# Strategies when training with treats



## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

I think that's a fine way of using treats to reward positive behavior. When you're giving commands, I would use a marker (either clicker and "yes!" or just "yes!") immediately after she performs the correct behavior, so she knows the exact moment she performed what you asked her to, and then give a treat. I bet she will be very fun to train with all that spunk!


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

zooeysmom said:


> I think that's a fine way of using treats to reward positive behavior. When you're giving commands, I would use a marker (either clicker and "yes!" or just "yes!") immediately after she performs the correct behavior, so she knows the exact moment she performed what you asked her to, and then give a treat. I bet she will be very fun to train with all that spunk!


Thank you. I use “ good girl “ as a marker. I tried the clicker but I’m awkward with it.

I will have to make a video of her recall. It is so funny, she is running as fast as she can, chest almost touching the ground. The Leaves are flying all over. She is by far the fastest dog I’ve ever had. I wish I could do agility with her, but with my health, it’s not possible. :-(

Do you like the show “ Lucky dog “ ?


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

Ian Dunbar advises using kibble as treats. Unfortunately, Buck never fell for that. I have always been stingy with the size of the treat and always break one treat up, no matter how small.


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

Mfmst said:


> Ian Dunbar advises using kibble as treats. Unfortunately, Buck never fell for that. I have always been stingy with the size of the treat and always break one treat up, no matter how small.


I think it’s a good idea but I like to offer variety. I find their kibble loses value when you give it as a treat.

I do cut my treats is very little pieces, sometimes they’re almost crumbs, lol ! The objective is not to make them gain weight, but learn. Beckie is free fed her kibble and stops when not hungry anymore. She never says no to treats, though !


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

You could break something like Zukes minis into halves and still be very generous to Beckie. Each mini (whole) is 3 calories.

As she gets better at the things you are teaching her transition to a random reinforcement schedule for giving the treats. Keep her guessing about whether she will just get a good girl or a great job with a treat.


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

lily cd re said:


> You could break something like Zukes minis into halves and still be very generous to Beckie. Each mini (whole) is 3 calories.
> 
> As she gets better at the things you are teaching her transition to a random reinforcement schedule for giving the treats. Keep her guessing about whether she will just get a good girl or a great job with a treat.


I looked online what they were and I just bought almost the same thing yesterday, different brand !


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I love that they are low calorie. For small dogs I've done training with I find them easy to break in half by hand and yet for my big dogs I can dole out 3-5 pieces and they still get excited and think they have earned a great prize when the "pez dispenser" is working.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Dechi said:


> Thank you. I use “ good girl “ as a marker. I tried the clicker but I’m awkward with it.
> 
> I will have to make a video of her recall. It is so funny, she is running as fast as she can, chest almost touching the ground. The Leaves are flying all over. She is by far the fastest dog I’ve ever had. I wish I could do agility with her, but with my health, it’s not possible. :-(
> 
> Do you like the show “ Lucky dog “ ?


It can be tricky at first to get the hang of the clicker and the timing--it just takes practice. Watch Kikopup and Zak George videos on Youtube. It's taken me at least 3 classes to get it down pretty well, but it was worth the effort because Frosty's been easier to train with it. 

Does Canada offer Fast CAT? You wouldn't have to run with her! 

I haven't seen Lucky Dog! I guess I'll have to look for it


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

zooeysmom said:


> It can be tricky at first to get the hang of the clicker and the timing--it just takes practice. Watch Kikopup and Zak George videos on Youtube. It's taken me at least 3 classes to get it down pretty well, but it was worth the effort because Frosty's been easier to train with it.
> 
> Does Canada offer Fast CAT? You wouldn't have to run with her!
> 
> I haven't seen Lucky Dog! I guess I'll have to look for it


I have never heard of FAST cat in my province. Maybe in the rest of Canada, I don’t know.

Lucky dog is Brandon McMillan’s show. I like him a lot, he really cares about dogs and seems to have a way with just about any animal. He’s trained wild animals like tigers and bears, and now gets dogs on death row and makes service dogs or pets out of them. He is very involved in rescuing.

I can’t watch his show though, it doesn’t play in Canada. I watch little bits on Youtube. :-(

https://youtu.be/M41BETkP_9s


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

The main trap to avoid when using treats to train is bribing your dog vs rewarding.

The wrong way to train with a treat:
Bring the treat between your dog's paws. When the dog lies down, give a treat.
Do this over and over.
Now, when you want your dog to lie down, the dog looks for the treat and will only lie down if you are holding a treat. 
Congratulations, you taught your dog to like treats and only listen for treats.

That's a bribe. Bribes are bad. Whoops.

The right way to use a treat to train a new skill.
Bring the treat between your dogs paws, when the dog lies down, give them the treat.
Repeat this THREE TIMES and only THREE TIMES.
On the fourth try, hold a pretend treat in your hand, put the pretend treat between their paws. When the dog lies down, give them a real treat from your other hand.
Congratulations, you taught your dog to lie down by following your empty hand. 

The only exception to this rule is recall. Come=wonderful treats every time for months and months and months.

If you can't manage a clicker, you can use the word YES. The click isn't what trains your dog. A click is a signal to your dog that means, you did it correctly and a reward is coming. Timing is important because you want to mark the moment your dog did what you wanted, but you can do that by saying, YES in an upbeat tone.

Happy training!


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## cate&clair (Aug 7, 2017)

Mfmst said:


> Ian Dunbar advises using kibble as treats. Unfortunately, Buck never fell for that. I have always been stingy with the size of the treat and always break one treat up, no matter how small.


The author Susan Conant, whose Holly Winter dog-based mystery series is fun, addressed this well in her book _The Dogfather_. I'm paraphrasing, but the idea is: If you're training and treating the dog for good behavior, think of treats like pay. Kibble is $1 bills. If you want results, offer more $$. Liver is $20 bills. 

My experience is also to use a "high value" treat the dog loves and use small bits. I'm not feeding my dog, I'm rewarding her. Break out the good stuff!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Lily still will work for kibble and she is very happy to get it. It isn't my normal reward (since my dogs don't eat kibble anymore), but my point is that different dogs have different levels of motivation. Lily loves to do things with me and the time spent is its own reward for the most part. When I am teaching her something new I start with something nice as pay and then scale it down. Now when we do an obedience routine she has to get through the whole thing and out of the ring with no food in the offing. Javelin loves to work with me too, but his exercises are still undergoing a lot of refinement so I need a way to tell him he has done the best job he could have so he gets cheese, but it is given a lot less often than it used to be and although he used to see it I now hide it most of the time.


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

I don’t use treats as much now and Beckie is happy to comply. I think she’s starting to understand that whatever I want, I get, and that she can’t escape me, lol !

Now she goes in her crate on her own at bedtime, I never used treats, and she runs in the big crate when I have to leave the house. No treats used for that either.

Treats are still used for «* come*», when grooming and when filing nails. Or when learning something new.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

My dog Babykins has mostly been trained with her regular food. I do use chicken and hamburger (high value treats) to training when we are in class because it's a more distracting location. I jackpot when teaching something new, then taper off and go to a random food rewards with lots of praise.


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## Markbthompson (May 24, 2012)

I only give meaty rewards when Hope alerts to a high or low sugar, I want those to be special. If I'm out in public and she alerts she goes to the container when we get home to let me know I owe her one. She won't forget it, or let me forget it. I just use low value treats like mini MilkBones as everyday treats. They are tiny and only like 3 calories. I keep them on me and if she does perfect in a store and loading and unloading from the car, she can have 1 on the way home. If I go to a restaurant and she stays down or in a sit close to me the whole time, she gets 1 when we leave. Just a reward for good behavior more than anything and only if I remember to throw 2-3 in my pocket earlier. We're not training any new skills, just a reward for good behavior now and then keeps them on their toes. My last dog wasn't food motivated at all, she just wanted praise and loving. Whatever works for 1 dog, may not the next. 


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