How many treats?

[shaunross]

Hi everyone!

Artie is just now starting to sit and I'm begging to teach him down. I usually give a treat to him after everytime he gets it. When do I stop the treats? I have a lot of time of the next three days and I know I shouldn't give him treats everytime. What do you recommend?

look forward to hearing your advice,

Shaun-out

Also...what does it mean "post a poll with this thread?" number of polls 4 and can go up to 30?

 

[shaunross]

begining

I'm not "begging" that's a typo. I'm begining to teach down.

just clarification

 

[shaunross]

I'm on a roll today

beginning...geez...I'm doing great at these postings.

 

[Bogey&me]

I use little bil jack liver treats and their pretty small so If i'm trying to teach Bogey a new command I grab a hand full and go to town.

I usually treat him pretty regularly at first then mix in some praise and all that other stuff that makes us look silly. You know the baby talk and kisses and stuff like that. I'll probably go through 6 or so then mix it up a little. Treat, praise, treat, treat, praise etc.

Another thing I liked to do was to move around the house or yard (depending on where you're teaching him). I make him sit a few times then walk around a little then call him and do it again.

One thing I noticed is that he picked up on a pattern pretty quickly. We started with sit, the easy one, then went to paw a little harder, then the impossible down.

He picked up a routine, which was my fault, I would always tell him to sit, then paw then down. Well, he started doing the sit, paw, down without commands wanting his treat so I had to mix that up as well.....

Smart little boogers

 

[CharlyFarly]

When positive responses become consistent then I think it's time to move away from the lure (food treats). We replace the food with lots of loving or we have a special toy that Charlie is crazy about that we only use for training. If he does the right thing - he gets the toy for a bit.

Another thing that worked for us (in regards to moving away from treats) was to include the training in daily activities. We make Charlie do a sit, down and stay prior to getting his dinner. He is released when he complies - so his reward is his dinner (which is a treat but part of the daily stuff). The same for going outside or smelling up a something stinky - he's got to sit and wait to be released before he gets what he wants (rather than pulling my arm off to get to what he wants).

It's helped us tremendously. Charlie doesn't then do terrific in a training session and then act like a wildman outside of it. He's getting that nothing is for free. If he wants it - he's gotta do the right thing.

Hope this helps.

 

[shaunross]

Great feedback!

Thank you for the responses. I really appreciate the insight. Anybody else out there have their own methods?

Shaun-out

 

[CondoPup]

If he's got a trick or command pretty well understood, and you're ready to wean him off the treats, just treat him every-other time or every-third time, and gradually just take the food reward out of the equation. Still give him praise and a "good boy," just keep him guessing as to when he'll get a treat.
I also agree with the above advice on incorporating these commands into every day routines. Treats aren't the only reward, nor is just praise. Guinness now sits for his supper automatically, I don't have to tell him "sit," he just does it - he knows his reward is the yummy food he's about to get. If you have him sit for other things you know he's looking forward to, the motivation becomes whatever the lure at that moment is, and treats can easily be phased out.