Getting your dog to respond without treats

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Behavior, Dog, Reinforcement, removing treats, Treat, Treats, Weaning, without treats

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Positive Reinforcement training often uses treats to motivate dogs into learning new behaviors. With the behaviors you have already taught to the point where your dog responds 100% of the time, you can begin to wean your dogs off treats. You should wean your dogs off treats for that behavior only.

To start, offer your dog a treat for success every 4-5 times they complete the behavior. Repeat this for a few days. Every few days cut the number of treats they are given for success by one.

As you begin to wean your dog off treats vary the frequency that you remove the treat. For instance, give him a treat every time for 10 repeats of the exercise. Then go one without.

Next time, give him a treat for 8 repetitions then do one without the treat. After that, go with a larger number. Go 20 repetitions before withholding a treat. Mix it up so that he doesn’t know when the treat will be withheld.

If you have any questions, please let me know. I’ll be happy to help if I can.