We’ve all seen the movie or at least heard of someone in this kind of relationship: a girl goes nuts trying to get a guy to pay attention her, only for her efforts to go unnoticed. That’s sort of how I feel about my relationship with Paco right now. Seriously. I just can’t seem to get this boy’s attention! Let me explain.

Paco has proven himself to be a challenge to work with – in a good way! He makes me think outside the box and causes me to work extra hard in perfecting my communication skills. He’s a great dog to become a teacher with. My latest challenge with him is finding a good motivator. This is, yet again, another lesson I am grateful to learn the hard way early on: not all dogs are super motivated by food. While food is a primary reinforcer, meaning animals are hard wired to want it (and therefore work for it), Paco generally doesn’t fall over himself trying to earn a treat. Up the value, you say? I’ve tried: peanut butter, cheddar cheese, chicken jerky, stupid overpriced training treats from the store, hot dogs, canned chicken, Natural Balance log roll, squeeze cheese, and more. It’s all the same to him. So, we have to try something different.

This is where the scene of a girl trying super, super hard to impress a boy comes into play. Paco generally loves attention, praise, petting and encouragement. This is great! Supplementing food rewards with attention for a dog like him should do the trick. I should note here that during shaping sessions, this encouragement comes after the achieved behavior as a reward, versus while Paco is trying to figure out what he is supposed to be doing. Verbal encouragement as a prompt instead of a reward during shaping can actually throw the dog off more and slow learning.

Turns out, I have to really put on a “Paco is the best ever” show for him to keep him engaged in our work. Sometimes when we do training sessions I feel like I am literally jumping up and down and standing on my head squealing, “Look at me, Paco! That right choice was so exciting! You want to keep training with me! It’s so fun, I promise!” Yeah. . . kinda sounds like a girl desperate to get a guy’s attention, right?

I guess you could label me as that desperate girl at this point. We’ve got such a long, tough road of learning ahead of us and Paco and I need to be on the same page. After a discouraging week, I think we finally had a breakthrough. It’s been a lot of trial and error to figure out what motivates him; something I feel like has set us back in our coursework, but will benefit us, our relationship and the quality of our work in the long run.

So, if you’re ever in a DC neighborhood and hear a lot of clicking and cheering, that would be me and Paco working together. Just call me the crazy dog lady.