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Do you train with treats?

  • Yes

    Votes: 32 82.1%
  • No

    Votes: 5 12.8%
  • Other

    Votes: 2 5.1%

What do you use to train?

5K views 52 replies 28 participants last post by  JunoVonNarnia 
#1 ·
Do you train with treats? What treats? Are the treats part of the dog's meal? Do you use any particular treats (hotdogs, cheese, kibble, salmon etc).
Do you reward with love/ affection?
Do you do both? Do you use a clicker or marker words?

Please share... I am very curious as I was taught to reward with affection only. I have also been told that you should make your dog work for their meal? Not sure what that means....

Lots of useful information on this forum
 
#40 · (Edited)
I use food early on with a puppy to teach the basics. My older dog is still food motivated. My other dog isn’t. He will leave a bowl of food to follow me if he thinks I’m doing something fun. He is toy obsessed, though, so I switched to toys early on when I needed reinforcement. Frisbees, tugs. I agree that food is faster and easier. It’s a better lure because you can cover it in your hand and the dog still knows where it is. A toy is easier to grab if they want to, though. So that is something that must be dealt with when starting out.
 
#41 ·
Military handlers provide reward at source for known valid finds, such as training finds. On a real world find, the dog is called off and then sent on a drop hide do you know you are rewarding on good odor.

The reward schedule is typically 100% unless a trainer recommends stretching it out to get more hunt from a particular dog.

I start puppies with food rewards at 100% reinforcement schedule. Lots of reps and easy to lure. Within a couple weeks, I'm fading food rewards to a much lower reinforcement rate for everything but Nosework and recall.

As the dog learns the rules of toys and is understanding commands, I move to a ball, tug or bumper for primary rewards and keep a few high value treats on me in case I want to trade for something.

This is just generally what works for me. Adult dogs are different. Some food, some toy, some all compulsion depending on the dog and its intended lifestyle.
 
#46 ·
Do you train with treats? What treats? Are the treats part of the dog's meal? Do you use any particular treats (hotdogs, cheese, kibble, salmon etc).
Do you reward with love/ affection?
Do you do both? Do you use a clicker or marker words?

Please share... I am very curious as I was taught to reward with affection only. I have also been told that you should make your dog work for their meal? Not sure what that means....

Lots of useful information on this forum
I'm like you, I was taught reward with affection only also, and reasonable corrections with the choke chain, sort of a reminder, "Hey, pay attention" correction. I haven't obedience trained a dog for quite some time, and what little protection training I did was at least 40+ years ago, and ended up not being able to continue. I recently started researching training a dog for IPO, and was surprised at all the food/toy based training. I'm not into the 'clicker' training, nor the 'YES!' thingy, just "good boy/girl' and lots of praise. But, I may experiment with the food/toy training, interspersed with just praise.
 
#47 ·
It's a long video, but this monologue by Michael Ellis explains why trainers have gone to marker training. He came up using traditional methods. He explains how and why the shift occurred in the sport world.

 
#50 ·
It's a long video, but this monologue by Michael Ellis explains why trainers have gone to marker training. He came up using traditional methods. He explains how and why the shift occurred in the sport world.

I like marker training. I use words because I'm just too stubborn and clutzy to get good at using a clicker. (and I suspect that small movements I make with my body and breath serve as markers as well) I like being able to release my dogs when they've done the behavior I want with the expectation of reward to come soon. Much less fumbling around on my part.
 
#48 ·
I use treats, toys, pets AND praise. When learning a new behavior, I always use treats coupled with praise. Once the behavior is learned, intermittently reinforce with treats, but always tell him he's a good boy. My dog only gets treats for "work" - no free treats. But I like giving him treats, so he gets several brief training sessions throughout the day. I'll make him do several reps of several commands to earn a treat. Sometimes I add toys to the mix and reward with a game of fetch or tug or flirt pole. He likes getting his ears scratched, so I also reward him that way.

Now that he is a little over a year old, I expect more from him and he has to do more to earn treats.

One thing I make sure to do is to praise him when he is quietly behaving well. For example, tonight the fireworks are going off, and he is quietly relaxing nearby. So every once in a while I will tell him he is being a good dog.
 
#51 ·
I use hotdog pieces when training my sheps, always have. Praise when they achieve, snarles and growls to warn and tugs to end the sessions. The sessions are never more the 10 minutes for the older ones and only a minute or two for the pups. Hand and voice commands are taught from day one and are repeated by all family members. Consistent command from everyone avoids confusion in the pups... but sometimes the stubborn ones makes me have to out think them. One thing we do as a family is howl together, sounds strange but the pack bonds grow stronger when we do. The added benefit is if one wanders off or chases a deer out of view ShepDaddy calls out to them to guide them home. Neighbors think I'm nuts but my pack stays together.
 
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