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Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 6,947
Location: Durham, NC
Dogs Name: Mercury's Prince of the Universe (Boon)
Titles: CFFII,NW1, NW2, NWE1, CFFIII, CFFIV
Dogs Age: 12/29/12
Gallery Pics: 22
Visit triciakoontz's Gallery Thanks: 9,005
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Yes, I do vary the reward source location. I don’t want the position of where the reward is located to be a part of the behavior I’m training. Dogs, and especially these brilliant Dobermans, are cataloging every nuance of OUR body language during a training session. And, they do not generalize!! If you always have rewards coming out of a treat bag located on your right hip, well, guess what can easily happen if, one day, you don’t wear that treat bag in that exact spot on the right hip? The dog can’t do the behavior! No kidding, have seen it many times teaching classes and in my own training.
Dogs will also orient their bodies to the reward source and that orientation can easily become a part of the finished behavior. Dog learns, through many repetitions while he’s being rewarded that what his human wants is EXACTLY this: lying down, facing the human, nose close to the treat pouch, eyes boring a hole into the pouch. A down on the other side of the human, one without a built in stare at the treat pouch, well...this dog doesn’t know anything about that kind of down. So, that’s why it’s good to vary reward placement for most training.
Rigid “still photo training” is what I call it to help students; a dog learns that “sit” means EXACTLY this picture - I am to face my human, in the kitchen, beside the sink area, and place my hiney down on the floor exactly one foot away from my human’s feet and 8 inches to the left of his belt buckle and I am to stare at his treat pouch. Then the human is terrifically surprised when they come to the training center and have forgotten their treat pouch and are trying to get treats out of a Jean pocket for rewarding while yelling at the dog to SIIIIIIT and the dog just cannot manage a sit. The human has a hissy fit and gets all angry at the dog. “You know sit! You’re just trying to embarrass me!” Nope. That’s not what’s happening at all. The dog had still photo training.
Dogs are extremely literal and if you train in a rigid still photo way, you will get a dog that can only do that behavior as long as it exactly mimics the still photo. So, vary yourself!
The treat hand behind the back is an extremely important default position that I use often to keep myself from “overshadowing the click”. Do you know what that means? It’s a super important concept.
THE BOONDOGGLE
Last edited by triciakoontz; 04-30-2019 at 01:07 PM.