Delivering Reinforcement Tips

So many times we get in the habit of asking our dog to sit, then handing them a treat for compliance and we don't think about what we are doing or add any variety to what we are doing. This would compare to working in a factory....important work, but very much the same every day with no real learning happening after the initial training period.

Eventually we want to move away from always having to deliver a treat when our dog sits and start to train new behaviors. It doesn't matter whether you are sticking with basic training skills or moving on to advanced training skills required for working dogs or working on skills somewhere in the middle. Our goal should always be to use reinforce to increase the behaviors we love until they become such a strong habit that our dogs choose to do the behavior with or without treats present. That's not to say that I will never reinforce a simple sit once my dog has moved on to advanced training, but I don't want to have to reinforce every single sit.

For positive reinforcement training to work, we have to always be increasing the challenge level of the training or at least keeping up on on maintenance reinforcement to keep our favorite behaviors strong.

When I first started with positive reinforcement training, I used treats in a very transactional way...Dog does Behavior, Human Rewards! Dog doesn't do Behavior, Human doesn't Reward! This often leads to one of these issues:

• The dog who will only do behaviors if the human holds a treat in front of them and refuses to do the behavior without treats.
• The dog becomes full and will no longer "work" or make good choices.
• The dog loses interest in food reinforcers because there are so many other great reinforcers in the world.

Instead of a transactional relationship with my dogs, I want a teamwork based relationship where we all do what is best in the situation for the good of the team. This may sound like a pipe dream to some dog owners and I never plan to totally phase out food reinforcement for the behaviors I love but I do want to use the food reinforcement I give to teach new behaviors and reinforce the really hard behaviors.

Inevitably, we all struggle with delivering food reinforcement effectively and efficiently at some point in our training. Here are some things that I've found helpful over the years.

Delivery Methods

Delivery is often the most important aspect of using food reinforcement effectively and efficiently! In the video below I outlined some of my favorite ways to deliver food reinforcement during training sessions, then I showed you how I select which deliver method based on what I'm planning to do next in the session.

Patreon Members will be able to see a deeper dive into these deliver methods. There are 5 simple ways to deliver treats.

1. By hand directly to the dog's mouth.
2. Placed on the floor near the dog to impact the direction they turn or look.
3. Tossed for the dog to catch.
4. Tossed on the floor for the dog to chase.
5. Scatterfeeding with multiple pieces of food tossed.

I will use the first approach of delivering directly to the dog's mouth if I want the dog to stay engaged with me and move quickly to the next cued behavior and I will drop the food at the dog's feet if I want them to stay connected with me, but free to engage in the nearby environment. Placing food on the floor/ground near the dog, one piece at a time helps the dog to learn to keep checking in to see what is next, perfect for the Look At That Game! 

I will use a treat toss for my dog to catch if we've been working on something hard and I want my dog to take a short break and have a bit of fun before resetting and practicing the hard behavior again.

Tossing treats on the floor/ground for the dog to chase is best used in distracting environments when you need to get the dog's attention or you have a dog that enjoys the movement more than the act of eating the treat. This is also great for fearful situations as it gets the dog to move away from whatever is scaring them.

Scatterfeeding is best at the end of a session or if you need take a long pause, perhaps to have a discussion with your trainer or a neighbor.

There are lots of other tips on reinforcement in previous blogs found in the "Focus On Behaviors!" page!  Be sure to check them out!