Training treats...To use or not to use - Page 1

Hi All,

I recently brought  one of my german shepherds to a doggie day care facility to see what it was like.  One of their trainers was showing me around and at some point I put my dog in a sit and stay and then rewarded her with a training treat.  The trainer then told me that that was the worst thing I could do for my dog,  treats have no place in dog training and that the dog would now only listen to me when I had a treat.  I am not a professional dog trainer or breeder, in my past experience with owning and training dogs, I have started basic obedience with the treats and over time just phase them out when the obedience is solid.  My question is, is he right about the treats?  I was not aware that they were considered so negative by some trainers, so I thought I'd take it to the experts on this forum.

Nope!  Use whatever works for YOUR dog!

Vickie

www.PowerHausKennels.com

 zookeeper,

what you were told is plain CRAP. I use tug toys, balls, my baseball hat and sometimes some sort of treat to train dogs. Be glad that you have something that your dog wants so you can modify unwanted behaviors and train it to do the basic commands.

Find another day care! I run one and that is the most idiotic thing one could say. One must be consistent, but whatever works as Powerhaus already has stated.

Treats are a very important training tool just use them in a manner so your dog never knows when he will get one or not. Sometimes don't use them at all. Keep your dog guessing.

I agree with your trainer to the extent that if you use them all the time the dog will start responding only if it knows you have a treat.  The trick is keep the dog guessing and never knowing what or if it will get anything. As the dog advances in training I typically use treats less and less.

Every trainer has their own methods and like Powerhaus said do whatever works for your dog.

I agree that the "trainer" you met is full of it. As far as treats go-use whatever it takes to make the dog do what he needs to do. I use treats for a while when training a dog with a new command, and gradually change the treat reward to every other time, then every third time, and eventually seldom use them. I always use a lot of praise for a job well done, and think that is really the most important thing.

As was said above-use whatever works. A small piece of food or a favourite toy will work with any dog who is driven by the desire to eat or the desire to play.

Best Regards,

Bob-O

do whatever works for you and your dog, angus will work for treats from me or my son, but won't take treats from strangers - i didn't teach him this, he just won't do it. he'll eat the same treat as soon as we leave the person or the person leaves us. we also try to do obedience w/o treats too, just to make sure they are obeying no matter what.

Training with food is an excellent tool!  Don't listen to anyone who says that treats don't work!  I have a SchH3, 94pt FH dog that was trained with food!  A ball was not used with this dog because he would get too hectic and could not settle and learn.  He is a very nice boy, you can see him on the database, Darko di ca Bergomi, SchH3, FH!

I am a proud momma, can you tell?!?  LOL

Vickie

www.PowerHausKennels.com

Good Point Vickie

Part of my trailing girls training was "agility" type including climbing ladders and walking over boards at height etc..and I also had to use treats because she became too hectic for the rhino and it was not safe for her.

I used to be like that "trainer" growing up on the Koeller method (years ago). My thoughts were a " who wants to walk around smelling like a hot dog" or Like what the trainer said "he will only work for a treat"  but Over years I learned that is closed minded and does not work for every dog. You have to be open minded and see what works best for your dog. As Powerhouse pointed out the toy was too much but food works well. I have a dog that is very food driven and gets too worked up over food so we went to toy reward. One must read the dog to see what works and what does not.

Your trainer is old school and has not envolved to the times.

EK

Hi Zookeeper,

When you go to work, would you accept your boss simply telling you what a good job you were doing, and then jerking you by the neck when you made a mistake?  No?  You might do the work to avoid the correction, but you sure wouldn't be happy doing it.

If you use a treat as a reward, not a bribe, it can be an extremely effective training tool.  A toy or tug can be used the same way.  The dog does what you want, and you mark the behavior with a treat, or a chance to bite a tug as a reward.  A dog needs praise too, that is used in conjunction with treats to mark correct behavior.

You can train a dog to do obedience with only praise and corrections, but as a rule those dogs are slow to respond, lag at heel and come in to the handler at a crawl.  Hardly the happy, upbeat picture necessary to excell in obedience competitions.