Crazy2Calm Working Paws

Teaching the Value of Trade (Patreon)

Published:

2025-02-20 23:08:58

Imported:

2026-06

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You never want to take something away from your dog without giving them back something of equal or greater value. Especially when a dog may be struggling with resource guarding tendencies. Before you play this game you will need to create a list of things that your dog finds reinforcing. Add different types of food, toys, and attention or games to your list.

Check out the video above of Roz Learning to Trade Video

Teaching your dog that there is value in a good trade is a great bond building exercise. I never take items away from my dogs! But I do trade them for items I don't want them to have. As young puppies that mouth everything, we often deal with trying to teach them which items are theirs to play with and which items belong to people so they should not be chewed. At that point in a puppy's life it's easy to trade.When they grab your slipper and run away to enjoy it, some people may run after the dog and force the puppy to surrender the item while an experienced trainer often suggests trading the puppy for an appropriate dog toy. Think back to early days with your puppy, what did you do?

Fast forward to adolescence, now your teen puppy has a much bigger world to explore. New smells, new sights, new sounds, treasures found out on your walks, distractions that bring your training sessions to a screeching halt...how we handle these things during the crazy teen phase form habits that can last a lifetime. I don't know about you, but I don't want to spend my time chasing my dogs when they stumble across something wonderful.

Is your dog already an adult dog with some bad behaviors such as counter surfing, raiding the trash or picking up tasty morsels on your walks? Teaching the value of a good trade may be harder with adult dogs but still very possible.

Here's a couple of guidelines to teach the value of trading.

Always trade up! What you have to offer must be more valuable to your dog than what they have. This is easy with puppies. When they steal the slipper you grab a soft tug toy and run the opposite direction calling their name. After a game of tug, you reclaim the slipper and put it where the puppy can't get it again. Adolescents find more valuable items so your trading up becomes more difficult. They've moved on to whatever is in your trash can or on your counter, so what can you offer? I keep high value treats in my fridge for this! It's an easy trade for kitchen manners, but instead of waiting for my dog to raid the trash, I cue them to leave it anytime my dog walks near the trash can and then reinforce handsomely. I do the same for noses touching kitchen counters or other surfaces that frequently hold food. This typically prevents the bad habits from ever starting.
If you can't trade up, don't trade at all! For example, my dogs are lucky to spend a great deal of time off leash or dragging longlines since we live in the country. Azul often finds the remains of wild animals that have been left behind by predators. How can I compete with that? Nothing I can carry with me can compete with that. So I work towards having my dog show me their prize so I can determine if safety is a risk factor. If it's safe I always give them permission to enjoy it, even if it means I sit down and wait for them to finish. If it's unsafe, which is rare but it happens they get a jackpot of treats for leaving it & letting me dispose of it, then we always play a really fun game. This takes time and building up a reinforcement history but is totally achievable with any dog!
Start out with easy trades you can control. If your dog is food motivated, let them play with a toy for a few minutes then let them sniff a food treat. If they drop the toy, mark and reward. Repeat this throughout the day. When they do it every time, start adding your cue. I like to wait until I see my dog chewing on a toy naturally, then offer a trade. Before long, your dog will be bringing you all their toys in hopes of a trade. I trade each and every time my dog offers a trade. If my dog wants to play with me they bring me a toy, but continue to hold it. If they want to trade, they drop it on my lap or at my feet. If they happen to catch me with empty pockets I play with them. My pockets are rarely empty!

Files

Previews only

Teaching Retrieve - Value of Trades

This is the 3rd training session Miss Roz has had with teaching retrieve and she really has caught on very quickly. But not quite as quickly as I push her in this video. In the previous sessions, we've practiced with a dumbbell shaped dog toy. In this session I add in multiple new items really quickly. To warm her up, I have her mouth and release each item before I ask or the actually retrieve. This is to show her that she has my permission to put her mouth on these items. Part of the reason that I'm pushing her to try multiple items really quickly is that she has a counter surfing habit that I'm trying to teach her that I will always trade her for her treasures. This video is a good example of needing to "always trade up!" The first few items, Roz struggles more the cues and choosing to actually pick up the item. But the very last item is a deck of cards which of course is in a cardboard box that Roz really wants to shred. She was happy to trade for fairly low value kibble with the first few items, but I had to grab something more tasty to get her to give me the cardboard box. The traditional way to teach retrieve is to use the 4 individual steps; pick it up, hold it, carry it to me, and release it in my hand. Often people start training with "take it" or "pick it up" cue where the dog simply puts their mouth on the object. Over time, you slowly increase the time you expect the dog to hold the item and when they understand hold, you add in drop in your hand or on your lap. The last step is typically the hold and carry where you slowly make the distance carried longer. Then if you really want to make it more advanced, you teach the long distance retrieve of objects you have named or objects that you point to. Instead of following the traditional approach, I like experiment with each part individually to see if one step is easiest for the dog. Then I will practice that step, doing lots of that step for a high rate of high value reinforcement. Once the dog is solid on that step that they are naturally great at, I will slowly add in the other parts. I feel this approach allows you to focus on the skills your dog already loves to do to build up some momentum for the retrieve task.