[NAGDU] food rewards and guide work

[Michael Hingson]

No. You aren't missing anything. To describe it again, the clicker is an absolute demarcation for something your dog does right. As you suggested, putting his nose on a doorknob and immediately clicking tells him he did a good thing. Following that with a food reward greatly emphasizes our approval.

As far as using food rewards during guiding, again, not all the time. When you are trying to get your dog to do something, possibly something they are hesitant about doing, when they perform well deserves a food reward. You may even do it two or three times, but never constantly. If you have to use a food reward several times to get the behavior you want, you must gradually decrease giving rewards. The reward should be to acknowledge good behavior, not something that should always be expected. Again, you may find that getting the desired behavior may also be reinforced by using the clicker and then a food reward. Again, not forever. You must back off both as the behavior is accomplished.

I hope this helps.


Best Regards,


Michael Hingson

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Al Sten-Clanton via NAGDU
Sent: Monday, September 20, 2021 7:10 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Al Sten-Clanton <albert.e.sten_clanton at verizon.net>
Subject: [NAGDU] food rewards and guidework

Greetings, wag wag, and the like!


First, Mike Hingson, you made a great presentation yesterday on mutual trust between our dogs and ourselves.


Second, if I heard correctly, Mike suggested that there are times when 
you can use a food reward during guidework.  If I'm wrong, please 
correct me.  If I'm right, can anybody tell me what situations might be 
good for that?  I was leery of clicker training when I first heard of 
Seeing Eye doing it because of the food involved, but, other than 
teaching my dog to take me to a particular place or thing, I did not use 
the clicker, and I did not use food at any time as a work reward.  Since 
class in 2018, I've used food as a reward only during the bit of clicker 
training I've done--for example, in trying to get him to put his nose on 
the knob of the front door.


I was leery of clicker training because, as you might expect, I wondered 
how long that training would stick after the food ran out.  Praise is at 
least something I always have, with no danger of putting it in my pocket 
for the trip.  I've also seen that, with the doorknob I used the clicker 
for, he will eventually respond to the magic phrase associated with the 
clicker, but without the food and the clicker I almost always have to 
use it two or three times.


What do people think?  Am I missing something?


Best!


Al



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