is nearly 7 months old and from working lines, she is food motivated in a big way! Will do ANYTHING for hotdog


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Lucy isn't very food motivated. I mean she'll work for her treats, but she's not crazy about it. Now if I bring out a squeeky ball or a tennis ball, she'll do backflips for me to throw it.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

Masi can take it or leave it when it come to being food motivated,,she is however VERY VERY frisbee/tuggie/toy motivated


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Onyx(unknown pedigree bi-color, WL/Am pet??) and Karlo(WL) are very food motivated. If Onyx is stressed, she will not take food. They are both toy driven, too.
Kacie,(unknown pedigree,blanket long coat, looks like she has some showlines somewhere) not food motivated, I have to coax her to eat her meals most of the time. Her toy drive isn't huge, but birds or squirrels move her!


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## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

All the Hooligans are food motivated to various degrees ... Bruiser the most, Slider the least, but food is an important motivation to all 4 of them.


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## JKlatsky (Apr 21, 2007)

Argos- Moderately food motivated. Avergae treats work well at home. Have to break out the good stuff if there are any distractions. Ball wins.

Anka- NOT food motivated at all until about 20 months. Now she seems to be a food hound. Initially taught the majority of obedience with toys, and tracking only when she was VERY hungry. 

Cade- Moderately food motivated. I need him hungry or I need to put a lot of prey movement into the food. Likes his ball.

Tag- Chow hound. Practically pees his pants when I bring out a hot dog. Almost too excited to think which is an interesting challenge.

Ike- Good food drive. Great ball drive.


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## Trina (Sep 11, 2009)

Our first two GSDs were not food motivated at all. In fact, Klaus would often skip a meal.

Max, on the other hand, is way at the other end of the spectrum. I have been working with him to take treats from me without devouring my entire hand along with it, and I make him sit and wait until I say it's "okay" before he can eat his meal. He's not at all food aggressive, but he just loves to eat (like his mama!)


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## GunnersMom (Jan 25, 2008)

Gunner is not food motivated AT ALL.
Sometimes I can get him interested in a freeze-dried liver treat during training, and sometimes he couldn't care less and wants no part of it. 
If I just give him a treat, he'll gobble it up. But if I'm using them in an attempt to motivate or get his attention when it's on something else, forget it.

And food/treats aren't enough to overcome his distress when I leave the house. I've left him stuffed Kongs, bully sticks, you name it -- he won't touch them.


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## Sigurd's Mom (May 12, 2009)

Sigurd is extremely food motivated. He is show line, and male.


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## Andaka (Jun 29, 2003)

Jag is very food motivated. Makes him very easy to train. Actually he would work for an ice cube if I could figure out how to make it work. Jag is a 4 month old mostly American show line male.


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## janisinsc (Aug 26, 2009)

Gustav is high drive, working line (Sire has two medals of valor as a K-9 officer) and food means nothing once he has focus on something. I had to learn to read him and stop him before he hits that level. He is only two so we are still working. If he is in "working mode" I could cram a steak in his mouth and he would spit it out!


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

JKlatsky said:


> Argos- Moderately food motivated. Avergae treats work well at home. Have to break out the good stuff if there are any distractions. Ball wins.
> 
> Anka- NOT food motivated at all until about 20 months. Now she seems to be a food hound. Initially taught the majority of obedience with toys, and tracking only when she was VERY hungry.
> 
> ...


So maybe Stark still has hope.. lol. I have heard of a lot of dogs becoming more motivated by food/toys/etc.. as they age.

I know for Stark, he could care less about the ball until about 2 months ago. Now he is ball crazy! Just what I wanted!


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## Daisy (Jan 4, 2009)

Very food motivated. (Female, Czech/W. German)


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## EchoGSD (Mar 12, 2010)

Echo enjoys her treats but food is not a primary motivator for her. Attention, praise, and any kind of toy she can get her teeth on are more her style.


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

Bianca is very food motivated, but not to the point of getting over-excited or anything (unless it's a raw bone, then she gets excited!) She is West German showlines with a bit of working lines in there.
She is not very motivated by toys. At home she will play with toys but she doesn't like them enough to be interested in them as a reward and usually ignores them if we're away from home.


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## Little Wise Owl (May 12, 2010)

Our puppy is VERY food motivated. Always. lol


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## Lin (Jul 3, 2007)

Logan and Tessa were never very food motivated. Tessa MUCH prefers her ball to food. 

Emma is VERY food motivated! I'm actually a little concerned about how to wean her off dependence on the treats with training; its not something I've done before in such a food motivated dog. She also still has some fear and confidence issues that make training a bit more difficult. Sometimes if she isn't listening to me I can pretend theres a treat in my hand and get her to behave, then reward with pets and praise instead. Sometimes when I am training with treats though I have to let her smell or lick the treat to prove I have it so she listens. She is still pretty young though, and I've only had her a few months.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

taught my dog not to snatch food
from our hands.

when training i use food and praise.
sometimes more praise or only praise.

i have a West German, male.




Dolus said:


> I've heard a lot about GSD's not being particular food motivated, which of course has up and downsides. Having having a food motivated dog is rather convenient for the repetitive obedience exercises, on the other hand, not having to worry about food snatching is also nice
> 
> Anyway, I was wondering how every one elses GSD's take to food, since our last dog didn't care to work for food at all:
> 
> How food motivated is your GSD? What kind of GSD is it (working line, showline)? What gender is it?


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## Anja1Blue (Feb 27, 2008)

I've HEARD of those dogs who aren't food motivated - but I've never actually had one in my home  The two I have now are like the ones of the past, foodaholics - so training for anything (especially tracking ) has been easy. They like balls and tugs of course but food reigns supreme...
___________________________________
Susan

Anja SchH3
Conor GSD
Blue BH WH T1 GSD - waiting at the Bridge


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## Mrs.K (Jul 14, 2009)

All three of mine are totally crazy about food. If I'd let them... they'd eat until they drop dead. :crazy:

All three are working line Shepherds. Two females and one male.


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## lylol (Feb 18, 2009)

Rune is a 16m male; he is mildly food motivated... and treat picky (he isnt interested in chesse for example) but he is very toy motivated.


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## GSDluver4lyfe (Nov 15, 2006)

Mace isnt very food motivated. If its coming directly from me it will hold interest for a little bit but I think he's working for me and just taking the food because its there. He's really weird when it comes to food. When I give him his meals (kibble) he will just sit there waiting for me (or whoever ese might have fed him) to leave the room, then he will sit down and begin to eat his food VERY slowly and never finishes all at once. And any food that isnt kibble or a treat he's used to he has to "inspect" the item first. He sniffs it for what seems like an eternity, then will lick it as if to taste it, then will gently pick it up as if to feel the texture, then will place it back down to stare at it for a while with a look of concentration and determination. Its really funny to watch, its as if he's deciding the best way to eat it or something. And then will ever so slowly start to eat it. My grandmother says "he's well educated" while my mom calls him an idiot lol. 

When it comes to training, treats would suffice (for short periods) for Mace but toys hold much more interest. He's 2.5 years old czech/west german working line.


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## Dolus (May 14, 2010)

lylol said:


> Rune is a 16m male; he is mildly food motivated... and treat picky (he isnt interested in chesse for example) but he is very toy motivated.


Heh, Rune is actually my RL name (although it's not that uncommon in Scandinavia).

Anyway, so far it seems that we have a lot of very food motivated dogs (21 if my counting is right), some moderately food motivated dogs (8) and some not very food motivated dogs (11).

The reason I was asking, is because my previous dog was a sheltie who was not food motivated at all, which I found made the basic obedience stuff a bit strenuous to teach. I couldn't get her to focus for very long using food, so I had to use toys. Toys worked, but repetitive exercises took a long time to train that way.

Since my next dog will be a working line GSD (was just born a week ago, eagerly awaiting when we can pick him up), I'm hoping to get a food motivated dog. I wonder if there's some way to test the puppies for that. Maybe see how excited they get over a piece of meat..?


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