Transcript
Training Treats For Dogs
A food motivated dog is one that can be trained very quickly.
However it’s really easy to get stuck being a hostage to treats.
It’s just as easy though to get rid of treats altogether and I’m going to show you how to do that, right now.
Ian here with Simpawtico Dog Training and before we get into how to phase out treats, please make sure you’re subscribed so you never miss any of our videos.
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Now food is a great way to get a dog into training.
A food motivated dog is very easy to train very quickly, even when teaching difficult behaviour or overcoming behavior problems.
What ends up happening in most cases though is that we don’t start phasing the treat out early enough and so we’re stuck using it.
Then the dog won’t perform unless we have food.
We have to keep upping the ante to get them to do something, moving from simple lures to increasingly valuable food items.
Even then sometimes a dog simply decides that it’s just not worth it and then you don’t have any leverage.
We need to short-circuit this whole model and replace it with something better.
From here on out you will move through four stages as you free yourself from relying on food to get your dpg to perform: remove lures, reduce rewards, replace rewards, and the ultimate fourth step, remove rewards.
Let’s take a look at these and see how they work.
Stage 1: remove lures a lure is used to cause a behavior after 10 to 15 repetitions the behavior is happening fairly reliably and we don’t need it anymore.
Upon hearing the verbal request your dog has learned to anticipate the hand motion that signals the behavior.
They’re doing it faster and happier.
At this point get that food out of your hand and into your pocket.
Now when you practice a behavior, signal big like you have the food in your hand.
Your dog performs the behavior, and then you reward them with food from your pocket.
At this point your dog learns that they don’t need to see the food.
If they respond correctly food rewards will still magically appear.
From now on you can practice with empty hands.
Incidentally this is the fastest stage.
You can empty your hands within the first day of teaching something new in most cases.
Now you’re ready for stage 2: reducing the number of rewards.
The key phrase here is “more for less.
” We start expecting more work out of one reward.
We want longer stays, faster recalls, perfect heels and better performance overall.
Here’s an example.
In group classes we teach the positions sit, lay down, and stand.
Then we practice the transitions by doing the routine sit, down, sit, stand, down, stand.
Initially we lure train these and we may reward every step: sit-treat, down-treat, sit-treat, stand-treat, and so on.
That’s six pieces of food for the whole routine.
Within the next couple of classes though we should be doing the whole routine with an empty hand and one reward at the end.
Not only did we remove the lure but we’ve reduced the number of rewards in this example from 6 to 1.
The big takeaway in this step is that we want performance to keep improving no matter what.
Don’t be in too big of a hurry to reward everything.
This is a commission based payment program now; treat every food reward like it’s a paycheck that they have to work for.
Always be refining the criteria too.
Raise the bar as they get better.
Only reward your dog immediately following responses that are prompt, precise, and polite.
Above-average responses get a little training treat.
Great effort gets a big liver treat.
And half-assed effort gets diddly-squat! Your dog will learn that even though you have food they won’t get a reward every time.
More importantly to even be eligible for a food reward in the first place their performance needs to be above average.
Remember, better responses get better rewards.
If you dig technical jargon this is called a “differential reward schedule.
” This will have the effect of distilling mediocre behavior over time down to pretty great behavior.
And honestly the number one success factor here is repetition.
Now we’re ready for stage 3: replace food rewards.
At this stage we need to get the food out of our pockets and reward the dog with other things like praise, petting, toys, games, and activities.
Life rewards like these can become strong motivators to a happy dog.
For example, when you’re walking your dog you could stop periodically and have them sit.
As a reward say, “Great! Let’s go!” In this case the walk continues, which is the reward.
No food required.
Around your house, in the yard, or at the dog park call your dog and ask them to sit every minute or so and as a reward say, “Good job! Go play!” In this example, play resumes, which is the reward.
No food required.
When playing tug or fetch, behaviors like take it, leave it, and drop it are implicit because they’re part of the game, and the game itself is a fun reward.
Again, no food required.
I teach all of my students to treat their voice as their number one training tool and their hands as the number two training tool.
That is to say that praise and touch can be powerful rewards and can substitute for food very easily.
My Touch Tactics video has some great strategies for using petting as a potent life reward.
I’ll link to that video in the description for this one.
The point here is that your dog learns that food isn’t necessary.
Correct responses and great performance produce all sorts of other amazing rewards.
Now you could stop here.
You’re free of food, life is grand.
But some of you will want to push onwards to the final step: removing ALL external rewards.
Assuming you’ve got the first three steps in the bag, and you continue with your practice, it will eventually no longer be necessary to reward your dog to reinforce behavior you want from them.
You could of course always reward your dog if you choose to, and they’ll love you for it.
But the point being that rewards are not necessary to guarantee good behavior.
Each correct response becomes its own reward.
This is just like when we go on a hike, or ride horses, or read a book, or play sports.
External rewards aren’t necessary; getting to do it is the reward.
This is the pinnacle of practice: getting to the point in our relationship that doing the things we ask is our dog’s favorite hobby.
It makes them happy to see us happy and their lives are richer for it.
So are ours for that matter.
Let’s recap these stages: Remove Lures.
Get the food out of your hand and into your pocket.
Reduce rewards.
Start expecting more quality work for fewer rewards.
Replace rewards.
Get the food out of your pocket now and use life rewards.
Remove rewards.
Correct behavior is a reward unto itself.
It’s worth noting that each stage doesn’t have a razor fine beginning and end.
They kind of bleed into each other.
For example you could start reducing rewards before you remove the lure.
You could start cultivating life rewards before you get rid of food rewards.
There’s a strategy and an eye for the finish line, of course, but if you patiently follow these steps and you stand by it and follow through, you will be free of hostage negotiations with your dog.
So good luck and please let me know how it goes for you in the comments.
In the next video I’ll show you how to use reward scaling to ramp up performance in those early stages, and it’s a perfect companion to this video.
Don’t forget to give us a thumbs up if you learned something useful.
And as always keep learning, keep practicing and I will see you next time.
Thanks for watching!.
Now this is just like when we go on a hike, or ride a horse, or ride a book.
ride a book!
The post Fade Lures, Phase Out Treats – Get Your Dog to Listen appeared first on PlusPuppy.
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