To treat or not to treat?

I think what has irked me the most in my training career is the fact that people harp on the use of a treat reward. I hear time and time again that dogs should do what you ask without a reward.

I recently had another "trainer" gripe me out for rewarding my dog with a treat (Sadie is learning the whisper command now). I use trainer in quotes because in my opinion a trainer is someone who can adapt with the emergence of new techniques and new science, which this person has not. This is the same person who when I took my little dog to agility class with her, (now mind you my dog was about 8 months old at this time, so he was exhibiting juvenile behaviors and being a little rebellious teen) she tried to bully me into buying a pinch collar and also yanked the leash out of my hands and forced my dog into a "down" by jerking him to the ground and stepping on the leash and was going to stay there "until he gave up." Well for one I've seen the damage a pinch collar can do and I refuse to put one on my dogs ever and I will show you better options for your dog than that type of torture device. And for two if you have ever met my littlest dog or any other Schipperke then you would know how stubborn and crazy smart the breed is. He didn't "give up" like she planned instead he wiggled off the leash and then preceded to run around the rink like a maniac all while she chased him like an idiot (I may have not known much about training at this point in my life, but I knew enough to not chase the dog).  Needless to say, we left that day never to return. The next few years I spent listening to other people's horror stories of interactions with her. Myself and other positive reinforcement trainers have spent long and hard hours (and years) correcting the reactive behavior that has resulted from her capital punishment mentality.

But off of that tangent now and back on the use of treats. My simple response to the statement "a dog shouldn't need treats; they should do what I want for simple praise" is do you expect to go to work and not get paid for that day? If you expect a payday, then why shouldn't your dog? They are doing hard work. Not only are they having to decipher our language, they also have to figure out what action goes with what word we are saying. Put yourself in the place of your dog.

Imagine if you met an alien race; they don't speak your language and you don't speak their language. However, they are trying to teach you the actions that go along with some of their words.  The alien looks at you and says "sshrfp." You have no clue what that means or what to do. So the alien pushes you down (you land in a sitting position) while saying "sshrfp" and after you land says "srp." Does "sshrfp" mean push or sit? And what the hell does "srp" mean. Do you know? Let's try it again: you stand up and again the alien says "sshrfp" and pushes you down. This time you land a little more on your side, but still essentially sitting. And the alien says "srp" after you land.  Have you figured it out yet? What does "sshrfp" mean? What does "srp" mean? Want to try it one more time? Or are you getting tired of being shoved around? Well to bad: you stand up and once again the alien says "sshrfp" and pushes you down, when you land the alien says "srp." Can you figure out what message the alien was trying to convey?

Let's try this again only with a little twist. Now the alien has a cupcake. The alien shows you the cupcake. The alien uses that cupcake to guide you (without touching you) into sitting in a chair. Then says "prp" and gives you the cupcake. The next time the alien says "brrp" and guides you into the chair with a cupcake. Once you sit the alien says "prp" and gives you the cupcake. Can you tell me what "brrp" and "prp" mean? Do we need to try it again? Well let's go ahead and try it again. You get up, the alien shows you a cupcake and says "brrp" and guides you into the chair. Once you sit, the alien says "prp" and gives you the cupcake. Have you figured out what all the words mean yet? Could you take a guess at any of them? If the alien says "brrp" would you think to sit in the chair?

This is what your dog is having to deal with. If you say "sit" and then push on their butt, then what action are you actually teaching them? Did you teach them that "sit" means put your butt on the ground or did you teach them that "sit" means I touch your butt and then it goes on the ground?

This goes along with my number one question for the treat naysayers:  how do you get a dog to learn the commands? The easiest and simplest way to get a dog to do a sit and down command is by luring them into it using either a treat or toy reward. I have seen the naysayers methods first hand (see my rant): generally they force the dog into a sit or a down, but what they fail to see is that they always have to "force" the dog to do the command. I use force in quotes, because you may not see them physically push the animal into the command, but what you will see is them having to tell the dog "sit" or "down" several times and then resort to touching them (either their butt for "sit" or their shoulders for "down"). In my opinion, I shouldn't have to touch my dog for them to do the command. The research out there shows that animals learn better if they figure things out on their own.

Now don't get me wrong I do believe eventually a dog should be able to do a command without the use of treats. I don't really bring out the treats unless we are working on commands my dogs may be rusty on or if they are learning behaviors. My littlest dog has his Canine Good Citizen (CGC)  certification and is also a registered therapy dog through Therapy Dog International (TDI). For both of these tests he had to perform all the tasks set for him without any treats. This means he had to walk nicely, stop when I stopped, Sit/stay and down/stay, come to me, and many more tasks all without treats. He even had treats thrown at him that he had to leave alone, and again he had to do this without treats. To me the ability to have your dog do commands without the use of treats is the real proof on how obedient he/she is, but that comes after your dog learns the commands.

I always tell people I won't leave you stuck using treats in my classes. I always show people how to wean their dogs off of treats, but it's usually up to them on when to wean them. I will help reinforce this by giving the dog praises when they come up to me and sit or down.