#ad Positive Reinforcement Dog Training with Small Bites

While my husband and I just have one child, we have a full house when you count our pets. Our daughter loves all animals and I expect our family to continue growing with her interest in science. In addition to a few insect pets, we have our cat Delilah, a brand new kitten named Toby, and our Siberian Husky Sophie. My husband graduated from UCONN and always wanted a dog to match their Siberian Husky mascot. We selected Sophie from a local breeder just before I was pregnant with our daughter almost seven years ago. Sophie was the cutest little ball of white fur and had the sweetest personality. We enrolled her in puppy classes early and were looking forward to having a well behaved dog. We learned how to use positive reinforcement dog training with small treats during our puppy training experience. Sophie was perfect during class, but as soon as we came home, she pretended to forget all the rules. My husband traveled for work and I was an incredibly lenient puppy mommy. Sophie learned early she could bend the rules with mommy. She is the friendliest, loving, cuddly beautiful dog but she will run away from us the second she has an opportunity. With our daughter now five years old and wanting to hold Sophie’s leash on walks, we are revisiting positive reinforcement dog training. I recently started using small pieces of Nudges dog treats to train Sophie to stay by our daughter’s side during walks.

From the first week we brought our daughter home, Sophie has been very protective of her. They share a very close bond and are inseparable. Sophie and my daughter play together all day. They dress up like princesses, read together, and pretend to go shopping. Sophie sleeps with my daughter during most naps and bedtime. Greeting Sophie is the first thing my daughter does each time we come home from school or errands. My daughter and our Siberian Husky were destined to be buddies.

Aside from playing with my daughter, not a lot motivates Sophie. A few things that peak her interest are treats, a chewed up baseball, her favorite stuffed squirrel, and an invitation for a walk.

The thought of training her to do anything other than be cute sounds a little exhausting. We have countless stories of Sophie running away for hours. She seeks out every opportunity to get away and with one quick mistake in pet safety, she is gone. Sophie once ran away when missionaries came to our door on Thanksgiving. We were just about to leave the house when we heard a knock at our door. My mom was visiting from out of town and answered the door. A few seconds later Sophie walked out on the porch, saw freedom, and ran away. Over an hour later my husband finally convinced her to come home. She’s ran away during multiple walks too. Once she slipped out of her collar and was gone for several hours. Sure we had lost Sophie, we returned home to find her sitting on our doorstep. She is on a leash 100% of the time we are out of the house because, given the opportunity, we know our pretty dog will run away. Because the intention is to allow our daughter to eventually hold Sophie’s leash, we included her while working on positive reinforcement dog training. 

Nudges dog treats are premium jerky cuts made in the USA. The wholesome treats are made with real American meats and packed with protein.

At home we regularly give Sophie a full treat but for the purposes of positive reinforcement dog training, I cut the Nudges jerky cuts into small pieces.

Sophie happily sat for a treat before our training began.

We told our daughter to give Sophie a small treat each time she was walking with out pulling the leash. She also received a treat for stopping to wait before crossing the road.

We have a long way to go before my daughter can hold the leash during an entire walk with Sophie but will continue building our confidence training with small pieces of Nudges dog treats. The resealable packages keep treats fresh and make it easy for me to pull out a few jerky cuts at a time for positive reinforcement dog training.

The #NudgesMoments dog treats for this #CollectiveBias post were purchased from  Walmart. The treats are available in a variety of flavors including health and wellness chicken, beef, bacon, and duck in varying bag sizes.

Did puppy training classes work for your dog?

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