[nagdu] Food rewards

Kolby Garrison kolbygarrison at triad.rr.com
Sat Feb 28 18:12:42 UTC 2009


Hello All,
I agree with what others have said on the subject of food rewards. I use
food and the clicker with Sunny when introducing new routes, behaviors, ETC,
but she knows that she will not get the treat unless she does what I am
asking of her. I like Rox'E's idea of getting the dog to figure out what you
want, and I have used that process since training with Sunny. Our dogs are
smart, and it makes the work more fun for them when they figure things out
for themselves with the food acting as the reward which makes them want to
work for you. I use Charley Bear treats which are very low callory, and I
use pieces of Sunny's dog food. I usually carry a very high value treat with
me, for those instances where she does something very well and I want to
reinforce the behavior. Eventually I phase out the clicker and the treats
and only use praise. Sunny loves physical praise, verbal praise, food, and
so on, thus she is happy with any form of reward that I give her. I talk to
her all of the time, so don't feel bad Jenine because you are not the only
one who constantly talks to your dog. I think that talking to our dogs helps
keep their focus on us.
Kolby





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