Hello all,

Second post in such a short time!
I've been implementing ME's system of training since my amstaff was about 6 months old.

From what I can see in my boy, he used to have these rare moments when i said "ready", he would become active in his behavior, i.e trying to satisfy his food drive by sitting, dropping and whatever else at lightning speed.

Overall, he is lazy and waits solely on a direction and performs is slowly, even though i create a reward event.

So, this is my plan to lift his arousal levels and food drive, so every time we train, he associates that with high levels of arousal and works 100% to earn his reward, as opposed to half hardheartedly working. My plan is as follows;

Fast for one day

use his meals (kangaroo mince) as high value reward to be earned by training in very short high energy sessions, until i see when i say "ready" he kicks into drive every time and is ready to give me 100%. I won't necessarily train with him during this period, but play with him by using the food.

i also plan on using a back tie every now and again to create some more frustration.

Any thoughts on this process? or has anyone experienced what I'm talking about?

Overall he is a low drive dog, so i have to create and build as much drive in him as possible.

Playing with the dog at a high lever of excitement can go a long way to up the dogs drive but you can't get drive any higher then the dogs genetic and environmental potential allows.

With marker training a high value reward goes a long way and with marker training I don't distinguish any difference between play and training.

How long are your training sessions? Where are you training? How old is your dog now?

Are you familiar with shaping behaviors? Dogs that wait for direction are often a sign of a dog who hasn't been taught (or rewarded) to offer behaviors. I'd actually ask less of these dogs and reward for any sign of offering behaviors - the dog gets rewarded for trying just about anything until they learn that *doing* something and trying stuff during training time is what gets them rewarded.

Also, matching energy can be pretty important. You could be overwhelming him with the *events*.

When you watch the ME videos you need to remember that he's often working with high energy dogs and matching their energy. If your dog is lower energy then you need to dial it back just a bit and try to match the energy given to bring your dog into the game more.

My sessions are pretty quick and with food he does focus quite well. Perhaps im expecting too much.

Im quite a high energy person so its you talk Bout matching energy Mara. I might have to dial it back so he doesnt feel overwhelmed.