Balance with Rewards

Last night I had an Orientation for a new class I'm teaching.

One was for puppies and the other for a class called Beyond the Basics. This is a class I am pretty excited about, I've got lots of fun things planned and I think it will be a good group of dogs. The point of this class is to challenge owners and their dogs. Put their training to the test and really work at making the people better trainers. For some of them it will be a challenge mostly in the fact that they've never trained this way before. One of the things I spent a lot of time talking about was rewards. And because I was talking it so much last night I figured it would make a great blog post.

I find that people really have no idea how to use rewards or even what to use. Food is the most obvious one, and the one that people use more than anything else. The problem with that is that we often create a dog who only wants a cookie or worse a dog that will not work unless they know a cookie is in your pocket or hand.

There is nothing wrong with using food to train. In fact for most of my training, specifically tricks, shaping, and new behaviors I use food. But we need to have balance with our reinforcers. Teach our dogs that  if we ask them to sit (or down, or target, or heel, or stand on their heads...) that they will get something. The key is in the something. The don't need to know what they are going to get, or when they will get it. But that shouldn't change how hard the dog works.

As mentioned, Food is the most common reinforcer. Which is great- there is nothing wrong with using food to train your dog! But be creative with it. Don't use the same thing each time, and keep in mind that "food" is a pretty broad category. With all dogs there will be different levels of food rewards- kibble and cheerios are generally low value rewards, then you move on to a middle of the road store bought reward, and then you bring out the big guns- hot dogs, cheese, chicken, steak.... yummy. lol. Don't be afraid to use a variety of treats- I get students to put them all together in a baggie and then you never know what you're going to pull out. It keeps food exciting. Even the delivery of the food reward can be varied- calm, thrown, jackpot, excited, moving around, jumping up for it. Sometimes the delivery is actually what makes the reward exciting for the dog.

Toys- tugging in particular is a fantastic way to reward your dog. It's fun, gets the dog engaged with you And it riles them up. So for fast things, like heeling where you want the dog up and excited- a tug is a great way to reward. Not all dogs tug, and I get that but it's not hard to teach. It takes time, but isn't as hard as you might think. The most important thing is to present the tug or the toy when you know your dog wants it, or be prepared to make the dog want it.  Don't offer them the toy, and when they refuse give them food instead. Remember that toys need to have value too, and every time you do this you lower the value of the item.

The other reinforcer we need to have in our tool box is ourself.  It's the only thing we can take into the ring with us. So we had better be sure to balance out our reinforcers and use praise- verbal and physical. Teach your dog to enjoy being handled or have their collar grabbed. Teach them that a good dog! And a pat on the chest is worth as much as a hotdog. It can be done. Most dogs like physical touching, or a good game of chase, a hand touch can be taught as a reinforcer! There are lots of ways you can use your voice, or your touch as a reward.

In training our dogs with a balance of these three reinforcers we will be able to use them at any time, in any situation. Because dogs will have a "favourite" it is our job as trainers to make sure that the dog learns to like all three, and to want all three. If you get this, and can use them properly, it certainly will open up all sorts of possibilities in training and trialing!

I've got a few more thoughts on training in general that I'll blog about tomorrow!