The Treat Debate – To Treat or Not To Treat During Training
There is a debate among trainers as to whether you should use treats to train your dog or not use treats. There are some pros and cons on both sides of the argument.
To get us started, we need to go back to basics of dog learning. Let’s start with the godfathers of animal behavioral science – Pavlov and Skinner. Pavlov observed that when he rang a bell and then provided food (or treat), that the dog started “pairing” a behavior with the bell stimulus. This behavior could be involuntary (drooling every time the bell rang) or voluntary (moving to where the treat is dispensed). This is called Classical Conditioning. We use this method in dog training today to teach a dog that when they hear a click or a word like “Yes”, a reward WILL follow every time.
Skinner took this one step further with his Operant Conditioning. He started with classical conditioning, but then came to realize that a stimulus can evoke a behavior like saying SIT and then another stimulus (clicker) can either reinforce the behavior (make behavior likely to occur again) or punish (decreases the likeliness of the behavior to occur again). An example of this is you ask your dog to SIT. The dog sits, then you click or say Yes (positive marker) and reward the dog for performing the behavior. This creates a situation where your dog will most likely repeat putting his butt on the ground every time you say SIT because the clicker and reward reinforces the behavior. This is the same for negative reinforcement which involves removing an aversive stimulus when the desired behavior is performed, strengthening the likelihood of the behavior being repeated. Lets take Leash walking for instance. When your dog pulls on the leash, pressure is applied to his neck (aversive stimulus) but when the dog slows down and the leash becomes loose or slack, then the aversive stimulus has been removed (negative reinforcement) which in turn makes the dog more likely to walk on a loose leash.
With Operant Conditioning there is 2 additional concepts:
Fixed Ratio Reinforcement involves giving the dog a treat every time the dog performs the behavior
Random or Variable Ratio Reinforcement which involves randomly giving the dog a treat after he performs the behavior X number of times. Sometimes it is 1 time, or 10 times, or 3 times. Similar to how a slot machine works. You never know when you will win, but you know you will win something.
I am a firm believer that all animals (humans, dogs, cats, wild animals, etc) learn from a balance of positive and negative reinforcement and/or consequences.
How does this relate to using treats or not during training?
The obvious answer is food is a great motivator for dogs. Most dogs will work for food or treats and that makes training go a lot faster. So generally, we always start with treats as the reward using the fixed ratio method when we are training. But after the dog understands the cue for the behavior, then we move as quickly as we can to the Random or Variable Ratio to help build the dog’s work ethic. Work ethic is where dogs work harder for less rewards. And we want dogs to work more for less.
Where trainers and people get into trouble is, they rely on treats for too long (Fixed Ration) or they have bad timing and end up rewarding the dog for the wrong behavior. In addition, because people rely too much on treats the treat becomes a bribe. Some dogs learn that they don’t need to do anything unless they see the treat first. This is one of the primary reasons why some trainers think it is best not to use treats at all and to rely on negative reinforcement more than positive reinforcement.
From my perspective, treats should be used as part of training. We just need to be careful that we are using them correctly. A treat can be used as a lure. When the dog performs the behavior that you are teaching them, then MARK IT with a positive marker!!! A positive marker can be a clicker or a word like “Yes”. For more information on Markers refer to previous blog Markers, Cues & Release Words. You should never give the treat to the dog unless they have performed the behavior. And once the dog is performing the behavior most of the time, then we want to replace the treat reward with non-food rewards such as praise (“Good Dog”) or throwing a ball, or use “life rewards” like letting the dog outside when they sit and look at you, or you let them get on the couch and cuddle with you. This process of weening your dog off of a treat or food reward every time they do something you want/ask them to do is called a Random Feed Schedule. Meaning that you will reward your dog when they do the behavior you are looking for, but not always with treats. Sometimes they need to perform the behavior 3 times before they get a treat or 1 time or 5 times. You are still rewarding them EVERY TIME, just not with treats every time.
Another problem that many people do while training their dog is being very firm and uptight. If you want to motivate your dog to work for less treats, you need to be more interesting and fun while training your dog. Your dog will feed off your energy while learning. The more fun you are, the faster your dog will bond with you and will be motivated to please you. If you are training in only a firm voice or a monotone voice, the dog is going to learn that the only benefit for them is the treat, instead of learning that you and your energy is more important than the treat itself. Be fun!!!
As you can see there are a lot of different training concepts at play at the same time when training your dog that you probably didn’t even realize that you were performing them. Positive and Negative reinforcement go hand in hand. Sometimes you are reinforcing your dog’s behavior with positive stimulus like a treat and sometimes you are applying an adverse stimulus like pressure on the neck, so they are more likely to walk loosely on a leash. When they do, you are using positive reinforcement again to reinforce the loose leash walking.
Mistakes People Make When using Treats
Being a Treat Reliant Trainer – Don’t be this person. This person uses the treat as a bribe. That is not what the treats are for. Treats should ALWAYS be a REWARD for performing the behavior you asked for or want. TIP: After the first couple of lures when the dog is getting the idea of what you want, stop using the treat for the lure.
Using Clicker to get Dog’s Attention – Don’t be this person either! The clicker is used to MARK the behavior you want your dog to perform, after you mark it, then you have 3-5 seconds to follow that up with a reward. Rewards can be food or a non-food rewards.
Using Low Value Treats – This is a common mistake. Some dogs will work for Cheerios or crackers, but they are far and few between. Generally, dogs are more motivated by a soft and meaty and smelly treat. High value treats generally motivates dogs to learn much faster than using a Cheerio or blueberry.
Bribery – Using the treat to cox the dog to work. I have seen some dog’s who will absolutely not perform a behavior unless they see the treat first. If this is happening, it means you are relying on treats far too much and have not moved to a Random Feed Schedule early enough.
Bad Timing – Delivering treats too slowly results in rewarding the dog for a different behavior than you did not intend to reward. For example, you ask your dog to SIT STAY and wait too long to reward your dog, so your dog decides start to get up and you click and reward your dog. Now your dog has learned that he is being rewarded for breaking the Stay command.
Rewarding your dog in the wrong positions – This is a very common mistake. For instance, you ask dog to down, they do so you mark and move the treat slightly in front of them or above them causing the dog to get out of the down position to get the treat.
Reward bad behavior with a treat – Using treats to get your dog’s attention when they are barking and then giving them a treat hoping they will stop barking. But you are actually rewarding the barking and teaching them to keep barking in that situation.
When using treats while training, use wisely!
Be aware of why you are giving the treat.
Has the dog performed what you asked?
Did the dog perform the behavior well enough to deserve a treat reward?
Is the dog performing the behavior consistently (about 80% of the time)? If so, start fading the food reward out by replacing it with non-food related rewards.
Remember to make Training FUN! Bring Positive Reinforcement to life by signing up your dog for the Click A Trick class!