[NAGDU] Schools that use treats

[Jordan Gallacher]

I never had an issue with September, although I pretty quickly got away from
using treats after arriving home.  I completely stopped using treats once
she had gotten her mind right about working, which is another story that is
not on topic for this ubject.  Belto was trained with operant conditioning,
which really kind of has it both ways with treats.  I mean by that that
treats, Charlie Bears in this case, are only used when trying to fix a
problem or in a brand new area and I need to have him learn where to go etc.
Hope this makes sense,
Jordan
-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Nancy VanderBrink
via NAGDU
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2017 7:46 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Cc: Nancy VanderBrink
Subject: [NAGDU] Schools that use treats

Hey folks,
I'm in the process of applying for guide dogs and a couple of different
schools and I have been really struggling with the question of giving dogs
treats constantly to reinforce skills. When I got my first guide dog and
even with Doc, praise was the reward.  Granted both of my boys liked to eat
- both have been labs.
Some schools use treats A lot and I was wondering if that caused problems
with scavenging for food? 

Since most of the dogs that schools are using are either labradors or some
mix there of,  I wondered if this caused issues.
 If anybody could give me some insight I would appreciate it. Like I said,
the school I have been going to does not use treats at all when we work with
the dogs. So if folks could chime in where their schools do encourage this I
would appreciate it. Thanks!
Nancy
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