TREATS

Misused

It’s common for puppies of this age to have been trained not to work unless Mom or Dad has a treat in their hand.  We often have to retrain them and usually it entails using MORE treats for a while, then fading the treats.

Misunderstood

Use a treat in your right hand to get the behavior and reward the first 6 repetitions.  Then move the treats to your left hand.  Continue to signal with your right hand, but now the treat is coming from your left.  After 6 repetitions, move the treats to your left pocket.  6 repetitions later, move the treats to a table or bench out of reach.  When you decide to give a treat, have your puppy run with you to the treats to get them.  Finally, leave the treats in their normal place and run to them as I just described.  Start working farther and farther from the treats.

Mistreated

I will always recommend that you have a supply of treats on you in the early stages.  Not in a pouch or a baggie or a pocket, but in your hand.  A LOT of them.  You need to be ready to reward moments of genius and they WILL happen!  USE MORE than you think you should.  Avoid giving a treat every time your puppy does what you ask!  That will turn you into a treat dispenser.  You need to be like a slot machine;  sometimes a GIANT jackpot, sometimes a little jackpot, sometimes nothing at all.  You want you puppy to wonder what he can do to make the GIANT jackpot happen again!

 

No treats= 0 treats.  This is important when your dog has not done what you asked the first time, and you are repeating the signal and lesson.  For instance, you put your dog in a Down-Stay, and he pops up.  You take him back to where he was before and have him Down again.  If you give him a treat for going back Down, what would be his motivation for staying?  He gets more treats for breaking his position!

 

Treat for trying= ohhhhhh…. Give a nibble of a treat or a very small treat to let him know you appreciate him working on the problem, but he hasn’t solved it yet.

 

TREAT!= YAY!  I usually give one to five treats for a job well done, the first several times he gets it right.

 

Jackpot or BIG treats!= Either open your hand and let him have about half of what’s in it, or give 6-9 treats all in a row, really fast.

 

GIANT JACKPOT!  Give everything in your hand AND get some more for him.  Blow him away with the excitement.

 

OTHER TOOLS

Make sure your puppy has something he enjoys chewing on, every day.  Vigorous, enthusiastic chewing has lots of benefits.  I recommend: