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How to Choose Dog Training Treats

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Dog Training Treats

Puppy Training Treats
Fabulous treats! L-R: Dried venison, cheese, blue cheese, salami, peanut butter and hot dogs.

So many times, clients bring their dogs into the training center and their bait bag is filled with dry kibble or biscuits. Their dogs are overwhelmed with others dogs, sights, smells, sounds and ignore their owners as everything else is more exciting. Learn how to train a dog by choosing treats your dog loves!

Treats are your dog’s currency. Be generous, pay well and often.

Think about it: If I were paying you for a job well done, would you work harder for $100 or $1 bill? Now translate to food: If I paid you with donuts or broccoli, which would you choose? Personally, I would work for donuts and a $100 bill. I think you see my point now. 🙂

Now, I’m not saying you must have treats in your pocket for your dog to sit. We use treats and rewards in the learning phase, and then wean him after the dog understands the cue. By “weaning,” I’m not saying remove treats entirely. I’m saying reward behaviors intermediately (like a slot machine). We, as humans, have an obsession with weaning our dogs off treats too fast. Not sure why we do it. When you are thinking of not rewarding a dog for a great job, think of a stingy boss from your past – yuck!

RELATED: Healthy Dog Treats

Stinky, small, easy to chew dog treats
Stinky, small and easy to chew dog treats.

Try these dog training tips when selecting fantastic treats for your pooch. He will thank you with his full attention and polite behavior.

  1. Treats must have a strong aroma. The stinkier, the better, as your dog has a fabulous nose. Meat-based treats, especially fish, smell luscious!
  2. Tiny like the size of a pea. Look for treats that break up easily and don’t crumble. Keeping the treat size tiny keeps your dog hungry, calories down and treat cost low. We ask pet parents to bring 100 tiny treats to each class. 🙂
  3. Easy to chew. Soft treats are easy for your dog to chew and swallow quickly. With hard treats, you are waiting for your dog to crunch, crunch and crunch some more before moving forward.

Some dogs love catching their favorite ball or a game of tug as a reward, but 9 times out of 10, most dogs respond to scrumptious treats in high distraction places (i.e. dog training classes). Praise is awesome too. However, this is the icing on the cake with treats. Again, think of working on a project with a friend: praise is nice for a while. Currency is better because you need to pay your bills and eat. 🙂

How to Tell if Your Dog Loves His Treats

  1. As you cut treats or open the bag, your dog is glued to your side sniffing.
  2. You have his full and undivided attention during class.
  3. Immediate and improved success when teaching behaviors.

What’s in my bait bag? Mozzarella cheese sticks, hot dogs, cooked chicken breast, blue cheese (yes, they love it!), cubed round steak and any fish-based treats.

What treats does your dog love? Please comment below and tell us what is in your bait bag!

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Types of Service Dogs

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Service Dogs Helping People in Need

Service Dogs
A service dog at work.

We can train a dog to assist a person in every aspect of his life. How wonderful! Every day, I hear of another way a dog has touched someone’s life. Have I said how much I worship dogs? Let’s discuss the top five purposes for a service dog, in which dogs have enriched lives even further.

Top 5 Service Dog Types

Vision/Hearing Impairment

Service dogs are extensively trained to guide a person around his home, neighborhood, shopping centers, airports and so much more. Training a service dog can take over 1 year. Service dogs used for the vision and hearing impaired have been trained for years to stop at curbs, go around cars, alert a person of sounds and keep both of them safe.

Seizure Alert

Not knowing when a seizure happens can be frightening and many people have stayed hidden in their homes afraid a seizure may happen anytime and anywhere. Somehow, service dogs are able to detect when a person is going to have a seizure and no one can give specifics on how they know. Could it be a specific scent or behavioral change in the person? Maybe. Dog trainers don’t know for sure, but well trained service dogs can detect seizures minutes or hours before they happen. When seizure alert dogs alert a person, they usually sit or lay on them. This cues the person to take medication or move to a safe place.

Diabetic Alert

As with a seizure alert dog, service dogs for diabetics are able to detect when a diabetic person’s blood sugar drops to a dangerous level. Per Dogs 4 Diabetics Inc. notes, “Our dogs are trained to identify a scent obtained from a diabetic when the diabetic is undergoing a low (blood sugar generally below 70). This type of service dog is trained to identify that particular scent from other scents that are presented to them.” Dogs are trained to sit, lay on, stare, nose push the person to let him know his blood sugar has dropped.

Assistance

This covers a wide range, as dogs are taught to complete everyday tasks for people whom are unable to. Dogs are taught to pick up dropped items, pull a wheelchair, turn lights off/on and stand and brace themselves so a person can place a hand on the dog’s back to assist with the person standing up.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Many people suffer from PTSD for many different reasons. These injuries are commonly found with military veterans returning from war. Many times, veterans come back from a tour with PTSD and/or traumatic brain injury. Soldiers and veterans with these injuries are generally withdrawn, angry, show signs of increased anxiety and can’t stop thinking about what they have endured while at war. Dogs have found a way into their hearts. Service dogs are often assigned to these veterans to help heal from such tragic situations and flashbacks. I’ve seen young soldiers whisper their most terrifying moments in a dog’s ear, knowing they’ll never be heard and judged. The power of service dogs in these types of circumstances are extraordinary.

Did you know dogs are able to detect cancer in urine and cancerous melanomas? I’m sure dogs are able to detect many more illness. We just need to learn how to listen to our dogs. Hug your dog today and smile when you see a service dog doing his job. He deserves the utmost respect and gratitude.

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Service Dog Certification

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Training Service Dogs

Service Dog Certification
Learn how to become a service dog trainer.

As a dog trainer, I’m often asked how to become a service dog trainer by up-and-coming dog trainers.

Becoming a Service Dog Trainer

To become a certified service dog trainer, first you will need a dog training certification as your foundation. Understanding dog behavior and training is key to training a service dog for any need. As a professional dog trainer with over 22 years of dog training experience in the field, I strongly believe in becoming a certified dog trainer before moving on to service dog training.

Continuing your education as a dog trainer is a lot like adding new additions to your home. After the foundation has been laid, it requires walls and a roof before you can build the garage and the bathrooms. A person never stops updating a house. A home will eventually need landscaping, painting, windows and doors. Think of this home building analogy in terms of your growth in the expertise of dog training.

Like a home, your dog training career and the level of behavior training and analysis that you gain each day is what will help your dog training career blossom into certified service dog training.

RELATED: Service Dogs

Many students of Animal Behavior College go on to pursue service dog training, working with organizations like Train A Dog Save A Warrior (TADSAW), Canine Companions for Independence, Big Paws Canine Foundation, and Forever Paws.

Service dog training is an extension of your current skill level as a certified dog trainer. Always, always, always keep continuing your education. As a dog trainer and behavior specialist, you should never stop learning!

5 Ways to Become a Certified Service Dog Trainer

  1. Volunteer (Foundation): This is vital! Volunteering exposes you to so many different parts of dog training from puppy raisers to meeting new people in the service dog industry. If someone asks me the first step to becoming a pet dog trainer, I always tell that person to volunteer at a shelter, as he will learn so much while positively impacting these dogs’ lives. I recommend Guide Dogs of the Blind.
  1. Learn Dog Training Basics (Walls of House): This includes learning the nuts and bolts of training, such as how to teach basic polite behaviors. Also, you will learn how to positively socialize a dog, troubleshoot when a dog becomes confused, set a dog up for success and link behavior together (behavior chains), such as teaching a dog to turn off lights by pawing the light switch. There are many dog training schools out there. I recommend Animal Behavior College and then take Karen Pryor Academy Professional Course (I strongly advise taking a basic course before taking the KPA course, as you must have dog training experience before enrolling in KPA).
  1. Service Dog Schools (Roof): There are many service dog schools scattered across the U.S. and I would recommend contacting them, looking at their syllabi and requirements and speaking to former graduates. For a quick peek at service dog schools, view Service Dogs Inc. Again, there are many others out there and your volunteering and chosen dog training courses will guide you in the right direction.
  1. Certifications (House Inspections): I am a firm believer in dog training certifications, as anyone can hang a shingle outside and call himself a dog trainer. I recommend Animal Behavior College Dog Trainer – Level 2 Certification, Council of Certified Pet Dog Trainer and International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants.
  1. Continuing Education (Home Improvements): As a dog trainer, you should never stop learning. There will always be new, updated and easier ways to train a dog. I recommend attending Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, APDT Dog Training Conference, Clicker Expo Dog Training Conferences and at least one or two dog training seminars per year. Read everything. You can start by reading this list at IAABC Required Reading List and Basic Dog Training DVDs.

I’ve been very lucky to mentor some great dog trainers and this has been the path I’ve always recommended, depending on which category my student has chosen. Please, never stop learning.

Tell us how you have become a service dog trainer. Leave us a comment in the section below.

MORE:
Service Dogs
Types of Service Dogs
Therapy Dogs: How to Become a Healing Team

Clicker Training for Dogs

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Dog Clicker Training

Dog Clicker Training
Dog training clickers.

The power of clicker training for dogs is amazing. You are rewarding a thinking dog, which is awesome!

Many people use a verbal marker, such as yes to replace a click sound. Keep in mind that people can say yes using many different tones so this can be confusing and may not be the ideal word to use for the behavior praise. The click is a consistent way of marking the behavior before rewarding the treat. The click sound always stays the same whereas the cadence, tone, excitement, clarity and words used with a voice are not always the same.

Why Clicker Training Works

Hypothetically, if I placed a chair in the middle of a room and asked you to sit in it, the moment that you sat down in the chair, I would click and reward. That is the premise we have discussed using clicker training so far. Sounds simple, yet it’s possibly something that a human might get bored with rather quickly. But if every time that she asked you to sit, after you have properly done so, I could click and then reward you with a $100 bill.

What might the outcome be?

Most people would immediately continue to stand up and sit back down in the chair. What has happened is that the dog trainer has now reinforced the proper behavior using clicker training! You have learned that each click meant that you did what was asked. In this case, you were then given a $100 for doing so.

When you should click:

  • Sit: As your dog’s behind touches the ground.
  • Down: As your dog’s elbows touch the ground.
  • Loose Leash Walking: When the leash is loose (your dog is not pulling).
  • Attention: When your dog looks at you instead of the other dogs or distractions.
  • Barking: When your dog stops barking even for a nanosecond, click/treat!
  • Anything you like! If you can think it and your dog is physically able to do it, go for it!

– When your dog stretches while coming out of his crate, click and treat. Do this several times and add a cue, such as “pray.”

– Click when your dog looks to the left and add a cue, such as left.

– Click when your dog backs up and add a cue, such as back.

I have trained my Beta fish, Dribble, to touch my finger with his mouth, follow my finger around his bowl and swim through a hoop using these same clicker training methods.

While I’m not sure he could hear the sound of a click, I used a pen light and blinked when he did the correct behavior and fed him Beta kibble as a reward!

Apply Clicker Training to Other Animals

You can train chickens, horses, cows, guinea pigs and bunnies to do agility by using clicker training. I have even trained humans to sit in a chair. There are tons of games that can sharpen your clicker training skills and keep your dog mentally stimulated. I enjoy 101 Things to Do with a Box. Have fun training your dog!

VIDEO: How to Use a Clicker

What dog training clicker games do you play with your pets? Tell us in the comments below.

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Clicker Training

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Clicker Training for Dogs

Clicker Training Dogs
Clicker training is fun!

Clicker training is used as a very effective way to train dogs. Clicker training is a positive form of dog training that produces the desired results quickly with minimal effort for dogs and the dog trainer. Professional dog trainer Fanna Easter explains to pet parents in her dog training class that the clicker is a magic tool. Dog owners enrolled in dog training classes have been awed by the power of clicker training. “With a clicker, I can train a dog within minutes to quickly learn a new behavior,” says Fanna Easter.

In this post, you will learn how to train a dog using a clicker!

What is a dog training clicker?

  • A small device that makes a click sound when pressed with your finger.
  • A clicker makes the same sound every time it does not change. It’s a quick sound.
  • A dog training clicker adds consistency to marking the correct behavior that you will want to reward, which lets the dog know immediately that he has done what you asked of them. Remember: cue, click, then treat!
  • When a dog trainer clicks, it’s a promise that the dog has rightfully earned a treat.
RELATED: Dog Trainer Karen Pryor

How to Train a Dog Using a Clicker

  • Click when your dog is doing something you like. It’s that simple.
  • The click sound marks the good behavior and the dog learns that s/he did well and earned a treat.
  • The sound of a clicker is meaningless to your dog, but if you click and then immediately give your dog a treat, your dog learns to associate the click sound with rewards for doing what was asked of him.
  • Use this powerful tool to your advantage when training a dog. Click and treat to imply he is correct.
  • Dog treats are the dog’s currency or motivator so use treats that your dog loves!

Clicker Dog Training Guidelines

  • When you click, always give the dog a treat. If you do not, then the dog will learn to ignore the click sound. Even when you clicked at the wrong moment, your dog is still learning.
  • Click once and then treat once. Multiple clicks are confusing, as the dog does not know which click marked the correct behavior.
  • The clicker is not a remote control so no need to point it at him. Just hold the clicker with your leash hand, as shown in the video “How to Train a Dog Using A Clicker.”

VIDEO: How to Train a Dog Using a Clicker

3 Steps to Clicker Dog Training

1. When training a dog with a clicker, use the clicker to mark the new behavior that you are teaching.

2. Once your dog responds to the cue, such as sit, mark the correct behavior with the training clicker and then treat the pet with a reward.

3. Once the dog gets the cue, correct 80% of the time. You can remove the clicker from the equation.

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