A fellow pet photographer, Jennie Sloan, asked a question on twitter about how to work with dogs who like to chew off a bit of finger while taking treats. I’m going to share an exercise called “Slow Treat” that offers a great way to teach a finger-grabber some self control. Full credit for this exercise goes to Deb Jones. I learned this at one of her seminars and immediately added it to my training bag of tricks.
This exercise will be really helpful when you practice it at home with your own dog. For photographers who are spending just a few hours with a new dogs, I think you could still make use of this exercise. A few slow treat sessions, that only take two or three minutes each, will at least get the dog intrigued by what you’re doing. The other solution is to deliver treats from a flat palm, so that the dog has to pick the treat off of your flat hand instead of grabbing it off your fingertips. (Retriever pups are notorious for this! My Ellie was a pretty serious grabber and it wasn’t until she was about two years old that all of the white marks on my fingernails finally disappeared!)
(I’ll try to record a video of this exercise at our puppy class Wednesday evening and then come back and post it here.)
Slow Treat!
This method of giving your dog a treat can be done while the dog is any stationary position. You’ll probably find it easiest to work on this while your dog is in a sit, but eventually you’ll want your dog to accept his treats nicely while in any position.
The goal is to teach our dogs that when they remain in position, the treat will come to them. If the dog moves towards the treat, the treat slowly moves away out of their reach. The slow treat game is a variation on Doggie Zen.
Steps:
- With your dog in position, take one treat and slowly start to move the treat towards your dog’s mouth.
- As long as your dog is not moving towards the treat, continue to move the treat closer.
- If your dog starts to move towards the hand with the treat, slowly move the treat away. As soon as your dog stops moving towards your hand, change direction and move the treat back towards the dog.
The picture that we’re trying to build for the dog is that by remaining still, he can draw the treats toward him. Leaning, moving or jumping out of position pushes the treat away.
What this teaches your dog:
Self-control
To not grab for treats
His behavior controls the results
Hints and Tips
At first, don’t worry about using the clicker while playing this game. We’re less concerned with the position that your dog is in during the initial stages of this game. The most important thing is that the dog holds his position while the treat is delivered. Because our dog’s are learning that the click marks good behavior and the delivery of reinforcement, we don’t want to confuse them with the slow treat game (where we may be pulling the treat away. We don’t want the dog to associate the click with the taking away of the treat).
Once your dog is accomplished at always taking his treats nicely, this becomes the rule for taking treats. Maintain this criteria during all other training sessions for stationary behaviors.