A food motivated dog is one that can be
trained very quickly.
However it's really easy to get stuck
being a hostage to treats. It's just as
easy though to get rid of treats altogether
and I'm going to show you how
to do that, right now.
Ian here with Simpawtico Dog Training and
before we get into how to phase out
treats, please make sure you're
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talked about. Now
food is a great way to get a dog into
training. A food motivated dog is very easy
to train very quickly, even when teaching
difficult behaviour or overcoming
behavior problems. What ends up happening
in most cases though is that we don't
start phasing the treat out early enough
and so we're stuck using it. Then the dog
won't perform unless we have food. We
have to keep upping the ante to get them
to do something, moving from simple lures
to increasingly valuable food items. Even
then sometimes a dog simply decides that
it's just not worth it and then you
don't have any leverage. We need to
short-circuit this whole model and
replace it with something better. From
here on out you will move through four
stages as you free yourself from relying
on food to get your dpg to perform:
remove lures, reduce rewards, replace
rewards, and the ultimate fourth step,
remove rewards.
Let's take a look at these and see how
they work. Stage 1: remove lures a lure is
used to cause a behavior after 10 to 15
repetitions the behavior is happening
fairly reliably and we don't need it
anymore.
Upon hearing the verbal request your dog
has learned to anticipate the hand
motion that signals the behavior. They're
doing it faster and happier. At this
point get that food out of your hand
and into your pocket. Now when you practice a
behavior, signal big like you have the
food in your hand. Your dog performs the
behavior, and then you reward them with
food from your pocket. At this point your
dog learns that they don't need to see
the food. If they respond correctly food
rewards will still magically appear. From
now on you can practice with empty hands.
Incidentally this is the fastest stage.
You can empty your hands within the
first day of teaching something new in
most cases. Now you're ready for stage 2:
reducing the number of rewards.
The key phrase here is "more for less." We
start expecting more work out of one
reward. We want longer stays, faster
recalls, perfect heels and better
performance overall. Here's an example. In
group classes we teach the positions sit,
lay down, and stand. Then we practice the
transitions by doing the routine
sit, down, sit, stand, down, stand.
Initially we lure train these and we may
reward every step:
sit-treat, down-treat, sit-treat, stand-treat,
and so on.
That's six pieces of food for the whole
routine. Within the next couple of
classes though we should be doing the
whole routine with an empty hand and one
reward at the end. Not only did we remove
the lure but we've reduced the number of
rewards in this example from 6 to 1. The big
takeaway in this step is that we want
performance to keep improving no matter
what. Don't be in too big of a hurry to
reward everything.
This is a commission based payment
program now; treat every food reward
like it's a paycheck that they have to
work for. Always be refining the criteria
too. Raise the bar as they get better. Only
reward your dog immediately following
responses that are prompt, precise, and
polite. Above-average responses get a
little training treat. Great effort gets
a big liver treat. And half-assed effort
gets diddly-squat! Your dog will learn
that even though you have food they
won't get a reward every time.
More importantly to even be eligible for
a food reward in the first place their
performance needs to be above average.
Remember, better responses get better
rewards. If you dig technical jargon this
is called a "differential reward schedule."
This will have the effect of distilling
mediocre behavior over time down to
pretty great behavior. And honestly the
number one success factor here is
repetition. Now we're ready for stage 3:
replace food rewards. At this stage we
need to get the food out of our pockets
and reward the dog with other things
like praise, petting, toys, games, and
activities. Life rewards like these can
become strong motivators to a happy
dog. For example, when you're walking your
dog you could stop periodically and have
them sit. As a reward say, "Great! Let's go!"
In this case the walk continues, which is
the reward. No food required. Around your
house, in the yard, or at the dog park
call your dog and ask them to sit every
minute or so and as a reward say, "Good
job! Go play!" In this example, play resumes,
which is the reward. No food required.
When playing tug or fetch, behaviors like
take it, leave it, and drop it are
implicit because they're part of the
game, and the game itself is a fun reward.
Again, no food required. I teach all of my
students to treat their voice as their
number one training tool and their hands
as the number two training tool. That is
to say that praise and touch can be
powerful rewards and can substitute for
food very easily. My Touch Tactics video
has some great strategies for using
petting as a potent life reward. I'll link to
that video in the description for this
one.
The point here is that your dog learns
that food isn't necessary. Correct
responses and great performance produce
all sorts of other amazing rewards. Now
you could stop here. You're free of food,
life is grand. But some of you will want
to push onwards to the final step:
removing ALL external rewards. Assuming
you've got the first three steps in the
bag, and you continue with your practice,
it will eventually no longer be
necessary to reward your dog to
reinforce behavior you want from them.
You could of course always reward your
dog if you choose to, and they'll love you for
it. But the point being that rewards are
not necessary to guarantee good behavior.
Each correct response becomes its own
reward.
This is just like when we go on a hike,
or ride horses, or read a book, or play
sports. External rewards aren't necessary;
getting to do it is the reward.
This is the pinnacle of practice: getting
to the point in our relationship that
doing the things we ask is our dog's
favorite hobby. It makes them happy to
see us happy and their lives are richer
for it.
So are ours for that matter. Let's
recap these stages: Remove
Lures...get the food out of your
hand and into your pocket. Reduce rewards...start
expecting more quality work for fewer
rewards. Replace rewards...get the food out
of your pocket now and use life rewards.
Remove rewards...correct behavior is a
reward unto itself. It's worth noting
that each stage doesn't have a razor
fine beginning and end. They kind of bleed
into each other. For example you could
start reducing rewards before you remove
the lure. You could start cultivating
life rewards before you get rid of food
rewards. There's a strategy and an eye
for the finish line, of course, but if you
patiently follow these steps and you
stand by it and follow through, you will
be free of hostage negotiations with
your dog.
So good luck and please let me know how
it goes for you in the comments. In the
next video I'll show you how to use
reward scaling to ramp up performance in
those early stages, and it's a perfect
companion to this video. Don't forget to
give us a thumbs up if you learned
something useful. And as always keep
learning, keep practicing and I will see
you next time. Thanks for watching!
...now this is just like when we go on a
hike, or ride a horse, or ride a book...
ride a book! (censored cursing)