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Order of progression/food rewards

754 views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  gsdraven 
#1 ·
Hi,

We got our 8 week old gsd pup about 5 days ago. I had been watching some training dvds about setting a marker with "yes" and giving the treat. I have started this with the sit command and he has learned this well (or just knows if he sits he will get the reward :confused:). so im after advice what to do next, should it be the drop command? or learn sit further with some distractions?

also, im a bit concerned over the size of the rewards, i have just been using bbq chicken in small pieces, but by the time i have got him to do 15 commands or so, this amount of chicken is could be 1/4 of his nightly meal, is this ok? could i go further with more reward food to even bring it up to 1/2 his meal size so i can train for longer?


thanks
 
#2 ·
with an 8 week old puppy, you can make your food rewards TINY TINY, you can use a variety of things, string cheese, hot dogs, make them tiny tiny:) (chicken is fine)

I would make your training sessions, short , at 8 wks of age they really have the attention span of gnat:) and don't be surprised if all he's learned flies out in the window in a week, or maybe not:) Do short sessions, few times a day. Puppies get bored easy, and I usually let mine just be puppies, and throw training exercises in during daily life..

At this age, the most important thing for me is the "COME" command..

Congrats on your new puppy
 
#3 ·
I prefer to train with part of the meal (especially in low distraction areas) to cut down on calories. Reward size should be small, just a taste. You never want them to be satisfied.

Once a dog demonstrates that they know the command and are doing it 9 times out of 10, I move to a random rate of reward. It keeps them gambling because they know sometimes they will get the food, sometimes just verbal praise. It should be short random at first... second, fourth, second, third, fifth, third, second and then move to longer and longer in between. I will also choose to reward when the command is done quick and with great enthusiam vs just doing it because they are told.
 
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