Weaning from treat rewards while training
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| Sounds like she is learning to do as asked when she is bribed. What you want to do is change the bribe, which is shown before she performs, into a reward, which she gets after she performs.
What I do is put the dog on a variable schedule.....Sometimes you get a treat and sometimes you don't...LOL.. This is what I would do...It is spelled out here pretty quickly, but should take a period of about a week to do...gradually so she doesn't give up trying to please you. Start by asking her for behaviors and let her smell the treat, but not see it. She'll know ou have one and do as asked. Then start to keep the treat hand behind your back, so she can't see it, but gets one when she does as asks. You can mix this up with showing her the treat, asking her to do something, then withhold it. So she learns that when just because she sees a treat doesn't mean she gets it...But when she doesn't see it, then she gets one every time! Then the treat in the opposite hand, behind your back...Then put the treat up on a shelf, or a table, where she doesnt' know it is there. Remember that while you are doing this she needs to be rewarded EVERY time she performs without seeing the treat. Keep a small bowl of teeny goodies in different place around the house for this. Then you can start to wean her down to a treat only every second time she performs....Then every third time....Be careful, though, because they are very smart and will figure out a schedule very quickly. Eventually you can get her down to sometimes treats twice in a row, sometimes none for 5/6 times....At this point she won't know when she will be rewarded and when she won't be. There has been research done with rats that run mazes. When there is a food reward at the end, they do the maze quickly...But when sometimes it is there, and sometime not, they run quicker!!! 
But all that being said, whenever I call my dogs to me, and they come running, I try to always reward them...It is so important that "Come" is always a reward. Good luck. |
| You could also change the type of treats,like giving a good petting as a reward instead of food treats |
| Good thoughts! Thanks, will give it a whirl. |
| ...going good...going good...going great!...and crap! Yesterday and today the obstinate little bum just "turns off" and doesn't do ANYTHING she'd been doing so well at...sigh... |
chowderdawg wrote: ...going good...going good...going great!...and crap! Yesterday and today the obstinate little bum just "turns off" and doesn't do ANYTHING she'd been doing so well at...sigh...
What was she doing well, how was she doing it well, and what exactly changed? Have you become predictable again, or is she maybe just having an off day or two? If there's nothing tangible, you can try giving her a few days off from whatever it is you were working on and maybe doing something completely different. It takes about 13 seconds flat to bore your average OES to tears. And dogs can have off days, too, as I'm sure you've noticed. Or just plain weird days. Visit almost any beginner's agility class the night of a full moon if you need a good laugh 
Kristine |
I guess what's changed outwardly is she has become distracted and "spazzy", but that seems more of a symptom than a cause. Dunno what's driving it. She had sit, lay, stay (up to about 30 seconds) and come pretty reliably, won't do anything except ignore everything we say currently and jump on the bed and couches while giving us a dirty "I know you don't want me doing this" look (she's been bed and couch cooperative since the first week). Dunno if we've bored her or she's going through a hormonal shift (she was spayed 1 week ago today) or.... Hey it is a full moon on Sunday. I can blame that!  |
chowderdawg wrote: Dunno if we've bored her or she's going through a hormonal shift (she was spayed 1 week ago today) or.... Hey it is a full moon on Sunday. I can blame that!
That's what I do.
No, seriously, I do blame the moon. It buys me time. I learned - the hard way - that when my dogs do something completely inexplicable, if I back off for a few days or so it's like it never happened and they've smoothly moved on to doing something entirely different and equally baffling. Even some of their instructors have been impressed by their innovation  
At least they're never boring
As for hormones, they can have an effect. Belle used to be a complete spaz right before she came into season. I mean, dog couldn't remember her own name. Then she'd come into season and become Super Dog. Anything difficult I needed to teach her I always worked on while she was in - somehow the hormones just gave her brain an extra edge or something. Most of my other bitches just get PMS and feel kind of sorry for themselves. Same thing post-spay, so give her some time and considering doing what I do: howl at the moon and encourage her to join you. She may look at you like you've lost it, but that's OK. They baffle us. Turn-around is fair play
(eh, just make sure there aren't any neighbors close by when you do )
Kristine |
| AAWOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! AW AW AAWOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Oh wait, was I supposed to leave the office first?  |
chowderdawg wrote: AAWOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! AW AW AAWOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Oh wait, was I supposed to leave the office first? Nah, only if you're fond of your job and want your colleagues to continue to associate with you....?
Kristine |
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