# Training treats



## Must dash (Nov 15, 2012)

Sadie can finally go out for her first walk today. Yay! I've been reading and watching training videos on how to teach her to walk to heel etc. I want to start with good habits ;D All of the information uses treats to get the dog's focus and obviously the reward at the end. My problem is Sadie looses all focus and gets into a frenzy if offered a treat. She's so excited by what's in my hand she's impossible to train. I have taught her to sit and and we're working on a few other basic commands, but it's all been done with verbal praise and a fuss for the correct behaviour. How do I introduce the use of treats, without feeling like I'm trying to train a piranha? I don't give the treat unless she sits quietly, but I do have to count my fingers afterwards to check they are all present and correct!

Also the amount of treats given seems huge, or are they very tiny pieces? I don't want to end up with a chubby puppy


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## Claire (May 21, 2012)

I had this problem with Liesel when I was trying to teach her to heel, (still trying now!) which, like you, I started as soon as I could take her out, about a week ago. If I offered a treat down by my side to get her to walk there, she would tend to just jump for the treat, and she was so excited by the prospect of a treat that I was sure she wasn't understanding what I wanted of her. 
I also found that, once we were outside in the street, where everything was new and exciting to her, she would jump at the treat as I said, then lose interest if I didn't let her have it pretty much immediately, and go sniffing elsewhere. 
I therefore didn't really use treats much - and when I do, it's just for walking around the garden. It's still sometimes a struggle to get her to stay on the ground and not jump for my hand, but I did also find this improved once she was able to get out and about each day, and drain some energy, so you may find that.
Also I got some good advice on this forum about just relaxing a bit with the whole lead thing, and I'll suggest the same thing to you - it's great you're starting young, but bear in mind Sadie is still VERY young, and getting her to walk successfully to heel will take some time! I've been taking Liesel out for about a week now, on lead and off, and her lead walking has improved a bit already, just naturally, by me tugging to the side (not back towards me) when she pulls, and of course praising her quietly when she's walking nicely by my side. I say quietly because if I give her too much she'll tend to look up at me excitedly, and either jump up or start pulling ahead! I've also tried the turning around technique - just turning and walking in the opposite direction as soon as she pulls. This really helped her understand what she was supposed to do.
Good luck, patience is important which I'm learning to have more of!!


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## veifera (Apr 25, 2012)

I think Sadie is excited because it's her first time at a walk, because she's young and because you haven't used treats before. Meaning - she's simply overwhelmed with everything outside she hasn't ever seen before and with you trying to tell her to ignore it and pay attention to you instead. 

Maybe this is a matter of definitions, but it's the second post that I've read on teaching tiny puppies to heel and I have to say I really disagree. 

To heel means to walk calmly on your left side, with dog's shoulders more or less at your body level. This is slightly different than "walking on leash without pulling", which can be on either side of you, slightly behind or ahead.

At this point in time, your puppy has lived most of its life with the breeder, littermates and its mother. It means that everything the puppy is experiencing right now is new, and some things may even seem downright scary. So the puppy is getting used to you, your rules and your place while at the same time it is learning about the world in general. 

So the key concept about puppy behavior right now is curiosity and exploration. To walk calmly in heel position for longer than a few minutes and without a bribe (commonly referred to as "treat") requires a degree of impulse control that the puppy simply doesn't possess. Even to "walk on leash without pulling" means giving up on all the exciting and new stuff that can be sniffed, chewed and played with. 

My own personal opinion (and others may disagree) is that it makes no sense to heel until the dog has enough experience with the environment generally and enough self control. So I wouldn't even start until about 6 months or so, depending on the individual dog. Heeling is hard because it is boring for the dog - of any age. 

"Walking on leash without pulling" can be a diluted version of heel (the same thing just requiring less precision) or it can be a game you play together with the puppy (e.g. change of pace, turns, accompanied by lots of excitement, toys and treats). The distinction I'm making here is thinking about it as doing something fun together versus paying the puppy for not pulling.

If a tiny puppy is forced to heel for 20 minutes, I predict major recall problems in the future because you'd have reinforced the notion that all the fun stuff is away from you.


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## Must dash (Nov 15, 2012)

I was really asking how to use/introduce treats during training, which I'm unable to do at the moment as she is just so excited that she doesn't listen to any commands. I used walking to heel as an example, but I realise my post was maybe misleading. Walking was on my mind as we were about to go out for our first walk. I really wasn't expecting Sadie to walk perfectly on her first adventure out. Actually she had a really good walk. She stopped the first few times a car passed by, but became accustomed to them really quickly. We encountered a mobility scooter, lawn mower and pushchair and she coped with it all. She was an absolute star. I gave her time on the walk to take in everything that was going on. I was in no rush. I'm new to all this and I just didn't want to introduce bad habits that would then need to addressed later on.

I'm certainly not trying to create the perfect dog. Just a happy one, that has the security of knowing what's expected of her, but having lots of fun along the way with her learning.


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## veifera (Apr 25, 2012)

> I gave her time on the walk to take in everything that was going on.


That's awesome! When it comes to treats, trying introducing them at home first where she's already familiar with everything and there are few distractions. If she can sit without treats, perhaps a new trick (lie down, for example) can be started with treats. 

There is a book called "My Smart Puppy" that I would highly recommend. They break down puppy training into levels and cover things like getting the puppy used to the touch, bonding with it, focusing the attention, etc. Comes with a DVD and much more comprehensive and deep than a simple list of tricks....

Good luck!


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## BaxtersMum (Oct 6, 2012)

Hi

Have you tried putting the treat on the floor infrint of her rather than out of your hand? This works particlarily well for the down command so maybe do this one while getting her used to treats. 

With regards to walking my trainer advised not to do treats to get him to walk nicely as she says it encourages them to jump and grab your hand while walking. To get Baxter to walk without pulling we just walked backwards every time he pulled and once he was level us we walked forwards again and when the lead was loose praise quietly. Like with Liesel if I say good boy with excitement he jumped up at me. Baxter is great on the lead now. Also like mentioned above you need to let them explore and sniff so every now and then I stop expecting him to be by my side and say 'go sniff'. I say this when I see something take his interest. I don't let him sniff all the time, sometimes I carry on walking and say leave so that I am I control as to when he can stop me and sniff about. It's also a good way of training them to leave as Baxter would pick up all sorts if I let him. He seems to like chewing gum people have spat out on the floor so have to watch what he sniffs. I always let him off leash when walking as well so he has plenty of opportunity to sniff about and explore.


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## Must dash (Nov 15, 2012)

Thank you for all of the advice. I will certainly try those tips. 

The book sounds excellent. I'm about to go internet shopping for it now 

Sadie amazes me everyday with her capacity to learn and investigate. I love to watch her sitting outside, nose in the air, taking it all in. I just want to be sure that I'm not letting her down by my lack of knowledge and inexperience. A happy, content and confident dog is what she deserves to be. That's my aim!


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## BaxtersMum (Oct 6, 2012)

Hello again

Just re read your first post and realised that I didn't reply about the amount of treats and the worry about weight gain. Do you feed kibble? If so then had back some of what you weigh for meals to use as treats. Baxter doesn't always eat all of his good in one go so I put what he leaves in a jar and use these for treats during the day. I also use other treats but then I weigh less food out later. 

Either way will ensure you're not over feeding


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