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

[Louise Johnson]

Hi thanks for sharing this information as it reminded me the basic of food
reward.

I have been using it for many years and I am using it very strongly with
Kiara and this is what my trainer asked me to do and has when I saw him
after just over seven months later he said keep up rewarding your girl as
she needs it. I have bad balance and they figure giving rewards at corners
will help and yes we have become a team that I am proud of. Kiara is a very
hard worker and does enjoy food reward and it keeps us growing as a team. I
am old school when I started with food reward and have seen how it helps the
dogs over all work. Yes there are dogs food doesn't work with and the
schools will work with the dogs also.

I wrote to say I am glad that they showed people the best ways to use it and
yes I learned something also to remember the full rules to food so my guide
dog won't move to get it Louise and Princess Kiara 


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Raven Tolliver
via nagdu
Sent: July 18, 2015 9:30 PM
To: nagdu
Cc: Raven Tolliver
Subject: [nagdu] Proper treat delivery, without encouraging the treat
monster

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

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