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Dog Training Article's
Name: Rewards
By Picture Perfect Pets
A reward can be anything your dog likes. Different dogs may have different likes and dislikes, just like people. I have worked with some dogs that love bananas, strawberries, apples, carrots & asparagus, and think meat and dog biscuits are just so-so. My dog quite likes fresh meat and cheese, but will spit a banana right out…and super smelly, moist dog treats are so-so in her view. However, for my dog, a chance to play tug or a chance to greet another dog or a child are rewards she’s happiest to work for.
The point is…you need to experiment and take note of what your dog likes, and how much they like that in comparison to other things competing for their attention in any given environment. Things they like the most are their high value rewards. Things they like less are the medium and low value rewards. In a non-distracting environment with a behavior they already know, they may be happy to work for the possibility of low value rewards. The more distracting the environment or more challenging the behavior, the higher in value the reward needs to be in order to have any reinforcing effect on a behavior.
Real Life Rewards & Nothing In Life Is Free
It’s important to remember that rewards don’t always have to be food. In fact, I’d like you to get together with everyone who knows your dog and start to brainstorm some of the things in life your dog likes besides food. Does your dog like greeting other dogs? Greeting people? Sitting on the sofa with you (if that is allowed in your household)? Putting on the leash and going out the front door? Smelling a tree? Chasing a ball?
Make a list of these “real life rewards.” From now on, if it’s something that your dog enjoys, and you can control their access to it, you’ll charge them for access by having them practice a cue. This is our “Nothing In Life Is Free For Doggies” program. We’ll abbreviate this as NILIF from here on.
Now, some people seem to think this sounds a little severe at first, but there are many reasons I’d like you to follow through with this program:
- Your NILIF program will help your dog to think you may be worth listening to even when you don’t smell like you have a treat, since you are able to make other good stuff happen.
- This program will help to make the pack hierarchy clear for your dog. Since humans control the dog’s access to all good stuff, humans are by default, higher ranking. You’ll be less likely to end up in a behaviorist’s office someday with a dog that thinks he’s in control of the pack, a condition which can lead to a number of behavior patterns humans don’t like.
- Your NILIF program will help you to treat your training as more of a lifestyle than a chore. You’ll have much more success with your training if you integrate your practice into every activity your engage in with your dog than if you rely on clear cut training sessions. Take your rewards with you everywhere you go with your dog at least in the initial phases of training. This will allow you to more easily go through the steps of your dog’s training at the level of challenge needed every time you come upon a chance to make use of a real life reward, such as the chance to get petted by a person you meet on your walk. I think you’ll find it easier to be motivated to follow through with your training if you approach it this way, than if you think of having to do half hour sessions every night when you come home tired from work or school.
- This approach will also help your dog to “generalize” more easily. Dogs just don’t generalize most behaviors as easily as humans do. That means, if you only do your training in controlled training sessions at home, you’ll end up with a dog that understands the cues well at home, but not necessarily in different situations. Invite friends over for a party and ask your dog to show off…dog looks as if he’s never heard that cue before. Ask your dog to show off at the pet store, and again, the dog looks as if he’s never heard the cue before. Actually, in such cases, the dog actually may not understand the word, even if you repeat it over and over, even if you raise your voice! However, if you have done a good job at going through all the steps of all your training around lots of different distractions, your dog will finally generalize, and thus understand, “oh…you mean “Down” always means put my belly on the ground? Got it!” Now back to our NILIF program: If you’re making use of any real life rewards that come your way as chances to practice your training steps right there on the spot, you’ll be helping your dog to generalize naturally, and you’ll end up with a much more reliably trained dog.
Food Rewards
We’ll be using mainly food rewards in lessons to make the most efficient use of our time together. In general, fresh vegetables, fruit, dry dog biscuits, etc. are low value rewards. Packaged, moist, smelly treats may be medium to high. Real meat (fresh or freeze-dried) & cheese tend to be high value for many dogs.
You’ll need to test out your different food rewards to see which ones are higher and lower value rewards for your particular dog, so that you can dole out the right level reward at the right time. Basically, we want to think of it as paying our dogs as cheaply (in their own value system) as we can get away with and still keep them motivated to work. If we give them all their favorite rewards all the time even for easy behaviors, those favorite rewards will become run of the mill, and we’ll be stuck searching for the next wonderful thing that compares the squirrels and birds in the trees. On the other hand, if we use our lower value rewards to reinforce easy behaviors, and save our higher ones for when we really need them, they are more likely to retain their high value. You’ll want to take a variety of reward levels with you everywhere you go with your dog, but just use the rewards you need. Have your high values available just in case you need them—if your dog is paying no attention to a lower value food magnet, put it away and bring out a stronger one, but if you don’t need to use the higher values on this outing, just save them aside for next time.
I think it’s worth mentioning here that some people are concerned at first that feeding their dog “human food” will create a begging dog. Actually, just feeding a dog “human food” which I prefer to call “real food” does not automatically create a dog that begs at the table. Feeding your dog anything the dog likes… including dog food…from your plate, the table or the counter will encourage the dog to beg in those situations. Feeding your dog real food during the course of a training exercise should not create a dog that begs for food from your plate.
If you find your dog doesn’t tolerate a certain food well, don’t give it to them again. Just like humans, different dogs can have differing sensitivities to different foods.
IMPORTANT: NO CHOCOLATE!!! It can be deathly to dogs. No grapes, no raisins…recent findings indicate these are dangerous to dogs. No apple seeds, no potato eyes, no onions, no green parts of tomatoes…these are all things I’ve heard can be bad for dogs. When in doubt, trust your vet’s advice. I’m a trainer, not a medical professional!
HOMEWORK:
Find 5 food rewards your dog likes. Rank them highest to lowest. Save the top 3 to be given only in class or around tougher distractions! If the dog gets the high value rewards all the time, they will loose their high value!
Bring all 5 food rewards to class. If using hard treats, cut into the correct size before class. For a medium to large dog, for example, a treat the size of a pointer finger nail is generous enough. For a toy or small breed, a pinky nail sized (or even a half pinky nail sized) treat should be fine.
Also find a couple toys your dog loves, then only let your dog have access to those special toys during training sessions. Bring the toys on every outing with your dog so you’ll have them on hand if you need them. (Sometimes play rewards work better than food rewards with some dogs for some behaviors.) |
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