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SOME NUANCES OF FOOD USE DURING TRAINING
I’ve been enjoying doing some training with my friend’s dog, Cheeky. The other day, we noticed that Cheeky became very worried when Connie tried to use gentle collar pressure to get her to take a few steps backwards, so we decided to begin working on BACK UP. (We’re beginning by teaching the movement first, well before reintroducing a hand into her collar.)
Very quickly, Connie saw that a technique she has used successfully with other dogs, where moving a food lure toward the dog’s chest gets them to step back, was not going to work with Cheeky. She gets so incredibly excited by the presence of the food when it is close to her body that she literally can’t concentrate on what behavior might lead to treat delivery. Her arousal level interfered with learning.
We also learned that even when simply standing nearby, the mere sight of a hand holding a treat kept Cheeky’s attention solely focused on the hand, rather than experimenting with any behavior. This was easily resolved by holding the treat hand behind my back as I then shaped teeny approximations of standing, leaning slightly backwards, and then stepping backwards.
Finally, the way food is delivered to Cheeky really matters. If it’s tossed to her, her body activates into a very excited state, after which she has some trouble calming back down, making a calm/focused behavior like backing up hard to concentrate on. If the food is delivered near my body, she’s racing in so swiftly to get it that I feared it could undo any understanding she might be developing about the backing-up portion of her movement.
What worked best for her was a smooth leaning in to calmly deliver the treat directly on the floor between her front paws. This delivery prevented forward movement and also increased the time she spent in a standing position, rather than constantly defaulting into a sit (which then made backing up harder). The bonus: placing a treat on the floor near her paws became a ‘cue’ to begin the back-up sequence. This surprised and delighted us!
Lots of dogs give us plenty of leeway about how we handle food during training sessions. Dogs like Cheeky challenge us to be much more mindful about our handling of food. Have you experienced any food-handling challenges while working with certain dogs?
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5 Replies
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I’m just here to say – OMD how cute is this! Such a wiggly little back up. What a fun little dog.
Thanks for the tips and inspiration. Great job working with your friend and Cheeky.
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@catherine , this dog is an incredibly quick study — so much fun to work with.
I rue the day I didn’t film the first session I had with her. What a HOT MESS (!) as I attempted to get the beginning of a back-up started with a dog who had been heavily reinforced for weeks for auto-sitting in front of me. During those few minutes, I was experimenting with various food delivery options until the treat-at-front-paws helped to break the cycle of auto-sitting.
In only 4 brief sessions, Connie is already able to get Cheeky to back up while in heel position, going multiple steps backward. Really impressive.
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This dog is begging to do Rally! They could be a top team for sure.
Yeah, that video would have been fun to see, but this team’s wonderful success is worth hearing about, regardless. How lucky they are to have you coaching them!
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Connie is a great trainer and she’s competed at high levels in agility and flyball with Afghan hounds of all things! Cheeky is currently learning nosework and agility and I have no doubt she’s going to be an awesome and joyful competitor a bit down the road.
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Oh, that makes so much sense. You can see her great handling. What fun!
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