The Importance of Treat Bags

Since yesterday, I can't seem to find my treat bag (a small, cilinder-shaped red Outward Hound bag), and to be honest, I had never realized how much I loved it till I was unable to find it, and got so angry with myself I almost felt like crying. Yesterday I had to walk Khali without treats, and I really missed having something to reinforce her with, so today I used a small plastic bag to hold her treats, but it was hard to get the hot dogs out quickly enough, and I had to keep it in my jacket's pocket. It was rather uncomfortable.

If you don't have a treat bag or treat pouch, go buy one right now! Another option is using one of those aprons that have front pockets. I assure you, it will make your life easier; there's nothing worse than having to manage your dog's leash, clicker, the toys, your keys, your cellphone AND the treats. Most of pouches/bags available are big enough to hold your treats and a tennis ball, and you can wear them on your waist or hanging from your pants, so that means you can actually use your hands. Mine had a string I could attach my old clicker to, so that was a plus (my new clicker has a spiral cord, so I can wear it on my wirst)

You might want to spend some money on a good, washable and durable pouch; if you seriously want your training to be successful, you have to be constant: Take your treats everywhere you go, you never know when your dog will offer great behaviors!

Other than this treat pouch issue, my walk with Khali was quite nice! I was away all day, so she was dying for a good walk, her energy was so pent up she went crazy when she saw me get home. After playing fetch for a while, she was more manageable and I was able to take her out without much problems. I've noticed that if the first step of a walk is a GOOD step, the rest of the walk usually follows the trend, so when she bolted outside and started sniffing around ignoring me, I turned around and went inside. Once she saw the walk was not going to happen on those terms, she started paying attention to me. I reinforced her attention and we went outside again, reinforcing her every time she looked at me, and every few steps of loose leash walking.

An older picture - it was already dark when we went out today.

At the park we played fetch with her favorite, smelliest tennis ball, and I was incredibly careful to reinforce every bit of attention, and to give her lots of treats when she came back to me (I want her to WANT to be near me, even at distracting environments). We did some heel work and I tried to capture her "sniff" behavior, I want to add a cue to it so I can actually reinforce her with sniffing...it's going along slowly but smoothly! I also tried some counter-conditioning every time we saw another dog, and I was surprised to see that she got the hang of it quickly. She still wanted to lounge at them and probably rip them to pieces, but after a while she preferred to stay calmly by my side (the power of treats!) instead of indulging her murderous desire.

The Most Important Dog Training Tip

There is a wide variety of advice in everything regarding dogs, specially thanks to the Internet. Positive reinforcement? Clicker training? Don't play tug with your dog? Play tug with your dog? Use a gentle leader, a collar, or a harness? Are choke chains good or bad? Sometimes it becomes hard to keep one's head clear, and it's extremely important to remember that there is no magic trick when it comes to training, despite what advertisements might make you believe.

Yet, the title of this entry seems to offer a magic trick...or does it?

The Most Important Dog Training Tip: Take one step at a time. Sure, it seems like very basic advice, but trust me, if you keep this in mind, you might find your training will become more successful and enjoyable. Don't push your dog, and let him learn at his own pace.
Do short sessions, no more than 15 minutes. If you have a pup, start with really, really short sessions, and build duration from there. Working dogs can definitely spend more than 15 minutes training, if they are enjoying themselves, but terriers get bored easily and might need even shorter sessions
Set your dog up for succes, and always end you sessions BEFORE the dogs starts to doze off, get bored or get frustrated.
You wouldn't expect someone to climb up the Everest on their first climbing lesson, and you can't expect your dog to perform complex commands in distracting environments without a lot of training.

Remember: Your dog's stronger behaviors will be those that have been heavily reinforced, constantly, and in different stages. Solid grounding will help you build high!

(and exercise your dog!)