11/12/2023
Really good read and something I am always going on about in class.
"So many treats."
"If my dog had that many treat, they'd get fat"
'You shouldn't have to give that dog so many treats"
"The dog is only doing it for treats"
A treat - an item out of the ordinary that gives great pleasure. But it can also mean to give care and attention (to get medical treatment kr to treat someone well).
The food you see me using with my clients in my videos are not "treats." They're reinforcers which are food. There's a difference.
We see treating ourselves or giving ourselves a treat as an indulgence, something which is limited. Maybe there's a view that if we get too many treats, we get lazy, soft and spoiled. A child who gets too many treats ruins their appetite, rots their teeth, gets spoiled and their behaviour may change for the worse because of all the "treats." Those who help themselves to treats are greedy etc.
We often so dog treats marketed the same way. They are something special for the dog. We see them called "training treats" with some implication or prejudice that they are for especially good behaviour.
But that's not what's going on here. When you are building a relationship with anyone, you may do fun things together in order to get to know them. That might include going for coffee (is that a treat), dinner, the movies. Other activities may or may not involve food. We care getting to know that person, finding out if enough of their behaviour is reinforcing to us.
Getting paid for our job is not a treat. We wouldn't do it without it. Taking satisfaction in work we've done is not a treat, it reinforces our behaviour and makes it more likely in the future.
When we start training our dogs, we are reinforcing the behaviours we want to see more of - proximity, attention, movement. We reinforce those behaviours with a piece of food (there are many other things we can use too).
We are not "giving the dog a treat," even though that might be what it looks like. We strengthen a behaviour, when it's stronger we can ask for more (when you lift weights, you get stronger, you can lift more).
We use language to explain and understand concepts. Sometimes our language doesn't always serve is because of our history with that word. "Treat" can be one of those words.
Lastly, to stop our dogs gaining weight or becoming unhealthy, use a portion of their daily food calories for training. This doesn't necessarily (and often shouldn't be) mean their daily food. Use meat based, soft, smelly food like sausages, chicken, liver etc. These are not treat, even though your dog likes them, they are pieces of food used to reinforce behaviour.
