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Human students in positive-training group classes have treats with them at all times. Dogs are learning new skills or getting reinforcement for cues they have already learned, and clear communication is essential. A small food reward is the perfect communication \u201cpaycheck.\u201d I try to get these dedicated humans to carry a variety of treats to keep communication exciting\u2014and to wear an actual treat pouch for fast delivery and higher focus. Some people try rewarding from a pants or jacket pocket or from a plastic bag, but they soon learn that a better way to keep Roscoe\u2019s attention is by wearing an actual pouch. A treat pouch gives a crystal-clear signal that good things may be coming, and the scent from one is stronger than from a jeans pocket. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are many kinds of pouches\u2014from open silicone containers to fabric fanny-pack types with auto closures. I use a large pouch that clips around my waist and snaps closed so treats don\u2019t dump all over the ground when I lean over. I never run out of treats! I think most students follow my example even if not at first. They do in class<\/em>. But what about outside of class?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rewards-based training demands quick treat delivery, usually within a second of the desired behavior. The treat tells the dog that the correct choice has been made and can even help modify unwanted or fearful behavior. So wearing a treat pouch when training at home and on dog walks can lead to a more solid training program. Just the possibility<\/em> that a prize might be coming keeps a dog on her toes\u2014as does the promise of your own regular paycheck at work. The dog doesn\u2019t need constant rewards for known behaviors, but an intermittent piece of food can do wonders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even more important, my treat pouch is a safety net. If on a walk something spooks my dog, I can swoop in with multiple cookies to countercondition what happened. If an off-leash dog comes running toward us (grrr), I might be able to swiftly throw treats in the other direction so that dog can head in the other direction. If my dog does something extraordinary, I am there to happily reward with a jackpot of treats. New occurrences happen on walks all the time and I\u2019m ready. A neighbor was just working in her front yard the other day, but because the yard is raised well above where we were walking, she must have seemed like a giant to the dogs. All three I was walking freaked out<\/em>, barking like crazy, and by being upbeat and positive and treating better behavior, we could move on from the scary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t retreat from treats. Carry them just in case. Don\u2019t treat your dog for demanding food or constantly for known behaviors or you are bribing them. But Always Be Prepared. A treat pouch isn\u2019t an encumbrance. Other pockets can hold your phone and your cleanup bags so they\u2019re not infringing on your leash and even an air horn. You may feel lazy about wearing one, but I think my way is actually the lazier way because my dogs and I are always happy then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Human students in positive-training group classes have treats with them at all times. Dogs are learning new skills or getting reinforcement for cues they have already learned, and clear communication is essential. A small food reward is the perfect communication \u201cpaycheck.\u201d I try to get these dedicated humans to carry a variety of treats to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,29,93,26,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dog-behavior","category-fun-ideas","category-positive-training","category-training-tips","category-uncategorized"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinroy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinroy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinroy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinroy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinroy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1454"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/robinroy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1457,"href":"https:\/\/robinroy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1454\/revisions\/1457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinroy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robinroy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinroy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robinroy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}