Hi! It's Lily here from Dogfullife.
A common challenge I hear from dog parents is
“my dog only listens to me or does what I ask when I have treats with me”.
Well if you’re running into this, then this video is for you.
I’ll talk about why this is happening and 4 tips on how to change it.
First, let’s celebrate the fact that your dog is motivated to work.
But if it seems like your dog only follows cues when they can see or hear that you have treats,
then it’s likely because the treats have become part of the environmental cue.
And when I say cue what I mean is that it’s
become part of the signal that tells them to do the behavior.
In other words, your dog has learned that when the treat bag comes out
it’s training time and they have an opportunity to earn rewards.
But when the treats aren’t present then there’s no reinforcement,
and so they're not motivated to work.
So here are 4 tips to change this.
First, fade the lure.
When using a food lure to teach a new behavior,
the food itself becomes part of the environmental cue.
So you'll want to remove the food as soon as possible, and that's called "fading the lure".
If you’re not sure what this is or how to do this you can check out the third tip in my video
about mistakes when using luring, which I’ll link in this video as well as in the description below.
I will caveat this to just say that there are certain situations where
having the food lure as part of the environmental cue really doesn’t matter.
For example with canine conditioning exercises the focus is more about exercising parts of
your dog's body versus having your dog learn how to perform a behavior on a verbal cue.
Second, don’t be so handsy with the treats.
Unless you’re using your hands as part of the visual cue,
keep them at a neutral position like at your sides, on your belly, or behind your back.
Don’t move them an inch until after your dog has performed the behavior
and you’ve marked the behavior.
That way, your hand moving towards the treat bag doesn’t become part of a visual cue.
Third, teach your dog that rewards can happen any time, anywhere.
Does your dog quickly get up and follow you around as soon as you grab the treat bag?
The treat bag has become part of the environmental cue that it’s training time.
You’ll have to teach your dog that they have the opportunity to earn rewards
even when you don’t have a treat bag.
Different ways that I do this is keeping treats in my pockets, placing jars of
treats in out-of-reach places around the house, or keeping goodies in the fridge.
So when my dog performs a good behavior or does what I ask,
I can grab a treat from my pocket, or run over to the jar or refrigerator to grab a treat.
Do you only ever train in one room of the house?
If so, that room has become an environmental cue.
So make sure to train in multiple different places both inside and outside of the home.
All of this together teaches your dog
that positive reinforcement can happen any time, anywhere.
So it pays to listen to you.
Fourth, use a variety of different types of reinforcers.
You can alternate between using food, toys, or access to the environment.
For example, you can ask for a down and then reinforce with a game of tug;
or you can ask for a sit and then reinforce with going out the door to go for a walk;
or you can ask for attention and then reinforce by releasing them to go sniff the pee mail.
I hope all these tips were helpful for you.
Comment below and let me know what you think.
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Bye!