Value

Quite often dog training clients get hung up on the usage of treats as rewards for their dog. They want to know why can't their dog just "do it" without a treat or when can they stop using the treats altogether. The answer isn't complicated, but it is a long explanation. After all, there are two questions here.

For simplicity's sake, I am going to categorize dog training into two camps: the traditional trainers/methods and the positive trainers/methods. In reality, it isn't that black and white because people tend to mix methodologies (which really isn't in the best interest of the dog) and attempt to do positive training with corrections rolled in (at that point is it really positive?).

Traditional dog training uses corrections when a dog does something wrong and nothing happens when the dog does a behavior correctly. The results range. Generally the dog is doing what you want out of fear of a correction. He is not sitting/staying because he loves you and you told him to do it. He knows that it is in his best interest to remain seated or something will happen that he doesn't like. A correction is going to be different for different people. It could be a sharp verbal correction or even a physical correction, such as a collar pop or even striking the dog. Let's take morals of out this. The list is long when it comes to the problem with corrections. For one, it can create a dog that shuts down and refuses to work. It can create a dog that has the life sucked out of him and works like a robot. For "hard" dogs, the human will have to keep stepping the corrections up as the dog gets desensitized and used to the correction and now requires something bigger for him to listen. Who really wants to be that owner? Who wants to yell and scream and harm their dog? I know I don't.

Positive training is based on rewarding the dog for desired behaviors and essentially ignoring or redirecting undesired behaviors or shaping those behaviors into something more positive. The awesome thing about positive training is that you can't "mess" your dog up. Positive training doesn't create dogs that shut down, or act like robots or make you feel awful about yourself. However, if done incorrectly, you may not end up with a dog that does what you want because there MIGHT be a reward, you will end up with a dog that doesn't perform unless he actually SEES the reward! I think this is where people doubt positive training. They see dogs that won't do what is asked of them unless there is a cookie in front of their face. To me, that means the owner just never moved onto the next phase from bribing/luring to actually rewarding and using other rewards aside from food.

Why do we use rewards?

Dogs will only do what we ask of them for two reasons; 1. They are avoiding a correction or 2. We have something they want. Since I choose the positive route, I use rewards to train my dogs. Therefore, my dog does what I ask because I covet something she wants. People often forget that dogs want other things in life other than treats. The list may be different for each dog, and the order of most desirable to least desirable may be different as well, but here is a general list.

1. Food/treats
2. Toys
3. Affection/praise (often this must be taught to the dog that this is a good thing)
4. Access to outside (to potty, to play, to explore)
5. Access to other dogs
6. Access to comfortable things (your furniture)
7. Interaction with other people

Food is usually number one, which is why we start with it in training. Food is also easy to use, easy to control and for most dogs, doesn't bring their energy level up as toys can do that sometimes.

Transitioning from luring to rewarding

Waving a treat in front of your dog's nose to get her to sit is a basic step when we teach a dog to sit, however, we need to quickly move to rewarding unless we want to get stuck in that trap of the dog only wanting to perform if the treat is visible. Last night I had a puppy in class brand new to training and didn't know any commands. The owners chose not to clicker train, so we used luring to get the puppy into a sit. After about 5 repetitions, I showed the pup that my hand was empty (no treat) and gave the hand signal I had been using (which comes natural to the lure to sit) and said sit, and she did it! I immediately rewarded her from my left hand that had a hidden treat in my fist at my side she wasn't aware of. I then had the owners do this with her a handful of times. Later during class after we had taught her several other new commands, her owners attempted a sit again and she didn't do it. Immediately they became concerned that she wasn't doing it because she didn't see the treat. My assessment was quite different. First off, the command was brand new to the pup and we had taught her quite a few new things in a new environment that I believe she may have forgot what the word meant. Second, the owner wasn't holding her hand in the correct position. When I stepped in and held my hand in the correct position (no treat) and calmly said sit and waited for a few seconds, she thought about it and did it! Reward! Now if she had not done it, I would have given her another shot, then got the treat out and did it the way I taught her. I want to make sure I follow through with a command, but at the same time not repeat it too many times. If I have to get the treat back out, so be it. The puppy only learned that command 50 minutes ago so I can hardly expect her to perform without assistance at times. With my own dogs, I would give them to shots to take a command and then if they didn't do it, wonder to myself (quickly!) why they aren't doing it and try to remedy the situation and ask for the sit again. Am I too close to something scary or distracting? If so, I need to move further away with the dog. Is my dog not feeling well? 99% of the time when Lucy would not take a known command it was because her back or joints were bothering her and if I asked her to lie-down on a bed or soft surface instead of the ground, she would promptly do it.

When to stop using treats

This new puppy owner mentioned above, were thrilled at how quickly their puppy was picking up commands and asked me when they can stop rewarding her for each command. Never. Never do you want to stop rewarding your dog. Does that mean she will get a treat for every command? No. They are just going to start substituting other rewards and having the dog perform many more commands before a desired reward. The first step to getting away from treating every time is using something called intermittent rewards. This means you randomly reward 2 out of 4 sits, or a random number out of however many times you practice a command. This strategy actually will make the behavior stronger. The dog doesn't know which time she gets the reward and can't anticipate which times she will and therefore (SHOULD), perform every time asked. This is very similar to why people gamble. People continue to put money in slot machines for a chance for a pay-out.

If this is done too fast, very often a command/behavior will diminish and you will have to go back to frequent rewarding.

The amount of rewarding is going to differ based on your location. Your dog is less distracted at home, and therefore more likely to listen than she is in class or at a park. Be prepared to reward more for desired behaviors for a longer period of time outside the home.

My dogs

My dogs are adults now, 5 and almost 9 years old. I don't give them treats for basic commands at home. They get life rewards. They do sit/stays at the top of their stairs to gain access to our yard to go potty. I will have them sit to get their leashes on. They need to do a trick for a bone. Sometimes during a game of fetch we randomly work on leave-it and recalls off the toy. We work on name discrimination and dropping the toy when asked. They do get treats when I bring them to work though. I want them to behave as close to perfect as they can and I can ensure that with treats. They aren't getting super high value treats, because it is unnecessary for them. If I were taking them to a new place to teach a class, then I would bring high value treats because I am competing with a new environment.

Becoming the value

The most important message I can send is that you need to become valuable in your dog's eyes. That means you are the gateway to all good things for him. Have him perform basic commands or even tricks to gain access to the things he finds rewarding. You can run with this as far as you need for your dog. If your dog is already well trained, you can obviously relax a little and not have him work for every ball toss and pet. If you have a dog that is having trouble following your directions and chooses to self-reward instead, then you will need to restrict more resources until your dog realizes that you are the key to the good stuff in his life.