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Fading Food Rewards
By Friends of the Dog
By Friends of the Dog
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Before we go onto Fading Food Rewards, right from the beginning when teaching your pup and dog, ensure that you first and foremost engage in verbal praise and then give the treat. We tend to negate the effect that verbal praise can have with our dogs and rely too much on food.
One of the most common statement clients will make to me is “he only does it for food!” Now the last thing any of us want is for a dog to do what we ask only if we have food on us. How is this solved? Not at all hard, read below.
When you are teaching a dog a new behaviour you reward 100% of the time until the dog ‘get’s it’. You then immediately start to stagger the reward. When a reward is staggered (in behaviour terms it would be a varied reinforcement schedule) a dog will actually work harder for the reward, simply because it never knows when it will be forthcoming! If we relate this to human terms, why do we keep on putting money into one armed bandits? Simple, we get rewarded for doing so – or at least some of us do!
Don’t always have the treat in your hand either, pop some food into your pocket or even keep some titbits on top of a cupboard etc, throughout the house. This will stop the dog only working when it can see the food – be a magician!
So how then do you stager a reward? When the dog is performing the requested behaviour proficiently, then repeat the request and only offer a reward every second or third time. Mix it up, sometimes every fourth time, sometimes ever second time, until you gradually fade the reward almost completely and can use praise instead. I find that it is better to give the odd reward rather than cut the reward completely – think about it, would you work month in and month out for no pay??
Remember that instead of a food reward, you can also tell the dog ‘good boy’ or similar. Food is not always the be all and end all of rewards, as to some dogs praise is more important, to others a ball being thrown and to some a scratch is the best thing in the world. Remember again, use praise first, then the treat.
A lovely exercise to do with both pups and older dogs to start fading is the ‘3fors’ i.e. the dog is taught to sit and rewarded, the dog is taught the down cue and rewarded, the dog is taught the stand cue and rewarded. When all 3 are in place start to ask for a sit and then a down and then reward. When the dog is proficient at all three exercises individually, then ask for a sit, stand, down and the reward. Using this 3 simple exercises you can practice lots of different sequences and start fading at the same time.
If you come across a situation where in the dog knows the behaviour and suddenly becomes deaf and totally ignores you, stand silently for about 30 seconds to see if the dog will comply (if it does offer the treat immediately), if not, waggle the food treat in front of its nose and say ‘too bad’ and walk away. If there is another dog around, immediately ask that dog for behaviour and when it does comply, give it the treat – this has a great impact on dogs, but don't do it if there is resource guarding of food between the dogs! If there is not another dog around, try the exercise about a minute later in a different location. If the dog complies, then do ‘jackpot’ it by giving two or three rewards very quickly. The dog will work out for itself what works and what doesn’t. By waiting silently for 30 seconds for the dog to comply we are avoiding the mistake that many owners make that if the dog does not comply immediately, the cue is repeated over and over. This normally ends up in a situation whereby owner has to request Sit about 3 to 4 times and dog only sits when voice is raised.
Don’t only have training sessions, start to bring the behaviours, such as sit, down etc into everyday life by asking for a sit before playing, sit and wait before going out a door etc. Also remember to practice in different locations. You may have a dog that sits perfectly every time you ask in the house, but does that dog do the same in the garden?
What is important to remember is that when training in a different location i.e. in the garden or out on a walk, go right back to the beginning teaching fading - dogs do not generalize.
If you are interested in reading more about reinforcement schedules then do have a look at Dr. Ian Dunbar’s excellent article Reinforcement Schedules.
One of the most common statement clients will make to me is “he only does it for food!” Now the last thing any of us want is for a dog to do what we ask only if we have food on us. How is this solved? Not at all hard, read below.
When you are teaching a dog a new behaviour you reward 100% of the time until the dog ‘get’s it’. You then immediately start to stagger the reward. When a reward is staggered (in behaviour terms it would be a varied reinforcement schedule) a dog will actually work harder for the reward, simply because it never knows when it will be forthcoming! If we relate this to human terms, why do we keep on putting money into one armed bandits? Simple, we get rewarded for doing so – or at least some of us do!
Don’t always have the treat in your hand either, pop some food into your pocket or even keep some titbits on top of a cupboard etc, throughout the house. This will stop the dog only working when it can see the food – be a magician!
So how then do you stager a reward? When the dog is performing the requested behaviour proficiently, then repeat the request and only offer a reward every second or third time. Mix it up, sometimes every fourth time, sometimes ever second time, until you gradually fade the reward almost completely and can use praise instead. I find that it is better to give the odd reward rather than cut the reward completely – think about it, would you work month in and month out for no pay??
Remember that instead of a food reward, you can also tell the dog ‘good boy’ or similar. Food is not always the be all and end all of rewards, as to some dogs praise is more important, to others a ball being thrown and to some a scratch is the best thing in the world. Remember again, use praise first, then the treat.
A lovely exercise to do with both pups and older dogs to start fading is the ‘3fors’ i.e. the dog is taught to sit and rewarded, the dog is taught the down cue and rewarded, the dog is taught the stand cue and rewarded. When all 3 are in place start to ask for a sit and then a down and then reward. When the dog is proficient at all three exercises individually, then ask for a sit, stand, down and the reward. Using this 3 simple exercises you can practice lots of different sequences and start fading at the same time.
If you come across a situation where in the dog knows the behaviour and suddenly becomes deaf and totally ignores you, stand silently for about 30 seconds to see if the dog will comply (if it does offer the treat immediately), if not, waggle the food treat in front of its nose and say ‘too bad’ and walk away. If there is another dog around, immediately ask that dog for behaviour and when it does comply, give it the treat – this has a great impact on dogs, but don't do it if there is resource guarding of food between the dogs! If there is not another dog around, try the exercise about a minute later in a different location. If the dog complies, then do ‘jackpot’ it by giving two or three rewards very quickly. The dog will work out for itself what works and what doesn’t. By waiting silently for 30 seconds for the dog to comply we are avoiding the mistake that many owners make that if the dog does not comply immediately, the cue is repeated over and over. This normally ends up in a situation whereby owner has to request Sit about 3 to 4 times and dog only sits when voice is raised.
Don’t only have training sessions, start to bring the behaviours, such as sit, down etc into everyday life by asking for a sit before playing, sit and wait before going out a door etc. Also remember to practice in different locations. You may have a dog that sits perfectly every time you ask in the house, but does that dog do the same in the garden?
What is important to remember is that when training in a different location i.e. in the garden or out on a walk, go right back to the beginning teaching fading - dogs do not generalize.
If you are interested in reading more about reinforcement schedules then do have a look at Dr. Ian Dunbar’s excellent article Reinforcement Schedules.