Try thinking outside the box...hot dogs may be the industry standard, but if your dog doesn't like them, experiment. I haven't found a finicky eater that didn't LOVE ham. Liver is good too, especially sprinkled with a bit of garlic powder.

Since dogs learn "expectations" (stimulus-outcome relationships) in operant conditioning, their reward history affects their behavior. If you usually use a ball reward outside, try training indoors with the food. They have no reward history of playing ball inside, and they are usually more willing to accept the food as their payoff.

If you still can't get a good response to food, you could try a less attractive prey item, like a pocket tug, a hose, etc. These don't interrupt your work quite so much as chasing a ball and often don't bring out so much intensity.

That said, I don't agree that avoiding the ball is the best solution. Food certainly has it's advantages cuz you can repeat behaviors over and over quickly without the interruption of ball playing, so sometimes food is the best answer. But somewhere down the line, the dog HAS to learn self-control. Unfortunately, many people avoid it until they are on the protection field and then they prong or fry the crap out of the dog cuz it is nutso for the helper and can't focus on doing control work. That's the handler's fault cuz he never taught the dog how to channel his intensity into the handler's request in order to earn his reward. I'm of the opinion you tackle it head on, not avoid it. TEACH (not punish...TEACH) the dog to take that intensity and focus it for just one second on YOU, then he can have his ball (or bite). This is a skill that's learned, not inherent. Avoiding it always comes back to bite you later.

Originally posted by Lee Baragona - Sch3FH2:
TEACH (not punish...TEACH) the dog to take that intensity and focus it for just one second on YOU, then he can have his ball (or bite). I agree. If your dog has this much drive for toys, I would do some focus work with them, so that he learns to channel all that intensity into control and accuracy.

Lee,
What you said makes very logical sense to me. Yes I had thought about trying out liver ham and what say u to see his reaction. I'm sure this can be built as I suspected this to be her previous handler conditioning rather than poor food drive.

The indoor food session also makes alot of sense when it comes to the rules of Opperant Conditioning. This really earns my respect of you as a guru. Now I know it is not enough to learn the rules and behaviour patern but must also learns how to apply them in the most creative way. Thanks.

I'm doing some control work on ball as well and setting parameters of the bites n focus work. I agree with you that she has to learn how to channel the intensity to earn the reward and not just being crazy. Not totally avoiding the ball but for now I'm using it very sparingly for a real satisfying reward and also some excercise on the field. The rest of time I am building up food drive.