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“HELP: My Dog Only Listens When Food is Present!”
You’ve probably heard this concern from your clients before and it is a very common issue. This topic is near and dear to my heart and I like to begin addressing it early on in my lessons with clients.
I’m currently working with a lab pup, Sammy, and her mom, Kate. Here are some tips I’ve shared with Kate so that Sammy learns to listen even when no food is in sight:
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When luring Sammy into a position like DOWN, we quickly got rid of the food in the luring hand, while still rewarding from the other hand (previously hidden behind Kate’s back) after Sammy moved successfully into a down position.
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Kate hid treats all around the house, out of Sammy’s reach, so she’d have quick access to a treat any time Sammy responds to a cue she gives.
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Kate listed a number of non-food reinforcers that Sammy is eager to work for and began incorporating those into training. For instance, when Sammy comes when called, Kate will sometimes throw her favorite toy (which she had previously hidden in her pocket). When Sammy wants to pass through a door, Kate asks her to SIT and then rewards her by releasing her to go through the door.
What tips do you share with your clients to help them fade the use of food in training?
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4 Replies
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I feel this is a huge gap in our training curriculum. We forget to provide the client with the long term goal (not needing food to get a solid response from their dog) and the client looses interest once the dog is responding well to treats. This gap then leaves the dog with associating cues with food forever and the dog never picks up the HABIT (responding to cues without contemplating if there is food around or not).
Teaching our human dog owners that there is a transition from food reward to attention reward is key to closing this gap and setting the humans and the dogs up for long term success. But we have to know the WHEN and HOW to implement, teach, and adjust accordingly as needed to reach that success.-
I agree with you, @tondabenge , and I think it’s a topic we should introduce quite early in the training process. The pet parents can help by listing the various nonfood reinforcers their dogs would gladly work for. Then we can demonstrate the possibilities as soon as possible, to cement the idea right away.
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So true with the ” my dog only listens when I have a treat in my hand”
I like all of your suggestions and implement them as well. It is great solid advice.
I always encourage clients not to hold any treats when possible to minimize the chances of the treat becoming part of the environmental cue. It is part of my initial spiel. Treats becoming part of the cue happens easily and inadvertently.
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That is solid advice, @jenz ! Thanks for sharing.
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