Food Puzzles: Key Mistakes To Avoid And Strategies To Help Your Dog Best Deal With Frustration #278
Shaped by Dog with Susan Garrett
DogsThat
4.8 • 679 Ratings
🗓️ 24 July 2024
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Visit us at shapedbydog.com
I love giving dogs food puzzles and have a step-by-step plan that I believe will build confidence, end frustration and grow resilience for puppies and dogs of all ages. Strategic use of food puzzles creates essential coping skills, provides enrichment, and helps dogs work through failure in training, which we all need because we are human and will make mistakes. I’m covering how to use food puzzles effectively with tips on what to do and what to avoid.
In this episode you’ll hear:
• All about food puzzles and their benefits.
• The categories and types of food puzzles, from easy to complex.
• Common mistakes when using food puzzles and how to avoid them.
• The importance of challenging and varying food puzzles for dogs.
• About safety tips and cleaning guidelines for food puzzles.
• My personal observations and theories on the impact of food puzzles on dog behavior.
• What the benefits of food puzzles are for coping with frustration.
• The categories of food puzzles and their uses.
• About using high-value treats and appropriate challenges.
• How to manage resource guarding and dog interactions when using puzzles.
• The strategic use of food puzzles and puppy independence.
• The importance of variety and measuring food rations.
• The importance of safe practices and cleaning food puzzles.
• The strategies I recommend when using food puzzles.
Homemade Dog Treats:
Grab your free eBook on Homemade Dog Treats for high-value rewards to use in your food puzzles - https://dogsthat.com/tastytreats/
Hand Targets:
Get the Hand Target Game and more in our FREE Hand Target Masterclass while it’s running - https://dogsthat.com/celebrate-together/
ItsYerChoice Game:
Learn “ItsYerChoice” for free - https://recallers.com/iycsummit-join/
Crate Games:
Crate Games is the fun and fast way dogs learn many skills for daily life and dog sports - https://get.crategames.com/
Resources:
1. Podcast Episode 239: Barking Dogs! How To Help Your Dog Be Quiet And Stop Annoying Barking - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/239/
2. Podcast Episode 263: Breaking Down Dog Behavior Problems: Insights From The Top 10 Frustrations - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/263/
3. YouTube Playlist: Reactive or Aggressive Dogs: Key Insights with Susan Garrett - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLphRRSxcMHy0Tbd6ZybIXgJk3mtpBLLk7
4. *Outward Hound Fun Feeder Slow Bowl, Slow Feeder Dog Bowl - https://geni.us/slow-feeder
5. *West Paw Zogoflex Toppl Treat Dispensing Dog Toy Puzzle - https://geni.us/toppl
6. *KONG Classic Stuffable Dog Toy - https://geni.us/kong-toy
7. YouTube Video: DIY Puppy Bombs: Easy & Affordable Enrichment Toy for Puppies - https://youtu.be/UBveJe2C2dA
8. Recallers Tasty Treats Recipe eBook - https://dogsthat.com/tastytreats/
9. YouTube Playlist: Resource Guarding In Dogs and Puppies with Susan Garrett - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLphRRSxcMHy1JqsmK9_tnBuTQpBXFfYXi
10. Podcast Episode 200: Solve Your Dog’s Separation Anxiety With FRIDA: Expanding Calm With Functional Relaxation - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/200/
11. YouTube Playlist: Dog Training Games with Susan Garrett - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLphRRSxcMHy2TzttCtZVFwzwMGayAsaYe
12. Nina Ottosson Food Puzzles - https://www.nina-ottosson.com/
13. Watch this Episode of Shaped by Dog on YouTube - https://youtu.be/oHXT6SXrcBM
*Amazon Links Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Susan only recommends products she uses herself, and all opinions expressed here are her own. The link above is an affiliate link that, at no additional cost to you, we may earn a small commission if you decide to buy from it. Thank you!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In Shape by Dog episode number 239, I was talking about frustration and the use of food puzzles. |
| 0:07.9 | And I said, hey, if you would like to know how I strategically use food puzzles, leave a comment. |
| 0:13.3 | And wow, many of you, I don't know, 50 or 60 of you left comments and said, you wanted to |
| 0:18.4 | know. So here we are talking about the effective |
| 0:21.2 | use of food puzzles and the biggest mistakes that people might do when they're using them. |
| 0:43.7 | Hi, I'm Susan Garrett. Welcome to Shape by Dog. And, you know, food puzzles, people think of them as enrichment for the dogs and they can be, but they can also not be very enriching, |
| 0:49.5 | really. They can be a huge tool when training the dogs to deal with frustration. Now, look, frustration's |
| 0:57.5 | a natural part of dog training. It would be great if we could minimize it, but honestly, |
| 1:03.2 | I don't want to completely eliminate it because if a dog is never frustrated in our training, |
| 1:09.7 | that means we're not human. So, let's agree with the |
| 1:13.3 | fact that we for now are going to make mistakes in our training. If our dogs have a great |
| 1:19.7 | coping strategy with frustration, they're not going to be bothered by it. So I think food puzzles |
| 1:25.8 | are a great way for dogs to learn coping strategies and it really doesn't |
| 1:31.2 | have anything to do with us. The way that I like to use food puzzles doesn't involve me being |
| 1:37.0 | physically with the dog, prompting them. They're figuring things out on their own. Now, |
| 1:41.1 | what's the downside of having frustrated dogs? That frustration is going to end up |
| 1:47.3 | with a dog, maybe just giving up. And if it's a food puzzle and they just say, oh, this is too hard, |
| 1:51.6 | I'm going to walk away. That's not such a big deal. When it's your dog training and they just |
| 1:56.1 | give up and walk away, yeah, that is a big deal because we want to have fun with our dog. |
| 2:00.5 | We want our dogs to enjoy training. So because we want to have fun with our dog. We want our dogs |
| 2:01.2 | to enjoy training. So, we want them giving up and walking away or leaving you to go find something |
| 2:07.6 | more interesting, not be an option because you're so interesting as a dog trainer, right? |
... |
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