Prolific Helium blogger Pat Gray wrote an article recently about how to use treats to train your pooch. Apparently, there’s a bit of debate amongst dog trainers about whether using treats is a good idea at all, but Pat (and I) think that if used properly, they can do wonders in reinforcing and eventually, ingraining, good behavior in your furry friend.

Some of the most important tips from Pat’s article that I think are worth repeating and adding my own commentary to:

Don’t over-reward
Treats are just that – treats. Use the special, uber tasty things your dog loves to reward him/her when s/he accomplishes something difficult or worthy of that type of special accolade. If you reward with the best of the best for every single thing the dog does right, like Fred Durst, your dog will be doin’ it for the nookie, er the doggy cookie, and you’ll have “nowhere to go when you have to teach something tougher or when you start adding distractions.”

Smaller is better
Pat suggests using puppy biscuits as treats when kibble stops working, but I just break down bigger treats into really tiny pieces (think a little bigger than bacon bits). Believe me, a dog who likes cheese will sit, lie, shake, and do whatever, even just for a taste of that tiny bit of cheddar. Smaller bits are also better because it prevents pet obesity. Your dog is surely going to need a lot of reward treats whenever s/he’s learning a new trick. If you were to give him/her a whole treat during the learning phase, your dog will have to be renamed Louie, as in Louie Anderson. Keep the bits small, folks.

Phasing out treats
Eventually, you should stop giving your dog a bone everytime s/he does the same ol’ trick. Your dog is going to start phoning it in big time, otherwise. According to trainer Karen Prior, once the behavior is learned “it is vital that you do not reinforce it on a regular basis but instead switch to using reinforcement only occasionally, and on a random or unpredictable basis.” Keep ‘em on their toes! But before you phase out the treats for that one trick, make sure that your furry dude can reliably do that particular feat without a treat. Otherwise, you’ll mostly likely have to start bringing out the snacks again.

Reward the right behavior
Make sure you are choosing the exact, best time to give a treat — right after your dog has done the correct behavior. As Pat points out, this is why clicker training is so effective. The trainer pushes the clicker at the exact moment the dog does the right thing, therefore the dog learns to associate the sound of the clicker as approval and a soon-to-be-received reward. If you don’t have a clicker, you can still have this reaction by rewarding in a timely manner with affection, praise, and a treat.

(Image: emdot)