This dog is killing me.

[JrzDefector]

Originally Posted by Dirt Grinder

Okay, so this dog isn't really "killing" you.

It's kind of like the same kind of "killing" as when my little cousin, at the age of 4 (she's now in her 20s) told me that Santa Clause and I were her best friends.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

My life experience is that really smart dogs with high drive prefer approval to treats in a training situation. Getting a treat interferes wit their learning time and they want that learning more than they want a cookie.

I will use treats to lure a pup into position when they first start training. That is so I can praise them for doing it right. Once they learn that praise comes from the correct response, we dispense with the training treats and dispense approval for the correct response.

[perriejinnie]

Originally Posted by Dirt Grinder

Okay, so this dog isn't really "killing" you.

Yeah, it is a misleading title.

[CSD610]

Our Walter wants and gets treats and affection and he loves both equally.

[perriejinnie]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

My life experience is that really smart dogs with high drive prefer approval to treats in a training situation. Getting a treat interferes wit their learning time and they want that learning more than they want a cookie.

I will use treats to lure a pup into position when they first start training. That is so I can praise them for doing it right. Once they learn that praise comes from the correct response, we dispense with the training treats and dispense approval for the correct response.

You have given a useful information in this regard. Dogs should not be praised or given treats every time they listen to you. As they grow adult they should know that it is not treat because of which they have to listen to their masters, but because they are their masters the dog has to listen them.

[simplepeace]

Originally Posted by perriejinnie

You have given a useful information in this regard. Dogs should not be praised or given treats every time they listen to you. As they grow adult they should know that it is not treat because of which they have to listen to their masters, but because they are their masters the dog has to listen them.

Would have to respectively disagree with this. When I gave up that notion I started to have far deeper bonds with my dogs. I don't ever want my dog to listen to me "just because". I want them to understand why I am asking something of them, and I will most certainly pay them for it. Depending on the currency they prefer, I find that they are much more enthusiastic.

Half of my dogs were not food motivated, and none preferred attention like JrzDs killer dog (that is just wonderful). But some liked their toys, a tug, etc...
By the way, police, drug and military dogs work for their toys too, they do not work for free, though they might (like a lot of dogs "might"). They still get a treat when they are finished. As pups they get it more often, and gradually it is phased down, not OUT.

I went to a training weekend with a well known, and really amazing trainer and he repeated often Pay your dog for the work he is doing. You'll only work for free for so long. I let loose then and quit being stingy with treats (they always got praise, and I mean always). So my youngest, most food motivated, dog went wild offering up all her behaviors, and waiting with a smile o her face to learn something new. She would do everything without treats, but she soon became bored, because there was nothing new coming IMO.

They are all different of course. But I don't think they should do it because I a aster, and they are my slave. That relationship just doesn't work for me. I want the to want to do it (for themselves or me, I don't care, whatever motivates them), and I want to learn how to teach them.