6 Ways to Give Your Dog Choices | Pupford

We ask for a LOT from our dogs. From learning tricks and cues to the food they eat, where they walk, and more. But sometimes, we should let them choose what they want to do!

On the Perfect Pup Podcast, we interviewed Emily Fitzpatrick and talked about building your dog’s confidence. A dog’s confidence can drastically improve its ability to learn, respond to cues, and feel happy. One tip that Emily mentioned was to give your dog more choice throughout the day.

Not only can giving your dog more choices increase their confidence, but it can also help them avoid situations they find stressful and it gives them more opportunities to do things that they really enjoy.

Here are some ways to give your dog more opportunities to choose.

GIVING YOUR DOG MORE CHOICES

Kaylin, the pup parent of Luna the Trick Dog shares different ways she lets Luna make her own choices throughout the day, as shown in the video above. She mentions:

1. GIVE YOUR DOG CHOICES AT BREAKFAST

Kaylin will split her dog’s kibble between a snuffle mat and a SodaPup toy so that they can choose which one they want to work on.

2. LET YOUR DOG CHOOSE WHERE TO WALK

Maybe you let your dog sniff around more and choose the destination, maybe you put your dog on a long lead so that they have more freedom of movement (if safe), or maybe you just let them choose the path. If time permits, giving your dog more choices during a walk is wonderful for them, especially their nose!

3. GIVE YOUR DOG CHOICES AT DINNER

If you’re feeling up to it, enrichment meal prep like Kaylin, and make dinner more exciting by mixing it with a little dog food topper, water, yogurt, and stick a tasty jerky treat on the top, then freeze. Here is a recipe if you need more guidance. Then let your pup choose which one they want.

4. LET YOUR DOG PICK THE TOY THEY WANT TO PLAY WITH

At playtime, let your dog pick their toy. Give your dog different toy options from balls to squeaker toys, to tug toys and more. Set them out, and let them pick which one they want to play with.

5. LET YOUR CHOOSE THEIR CHEW TOY

Bully sticks, yak cheese dog chews, elk antlers, or beef tendons. Which is your dog’s favorite? Find out by setting them all out and having them pick the one they want!

6. BONUS TIP: LET YOUR DOG PICK THE TRAINING THEY WANT TO DO

To give your dog choices during training, try capturing!

Capturing is a technique of 'marking' a behavior your dog naturally does.

For example, if you're trying to teach your dog to lie down you might wait for them to lie down on their own and then 'mark' and reward that behavior. After doing that a few times, you can start adding a cue word (lie down) so your dog pairs the behavior with a term.

How do you give your dog choices throughout the day? Let us know in the comments!