Nita the Aussie^2

Around 800 high value training treats for the price of one can of tuna, an egg, and a cup of flour?

WHY HAVE I NOT MADE TUNA FUDGE BEFORE NOW?

aquestionablemutt

How do you make these please???

I did one cup tuna, not drained. One cup flour. One large egg. Blend it into a dough, spread it as thick as you want the treats on a parchment lined or greased baking sheet, and pop it in the oven at 250F for 30 minutes. Cut into the size pieces you want.

I spread it pretty thin as you can see from the thickness of my treats since I wanted training sized treats. When I sliced the cooked sheet of tuna fudge into strips I got 31 full sized skinny strips and a few short strips. Those strips I was then able to cut into between 20 and 30 small treats each. So now I have a stockpile of tuna treats in the fridge and Nana is crazy about them.

intriga-hounds

WE MADE SOME IMMEDIATELY

SIVI IS A FAN!!

canineandcaffeine-deactivated20

YAY SIVI BOY!!

casperthefriendlygolden

@goldenmutts you were looking for high value treat ideas a couple weeks ago, are you still in need of ideas?

Always in need of ideas, thank you so much!

bobahund

I made boiled liver treats that Boba went crazy for! Boiled liver + flour in the blender and bake!!

bisexualbaker

[Image one: A plastic ziplock baggie with a bunch of tiny, beige cubes inside. Image two: Larger chunks of the beige stuff (tuna fudge). Images three and four: A white and black sighthound (a borzoi?) going absolutely bananas over a piece of tuna fudge. End ID.]

Question: Do you think this recipe could be made with non-wheat flour? I mean, I’m guessing probably, since the egg can work as a binding agent instead of (just) gluten, but a friend has a dog they think is allergic to wheat, and quick, cheap, easy treats like this seem like they’d be great if we can work out a non-wheat substitute.

(Side note, I do one banana, one cup creamy peanut butter, one cup buckwheat flour, cut into small pieces and baked for 8 to 10 minutes at 350°F/180°C, store in the fridge (if you go through them quickly) or freezer (if you go more slowly). Molly the dachshund-terrier mix adores this recipe, and it would probably work fine with regular wheat flour as well.)

Yes! A lot of people in the dog treat groups on FB (the Pyramid Dog Treats group is awesome) use other types of flour not only for allergy or intolerance reasons but also texture/messiness reasons – especially tapioca flour for a more chewy training treat like consistency instead of soft and crumbly like wheat flour tuna fudge tends to be. Definitely very doable and you could probably find recipes easily on FB or random dog blogs off Google for tapioca flour (or other non-wheat flour) versions.

#dogblr #nita pics #nita video #australian cattle dog #australian shepherd #I think this is not a dog. I think this is some sort of gazelle.#(video taken by hubby. that's not my voice lol)

Every time this post starts circulating again a worrying amount of y'all tag this saying you thought it was for treats for people… I mean I guess you can eat them too if you want but they probably taste foul so I wouldn’t suggest it lol

#ooooo #recipes

BOING

Thinking we may try switching from a restraint harness to a solid crate/kennel for car trips. Nita's been kinda stressed in the car lately; we almost always go to fun places, so I think it might be that she's excited about where we're going, but then she's getting overstimulated by everything outside the car and it tips over into anxiety. I'm hoping she might also feel more secure in a smaller space, because she keeps tangling herself up in the seatbelt but it seems like some of it's an intentional effort to brace herself. Has anyone with similar issues had any luck with this?

#dogblr #dog behavior

I feel like in a perfect world, unscented shampoos for dogs would be the norm.

Personally, I have mild sensory issues with fragrances. Like, I'm fine with most bath products on their own, but I have to hold my breath when walking past the LUSH store at the mall or it feels like getting slapped in the face with smells.

So I can only imagine how unpleasant it must be to be a dog, who interacts with the world primarily through smell, and suddenly your human insists on covering you in this gunk that reeks of cherries or vanilla or whatever. And if it smells strong to humans, especially since most of these products are aiming to cover up the natural doggy smell, for a dog it probably feels like being temporarily blinded.

Honestly, I wonder how much of the perception that dogs hate baths is due to the bath itself, and how much is due to heavily perfumed dog shampoo.

#new shampoo is Burt's Bees with oatmeal and honey btw #it smells like veeeeeery faintly floral. kinda like smelling a dandelion. I liked it a lot better than the cherry scent too

Update: went out and got an unscented shampoo today (the one we originally got for her was a really strong cherry scent) to give Nita her bath. It's been a while since the last time I gave her a bath, so it's hard to tell, but I thiiiink she might have tolerated my nonsense slightly better? I hope, at least!

herdingdognerd

Dogblr reblog/respond to this and tell me what you’re currently feeding

#my selection process wasn't the most scientific #she was going through a picky phase and this was the only dry food I found that was appropriate for puppies and turkey flavored #which I expected her to go nuts for #now we've learned that she just gets bored of her food every few months and we have to switch it lol #it's a really good quality food though as far as I can tell. makes her coat super smooth.#also good protein content

Nita's currently on Redbarn Whole Grain Sky Recipe dry food.

They're alive aren't they?

To trainers who think it’s impossible that their dogs could ever be food motivated and especially for those service dog trainers who insist on using hot dogs and cheese as a major part of their dogs diet because they “won’t work for kibble”…

I too would love to work for chocolate and soda but it’s not healthy for me and honestly I will and do work daily for just my bread and ramen just like any other person. But when the work being asked of me is too hard or causes undue stress, ramen suddenly isn’t enough.

The majority of “non-food motivated dogs I’ve met have been either taught to refuse kibble because higher value rewards would come right after or they were working over threshold. I love using kibble for training because I can use large quantities without sacrificing healthcare and because refusing food is a very, very clear signal that I’ve pushed past my dog’s boundaries.

Ps. Yes, I know there are varying levels of food motivation. Not every dog will be as innately over the moon to eat kibble in super distracting environments like a lab will. However, food motivation is something that can be changed over time, just like the value of any reinforcer. And the organism that never wants to consume food at some point in their life probably won’t live very long.

xanswerxthatx

Hey so not disagreeing with this advice at all! Just curious how you would recommend to get started on this if you have a dog that needs to eat prescription food, and tends to (obviously) not love it. Or is that a case where you would say that yes, you need to stick with something higher value/different because the dog just won’t be as motivated? My dog is definitely food motivated for the treats she can have and likes (she seems to be picky about treats), but she has to eat prescription food, which can be a chore to get her to eat. So how would I go about doing that?

I’m so glad you asked. Remember that eating is a behavior just like any other and can be captured and shaped. And thanks to Pavlov always being on our shoulder, the previously neutral stimulus can become an exciting one when paired with exciting stimuli! In addition, The Premack principle states that a behavior more likely to occur will reinforce one less likely to occur…meaning if doing laundry is more likely to occur than scrubbing the toilet then I can use doing laundry to reinforce scrubbing the toilet, even if I’m not really fond of that chore either.

AKA. Place kibble in front of dog, capture/mark consuming kibble, reinforce with treat or play or other high value reinforcer. Rinse, repeat. Slowly increase criteria so pup must consume multiple kibble before treats/play. Eventually chain with other simple behaviors. Ex. Sit= opportunity to eat kibble, eating kibble= high value, etc. Slowly as you build a reinforcement history, the value of kibble will rise as it is paired with more desirable things until it too can be used to reward.

Most people end up doing the opposite… Dog refuses to eat kibble, human immediately switches to treats. This is essentially a recipe for teaching a really solid leave it. Add in a little rinse and repeat and a variable schedule of reinforcement you have an unbeatable leave it. Over a very short period of time, this results in a dog which appears to be “non-food motivated”.

Now with helpful Resources, curtesy of Kathy Sdao

Teaching Your Dog to Eat by Sue Ailsby

The Ultimate Dog Training Tip by Dr. Zazie Todd (2017)

6 Words That Will End Picky Eating by Leigh Anderson (2015)

Reward & Punishment versus Freedom by Dr. David Premack

Preliminary Investigation of Food Guarding in Shelter Dogs in the US by Mohan-Gibbons, Weiss & Slater;

#dog training #dog behavior

Say it with me one more time…

Food motivation is a behavior, not a fixed personality trait, and all behavior is modifiable.

I feel like in a perfect world, unscented shampoos for dogs would be the norm.

Honestly, I wonder how much of the perception that dogs hate baths is due to the bath itself, and how much is due to heavily perfumed dog shampoo.

#dogblr #dog behavior #this post brought to you by my dog enthusiastically splashing around in big mud puddles today #and now she needs a bath. which she is less enthusiastic about.#and I bet it's partly because the only shampoo we have for her is really strongly cherry scented.

dogwisdoms

Welp. Just lost my job.

Feel sick and shocked but also spurred into action to get some commissions going to at least ease my mind financially for a minute. If you’re interested please shout. Any animal! Open to discussing sizes and prices beyond these as I’m pretty desperate right now.

Also: www.sarahlakestudios.etsy.com

#these are gorgeous

securityunit-ese

When you start growing tumours in your toes you get the tootsie protectors

#other dogs #she looks like a fashion model!!!#so stylish!#love the jacket

blueboyluca

jem and the girls gone wild

#other dogs #oh it is Silly Time

lightningbuster

Dog toy plushies have fundamentally different souls than that of regular plushies. Unlike regular plushies, which are content with just existing (and just go to regular heaven when they get destroyed and don’t mind being resurrected), dog toys seek Valhalla. This is why you don’t need to feel bad when your dog/cat/especially strong bird rips it to shreds, because this was the warriors death they were seeking all their life

Puppy says good morning :)