Different levels of rewards

The boys and I are working hard to get ready with our 2019 routines in time for Show Of WInners in February and Crufts in March. 

We are in the training hall for 1½ - 2 hours most days. 

One of the ways to keep the boys motivated for longer sessions is by using different levels of rewards. 

I have (at the moment) 3 levels of food rewards. 

First I have a high quality semi moist dog food, which they get for good work in our basic training and in the first run-through of the routines. 

Then I have an even nicer kind of semi moist dog food, which contains 85% meat. It smells delicious and the boys love it. They get this as rewards, when we work on extra difficult moves or in the 2nd run-though of the routine. They are tired after 1st run-through and need a better reward to keep the motivation up to work well a 2nd time. 

And then I have meat sticks, which contains 90% meat and smell like something I would eat. I use them for extra difficult moves. 

Biscuit is smarter than the collies.... He refuses to eat the first kind of food, so he only gets the last 2 kinds :-D
In my defence I have to say that all 3 kinds smell really nice and the collies like them all. 

I also have different levels of toy rewards. If the collies could choose, they would always choose toys rather than food, but I use both as too much toy creates stress and the dogs usually work better if they are not too stressed. 

But we do use a lot of ball - that's the toy we use most and the boys are crazy about them. Their favourite toys have fur on them though. A toy with fur is the best thing ever! Between balls and fur comes the black rubber thing. They like it a little better than the balls, but not as much as their fur tuggies. A furry tuggy toy is the ultimate reward for the collies...

Again Biscuit is smarter... he doesn't do toys! He wants food rewards and only the good kind :-D

And Gollum is wearing his coat in this picture. Not because the Danish winter is so cold that a collie can't keep warm, but because warm muscles are less prone to injuries than cold muscles, so I make sure I keep the boys warm prior to and after their training. And this goes for Biscuit too :-D

Most of the food rewards that the boys get in training are high quality dog food and most days I don't feed them except in training. They get a bit of yoghurt in the evenings to keep their stomachs healthy, but otherwise they earn most of their food in training. 

Biscuit does eat his dinner, when we get home though as he does not work as much as the collies. After all he is an old man. 

It may sound like a hard life with this much training, but the dogs that I have, are bred to work and they would  be impossible to live with if they didn't get to use their bodies and minds.

In the weekends I usually give up at about 10 am and take them out for a walk or training. They are just so restless and annoying to be around, when they haven't had a chance to use their energy.

All training is based on positive reinforcement - we play a lot.

Some family pet dogs would find this kind of life hard as they are not used to training, but the dogs I have are used to it and love it. They are very happy and content this time of year and they get to do as much as they want. 

See you tomorrow
Emmy and the Hazyland Boys