[srelizabeth]

Hi, I have just started teaching my beagle Brody to jump through a hula hoop. He actually took to it right away and was jumping through pretty well, but then a bad jump caused his paw to hit the bottom and he tumbled and is now terrified of the hoop. It takes a lot for him to even walk through it on the ground or go near it. What can I do to help?

My other question is, what are the best LOW CALORIE treats I can train with? He is food motivated but slightly overweight and if I'm going to be training more, I don't want him to gain weight from treating.

Thanks

 

[SchnauzerGirl8810]

I would try veggies. My guys love baby carrots or green beans. You could cut them up into small pieces. It may not be the ideal training treat because it can't be consumed as fast, but it's low calorie and my dogs would be willing to work for it.

 

[srelizabeth]

I would try veggies. My guys love baby carrots or green beans. You could cut them up into small pieces. It may not be the ideal training treat because it can't be consumed as fast, but it's low calorie and my dogs would be willing to work for it.

That's a fantastic idea, thank you!

 

[Turtle11]

Instead of feeding out of a bowl, you could also use his regular dog food as training food. For training, I may mix a little something tasty like cooked chicken in with his dog food and put it in a zip lock bag - the smell of the chicken will get onto his dog food...and he will like his dog food that much more.

 

[PoppyKenna]

For the hula hoop, try putting it away for a few days and then starting again slowly. He may just need to recover.

I taught my dog to jump both through and over the hula hoop (we're working on under right now) and he loves it! It's really a neat trick. His foot has snagged a couple of times, but I'm always quick to move the hula hoop down if it looks like that's happening so that he doesn't trip.

But, for some reason that doesn't phase him. My super anxious and fearful dog for some reason has ZERO fear when it comes to jumping. Seriously.

 

[WolfDogHeeler]

For the treats if your dog goes of his food like mine sometimes do you could get a different flavor in a smaller bag and just take it out of his daily feeding amount. My dog took a tumble a couple of times whilst trying to teach him to jump my back, usually he is scared of getting hurt but I didn't make a big deal about it, he wasn't hurt so we just carried on as normal. Didn't seem to phase him except next time he jumped higher so he didn't trip.