@jewels77 You can either turn barking into a cue. Which means that when it happens you can "cut it off." But it does involve treating the barking initially. This could work for you. And while you're working on it you can manage barking at sounds with a white noise machine. but for me I give my dog a treat when she barks or when I notice alert body language, which interrupts it and send her to her mat. We then do some relaxation work. She barks less now and has an easier time coming to me when I need her to move from the window. I did not have the experience where it reinforced barking because every treat after the first is only given if she reorients away from the source. It works for us because her barking happens when she looks out of the window.
So do y’all have treats on you basically 24/7?
- Thread starter procakes223
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somanyblessings
New member
@procakes223 My wife does. My guy actually respects HER boundaries. He will straight up mug me if he thinks I'm carrying.
anonymousy
New member
@procakes223 We carry around handfuls of his kibble on walks and have access to it in the house. It's not high-value, but it gets the job done.
want2bsober
New member
@procakes223 I have little stashes of treats around the house and when we go out, I bring a little pouch with treats in it
sarahschild1
New member
@procakes223 Get a wearable treat pouch. If you’re worried about weight gain, put some of their daily kibble allotment in it. If you are clicker training, I recommend a wearable one as well.
But yes, I spent months doing that
But yes, I spent months doing that
@procakes223 Use part of his daily kibble for treats!
apostoliclife
New member
@procakes223 I do not - I work hard on teaching with food, BUT my dog loves being told what a good girl she is so I use lots of praise as my daily reinforcement.
As you bond with your dog you will find things that make them excited. Use those things as prizes, or you’ll realize that your dog treats any food as high value and you can use literally whatever is at hand including veggies and fruits…which helps with watching their diet and weight lol.
As you bond with your dog you will find things that make them excited. Use those things as prizes, or you’ll realize that your dog treats any food as high value and you can use literally whatever is at hand including veggies and fruits…which helps with watching their diet and weight lol.
thawhiteknight
New member
@procakes223 Try the podcast Discover Your Dog by Family Dog Fusion. So many great episodes on so many different subjects. Just read the subject lines til you find one that is interesting to you/useful. I got my first dog almost 5 years ago and used a lot of what they talk about in that podcast to train him. He's a very good boy and I get compliments on how well behaved he is all the time 
No treats necessary. He listens because he wants to!
No treats necessary. He listens because he wants to!@procakes223 For the first 2-3 months - yes, I had treats in my pockets constantly. Wet food I would put in the poop bag and then in a pocket. Tried a pouch, but it was kinda bulky and inconvenient.
For the next 5-10 months some strategically placed cups appeared throughout the house and pocket treats faded.
Now, she's a little over a year and I only take treats with me when we go outside. Inside left only one cup near the front door mostly for guests to use. Praise, snuggles, or toys are mostly enough.
For the next 5-10 months some strategically placed cups appeared throughout the house and pocket treats faded.
Now, she's a little over a year and I only take treats with me when we go outside. Inside left only one cup near the front door mostly for guests to use. Praise, snuggles, or toys are mostly enough.
@procakes223 We dont. We mainly reward with praise or play. Sometimes toy or treat. I dont want a dog thats obsessed and expects treats every two seconds plus i got a breed that drools alot so it would be an absolute slobbery mess if we did. Treats are not the only way to train a dog, its way bigger for mine for example to work on heel with lots of praise, then a stay and recall to finally get a toy thrown to carry around for a while. He would inhale a treat and not even taste it.
@procakes223 No, 90% of praises are vocal. You're creating a dog that will only listen when you have treats. I only use treats to reinforce specific positions in high level obedience.
jamesharvey39571
New member
@pantheon Lol that's not actually how that works, although I've heard many people repeat that. It's normal to phase out treats as a behavior gets established and easier for the dog to perform, but if you buy into "it's teaching the dog not to listen without treats," you're robbing yourself of one of the most powerful tools for helping ingrain new mental connections. If your dog is truly not motivated by treats (rare), then certainly use whatever is effective, but rewarding is quite different than bribing / luring.
@procakes223 I am not a fan of treats for training. But, I give my dogs treats all the time. I will use treats in the first few weeks after taking in a new rescue. Then I stop using them for training. The treats are mostly to have the dog bond with me. I feed them by hand.
I want my dog to respond to me. So I need him to bond with me. It is too long to write out here. Once the dog bonds it will look to me and seek to learn what I want. Once I have that I get a well behaved dog.
If I depend on treats to get the dog to behave, I will have no control when I run out. And I do not want to be that person standing on the side of the path handing out 7 treats so the other dog can pass. I want my dog to learn how to behave with me.
I know I will get down doodled here for not saying yes to training treats. I don't care. I have had dozens of rescue dogs. I have taken in tough cases. And all of my dogs have been recognized as well behaved and gentle dogs, even when they were aggressive coming to me.
At the dog park today, one dog owner complimented me on how well my dog behaved, and how I could call her back with one gentle word. Or two. The next person said, "And he does it with no treats. What a good dog". That is my goal.
I want my dog to respond to me. So I need him to bond with me. It is too long to write out here. Once the dog bonds it will look to me and seek to learn what I want. Once I have that I get a well behaved dog.
If I depend on treats to get the dog to behave, I will have no control when I run out. And I do not want to be that person standing on the side of the path handing out 7 treats so the other dog can pass. I want my dog to learn how to behave with me.
I know I will get down doodled here for not saying yes to training treats. I don't care. I have had dozens of rescue dogs. I have taken in tough cases. And all of my dogs have been recognized as well behaved and gentle dogs, even when they were aggressive coming to me.
At the dog park today, one dog owner complimented me on how well my dog behaved, and how I could call her back with one gentle word. Or two. The next person said, "And he does it with no treats. What a good dog". That is my goal.
nananananaspiderboy
New member
@mikea You're not getting down voted for not using treats, it's your explanation. You said you don't have time to write it out then write 2 paragraphs about how good your dogs are.
Not using treats isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the theory of how dogs learn is quite clear that they need a reinforcer in some way to learn the correct behaviour. I assume you praise your dog in some way for performing the desired behaviour? Or maybe they have access to their toy/ park/ other dogs as a reward? Dogs don't just start behaving exactly how you want them to just because they like you.
Although having a good bond with a dog is very important, your explanation seems to encroach into "my dog listens because he respects me" which is, quite frankly, unsatisfactory for someone asking for behaviour advice. You're also passively judging those trainers for using treats as somehow worse than you "I don't want to be the person handing 7 treats...". Some dogs are highly motivated by food, so why is this a bad thing?
Not using treats isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the theory of how dogs learn is quite clear that they need a reinforcer in some way to learn the correct behaviour. I assume you praise your dog in some way for performing the desired behaviour? Or maybe they have access to their toy/ park/ other dogs as a reward? Dogs don't just start behaving exactly how you want them to just because they like you.
Although having a good bond with a dog is very important, your explanation seems to encroach into "my dog listens because he respects me" which is, quite frankly, unsatisfactory for someone asking for behaviour advice. You're also passively judging those trainers for using treats as somehow worse than you "I don't want to be the person handing 7 treats...". Some dogs are highly motivated by food, so why is this a bad thing?
@tomlobur My current dog came to me as 'highly motivated for treats'. And I got a printed list of 'high reward treats'. She now behaves for me with out treats.
Typing on a phone sucks. I am not writing out a bunch by phone. I can write lots by computer. I did in answer to another question.
I do think I am getting down voted for not using treats. I get that in person. And I don't see much in r/dogtraining about training without treats. Am I missing it?
I have had the same discussions with my kids at school. I do not want food rewards for my kids. I especially don't want my kids working for candy. I get loads of disapproval for that because 'everyone uses treats'. So I am tired of the discussion. Yes, I have an attitude about it.
Typing on a phone sucks. I am not writing out a bunch by phone. I can write lots by computer. I did in answer to another question.
I do think I am getting down voted for not using treats. I get that in person. And I don't see much in r/dogtraining about training without treats. Am I missing it?
I have had the same discussions with my kids at school. I do not want food rewards for my kids. I especially don't want my kids working for candy. I get loads of disapproval for that because 'everyone uses treats'. So I am tired of the discussion. Yes, I have an attitude about it.
klonopin48
New member
@mikea You can train without treats with some dogs, sure - but all dogs have different “drives” and training without what drives that specific dog really seems pointless. Training should never be a “one size fits all” approach. There are certain dogs that have little to no food drive but have a high praise or toy drive, and some that are the complete other way around. If you’re faced with a dog that isn’t motivated by praise by nature, is it really fair to ask them to do something when you can’t pay them what they want for their job?
Again, power to you and glad it’s worked so well for you in the past - but the reason you’re being downvoted is because of your reasoning for not using treats and the way you go about it. A well-trained dog that was trained using food reinforcements should be able to work without treats in the case that you run out - that’s what a marker word is for. I rarely run out of treats as it’s not that hard to always have some kibble on you, but even when I do run out with my rescue he still listens to and respects me because he knows he’ll be paid later on, and he simply enjoys working.
Again, power to you and glad it’s worked so well for you in the past - but the reason you’re being downvoted is because of your reasoning for not using treats and the way you go about it. A well-trained dog that was trained using food reinforcements should be able to work without treats in the case that you run out - that’s what a marker word is for. I rarely run out of treats as it’s not that hard to always have some kibble on you, but even when I do run out with my rescue he still listens to and respects me because he knows he’ll be paid later on, and he simply enjoys working.