I have a five month old maltese bichon puppy that i'm trying to train. I'm starting with the very basic "sit" command. My dog is EXTREMELY food motivated. As a newbie owner, I've tried training him to do this command by holding a treat between my fingers, letting him smell it, then positioning my hand in such a way that he has to put his bottom on the floor in order to get the treat. However, more often than not, this doesn't work because he gets so distracted by the treat in my hand that he will not pay attention to me. His total focus is on the treat. How do I change that? Any advice for me?
rileysmommy
The puppy must learn that paying attention to the food does not get the food. This takes more time for some puppies, and less for others.
Here is how to start:
The No Lookie No Cookie game
Once the pup learns to look up at your eyes, the sit will usually come naturally, and you can then mark and reward the sit.
See my clip of my 12 week old puppy who has already learned that the only way to get the cookie is to look at my eyes, not my hands or the food.
Here is how to start:
The No Lookie No Cookie game
Once the pup learns to look up at your eyes, the sit will usually come naturally, and you can then mark and reward the sit.
See my clip of my 12 week old puppy who has already learned that the only way to get the cookie is to look at my eyes, not my hands or the food.
One of the most common mistakes with lure training is not fading the lure properly.
You should only use "food in hand" for luring the sit for three successive (and successful) sits. If they try to grab the food or stand up, don't give the treat, WAIT or re set up. The puppy will eventually sit, when it happens, reward the puppy but only if bum is still on the floor. When you get three in a row, have the treat in your other hand and use the exact same hand movement to get the sit, treat from the other hand. After you have success with this you make the movement smaller, still treating from the other hand or your pocket or a bowl sitting next to you. Then you can add the verbal cue. It goes like this : word "sit", hand signal, reward. Once you get a consistent sit her and do at least ten reps you try with only the word (this is how you see if the pup knows the word) if he doesn't sit go back on step and try again. Keep in mind that this may have to be done in several small sessions if pup gets tired. Also keep in mind the treat reward should only be about the size of a large pinhead. Really. THey work more on smell than visual so if its a decent treat (smelly!) you don't need much at all.
Using the treat too much for luring, always rewarding with a treat on a LEARNED behaviour (instead of going for an intermittent reward) is how people end up with dogs that will ONLY work with a lure and why people have misconceptions about treat training. Dogs that will only work for a treat as older pups do it because the training methodology was wrong, not because the food is the issue.
Red, that's an awesome video..she's a BEAUTIFUL PUP!
You should only use "food in hand" for luring the sit for three successive (and successful) sits. If they try to grab the food or stand up, don't give the treat, WAIT or re set up. The puppy will eventually sit, when it happens, reward the puppy but only if bum is still on the floor. When you get three in a row, have the treat in your other hand and use the exact same hand movement to get the sit, treat from the other hand. After you have success with this you make the movement smaller, still treating from the other hand or your pocket or a bowl sitting next to you. Then you can add the verbal cue. It goes like this : word "sit", hand signal, reward. Once you get a consistent sit her and do at least ten reps you try with only the word (this is how you see if the pup knows the word) if he doesn't sit go back on step and try again. Keep in mind that this may have to be done in several small sessions if pup gets tired. Also keep in mind the treat reward should only be about the size of a large pinhead. Really. THey work more on smell than visual so if its a decent treat (smelly!) you don't need much at all.
Using the treat too much for luring, always rewarding with a treat on a LEARNED behaviour (instead of going for an intermittent reward) is how people end up with dogs that will ONLY work with a lure and why people have misconceptions about treat training. Dogs that will only work for a treat as older pups do it because the training methodology was wrong, not because the food is the issue.
Red, that's an awesome video..she's a BEAUTIFUL PUP!
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
