[nagdu] Proper treat delivery, without encouraging the treat monster

[Shannon Dyer]

Thank you so much for sharing this, Raven. The main reason treats haven’t worked as a reinforcer for my dog is his anticipating them too much, thus causing him not to pay attention to his work. This may prove helpful.

Shannon and the Acelet
> On Jul 19, 2015, at 12:30 AM, Raven Tolliver via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> So today (Saturday), I observed a puppy-training class for future
> guide dogs, specifically for puppies 4-8 months old. One of the things
> the puppy development coordinator talked about was treat delivery, and
> I was glad I was there because I definitely learned something.
> 
> Two big problems people have with treats as reinforcement are (1) we
> think we have to deliver the treat as soon as possible or the dog
> won't know what the heck we're reinforcing, and (2) we teach our dogs
> to anticipate the treats, and reward their anticipatory behavior.
> 
> Let's break this down.
> 1. While food is a primary reinforcer, there should always be a marker
> which signals that "Yes, you did what I want. And by the way, you're
> getting a treat for it." That's the purpose of a marker. Guide dog
> schools seem to use the word "yes," or the clicker, or both. That's
> fine.
> The key here is to understand that you use the marker first, then
> reach for the treat. Do not have treats in your hand. Don't have your
> hand waiting in your treat pouch. Don't hover your hand over your
> treat pouch or pocket. Say "Yes," let the s leave your mouth, then
> reach for the treat. Don't allow your dog to expect the reception of
> treats without some signal.
> Your marker word or sound communicates to your dog that they did
> something you liked. This means you can take as long as you need to
> treat them, within reason. They know a treat or some kind of
> reinforcement is coming, so when you give that marker, they'll wait
> for the reinforcement.
> 
> 2. Do not reward your dog for anticipating or going after treats.
> What do I mean? If your treat pouch or treat pocket is on the right,
> and your dog is on your left. Your dog knows where the treats are
> coming from, nobody's fooling them. However, your dog should stay in
> position to receive their treat. Your dog should not curl around in
> front of you to get the treat. Your dog should not be nosing the treat
> pouch. Your dog's head should not be crossing your body to get closer
> to the treat.
> How do you prevent this?
> Deliver treats at the same place. For pups, the coordinator said the
> knee. For us with adult dogs, I'm gonna say hip or mid to
> upper-thigh--wherever face-level is for your dog. Using a point on
> your body serves as a guide to keep your dog in position, or to
> redirect your dog back into position. Treats only come from this
> place, so you'd better get your butt back in this place to get it.
> Doing this makes staying at your left more rewarding than curling or
> trying to get at the treats.
> 
> Here's an example to apply this.
> Let's say I'm training a pup to stay sitting for 15 seconds. I count
> to 15 seconds silently, then say "yes." When I say "Yes," my pup knows
> a treat is coming. He jumps up and moves closer to my treat bowl or
> pouch in anticipation of the treat. I grab my treat, and put my treat
> hand by my knee to show him that is where treats are delivered from,
> and that is where he should be. Getting closer to the treat bowl
> doesn't make treats come faster or from a different place.
> Do I need to lure him back into a sit? Not necessarily. The dog
> already knows that I appreciated the sit. However, I don't want to
> reward the undesirable behavior of moving closer to the source of
> treats.
> 
> Here's another example.
> You're working your dog and she stops at the curb. You say "yes," and
> normally treat her for this behavior. She's gotten into the habit of
> curling around in front of you to get at that impending treat.
> Grab your treat and move your hand toward your hip or upper thigh to
> get her back into place. This way, you're not reinforcing and
> encouraging the behavior of curling.
> Don't dictate where you deliver your treats from according to where
> your dog's mouth is. Deliver treats from a consistent position on your
> body so your dog knows where her place is to get a treat from you.
> 
> Obviously, this is not applicable to all situations, concerning
> delivering treats from a position on your body, especially if you're
> training for certain continuous behaviors such as off-leash behaviors,
> loose-leash walking, or distraction training. However, a marker is an
> important component of positive reinforcement training, and can be
> used in most situations.
> 
> Hopefully that helped someone. It definitely retaught me something
> that I learned the motions of at GEB, but never heard someone break it
> down verbally.
> -- 
> Raven
> Founder of 1AM Editing & Research
> www.1am-editing.com
> 
> You are valuable because of your potential, not because of what you
> have or what you do.
> 
> Naturally-reared guide dogs
> https://groups.google.com/d/forum/nrguidedogs
> 
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nagdu:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/solsticesinger%40gmail.com