In a quest to fine tune widges training I've gone back to basics. I'm having a go at clicker training, seems to be going well and I sort of wish i did this the first time round! I'm keen to get a solid 'trained' response from him as I suspect some of my problems stem from a tendency for him to wait and see if I have any treats. I've been doing sits, lays and 'handovers' in the kitchen with treats on the table. I have both low and high value and mix up the rewards inc an increasing amount of 'no treats' to trigger the gambling effect, but does the fact he knows there are treats on the table still constitute a bribe? I don't have the treat in my hand, only click then reach for a treat. I have tried treats, out if sight, in my pocket but I'm sure he's able to smell them.
Re: Am I looking too hard into this? If the dog gets the message that he has to work for the treats, it's not a bribe. It's just the skill of working around and for food. Then you ask the dog to work harder for the treats. It's just a way of training, not bribing.
Re: Am I looking too hard into this? Thank you. I guess the fact he doesn't receive a treat every time means he has to WORK for it?
Re: Am I looking too hard into this? Once my dog knows what he is supposed to be doing, I don't reward poor attempts. But I always "pay for" good attempts. My dog knows he is working for treats when he is trying to do it right. Once my dog is consistently doing it right, I ask for more - longer duration, more distractions, a harder task. So he is always trying to get his treat. That's what I mean by working for his treat. He wouldn't be working for his treat if I just continued to do the same thing, which was easy for him, and continued to pay him. I always pay at the end of a successful chain of behaviours though. I always pay for a good retrieve, a good recall and so on.
Re: Am I looking too hard into this? Don't think of it as a bribe - think of it as 'information' - so a good effort gets a reward. The information is that good work is worth doing.
Re: Am I looking too hard into this? I wonder if this video will help. You see that if he picks up the dummy in the middle, he gets a C&T - he always gets a C&T if he is doing it right because that's what I'm teaching - pick it up in the middle, you get a treat. If he picks up the dummy at the end, no C&T. https://www.flickr.com/photos/123706979@N04/15533260346/
