Have you ever asked yourself
whether or not using food is cheating when training your dog? If you have, then
I can promise you that you are not alone. It’s something that many people never
actually get clear in their minds and yet it is one of the most powerful topics
to understand and also very simple to master!
What I am about to explain in
this article will almost certainly surprise you but also make total sense. It
will contradict some of the things that you have heard through the grapevine,
but getting tips from other dog owners at the park is not always the best place
to get your dog training advice from. Once
you have read this I’m sure that
both you and your dog will have a better understanding and appreciation for
each other.
Firstly, let’s look at the
comment that you should never use food to get your dog to respond to you
because your dog will then only listen to you if you have food in your hand.
This is simply not true.
The reason you can start by using
food is because once your dog has learnt to respond to your command without
thinking about it, you simply fade the food out gradually. Fading the food out
is such an important concept, and is also referred to as using ‘random
rewards’. In a nutshell you simply start giving your dog the treat from inside
your hand so they can’t see it. Then you slowly start to reward only every 2nd
and then every 3rd time. Eventually you can space out the treats until they
become random rewards.
In a separate article I’ll
explain how to boost your results with the random rewards and leave your dog
totally focused and awaiting your next command without using up all your food
too fast! So look out for that one…
The second myth about using food
is this: dogs should just be happy to work for you without any food rewards. I
have heard this said and I have noticed that it’s nearly always said by people
who have not owned or trained many dogs or by people who are quite happy to use
a lot of force, fear
and aggression in their training.
In a way, this approach was the “old school” way – that dogs should just be
obedient or else.
Well the way I see it is this…
How long would you work for nothing? Not long I am guessing! And for many dogs
that’s exactly how they see it. They get bored working so hard with absolutely
no reward in return. Now not all dogs need food treats, some dogs are just so
happy to please and with them the rewards are optional. However put very simply,
dogs are all different. There are those who’ll do anything you ask with a smile
on their face, and those who are always thinking about their next meal.
With a dog
who just wants to please there
may be no need to use food rewards once they have understood what you want. On
the other hand, dogs who do not care for your pats, cuddles or their ball when
they are racing around the park playing with other dogs are the ones that will
seriously benefit from
some very tactical food
training.By now you’re probably thinking that you always end up giving your
dogs food treats, but that
couldn’t be further from the truth! As I mentioned earlier when you understand
how to fade out your food treats and use a boost-effect to maximize the use of
your treats (which is another topic I’ll cover soon), you too will find your
dog responding to you lightening fast every time.
So next time you are out with
your dog feel free to use food as a reward when they do something good and
don’t worry about anybody telling you otherwise. But also remember to start to
fading out the rewards over a long period of time. There is no rush though, and
we are talking months not days!
Eventually you may end up only
using the food rewards every 5th time, then every 20th time…
And by the way, if you’re worried
about them eating too much, simply take it out of their dinner so their total
amount eaten during the day stays the same. Hopefully that helps clear a few
things up about the use of food. It’s always going to be the number one reward
for most dogs.
No comments:
Post a Comment