Treats VS. Choke Chains

One of the things I’ve never been able to understand as a dog trainer is the protest against treats.

Why are people so against giving a treat as a reward but think nothing of choking a dog with a collar? It surprises me how prevalent choke collars, prong collars and shock collars are. Even at the county fair, what did I see? Sheep, goats, pigs all wearing choke collars! When I speak to people from other cultures, places where dogs are viewed as having their place outside only and never in the home, even they look utterly shocked (pardon the pun) when I explain to them that some people choose to use shock collars to train their dogs! Why do the things that hurt our dogs or cause them fear come so easy, but offering a treat as a reward is met with disgust: the “I don’t believe in treats” response? What about “I don’t believe in hurting or scaring my dog?” Wouldn’t that be the logical first thought? Yet in so many cases, it isn’t.

I won’t discuss all the possible answers to this question in this post. If you’re interested in what might motivate people to use aversive methods or why it comes more naturally to some people than a system of rewards, peruse some of the positive reinforcement training literature or seminars available on DVD.

The part of the answer that I will discuss here is that of a lack of understanding of the role of the treats in training. I often hear the comment: “I don’t want to bribe my dog to do anything,” and it’s ugly counterpart that will send shivers down any trainers spine: ‘I want my dog to do it for me, just because I asked.”

In positive reinforcement training, the role of the treat is often to lure the dog into a behavior you would like to teach, to show the dog the behavior you would like her to perform without having to touch her. For example, we hold the treat over the dog’s head close to her nose and move the treat backwards and as she follows the treat her rear end goes down and touches the ground. Voila, your dog is now sitting! The “by the definition of positive reinforcement” role of the treat is to act as a reinforcer: something given to the dog to increase the chances that she’ll perform a given behavior in the future. So back to our sit, as soon as that rear end hits the ground, you reward the dog with the treat. Through repetition the dog learns that when she produces this particular behavior, she’ll be rewarded. By the way, popping a choke collar, then loosening it when the dog stops pulling and then giving a treat does not qualify as adhering to the guidelines of positive reinforcement training!

There are other ways to achieve the sit and we’ll get to those in a moment.

Yes, the treat is a reward. It is payment if you will. It is not a bribe. The treat is a tool to help you teach your dog a new behavior. You can fade it out once your dog understands the behavior.

And if you choose not to fade it out, that’s fine too.

Think of it this way, would you continue to go to work if you didn’t get paid? When your boss sends you to a company training session, do you go because you want to? Most likely you go because you need the training in order to do your job so you can continue to get paid!

Now back to that other way to get that sit. You could pop the choke or prong collar, or shock the dog. But why would you? Why not use a method where you don’t have to harm or scare your dog? One method will result in a happy, eager to learn dog. One method could result in a dog whose behaviors (all behaviors, not just target behaviors) are subdued, a dog afraid of his human, a dog who may one day feel the need to defend himself from his human. In our work example, if every day you got to work and your boss said “do this or you’ll be fired on the spot!” for every single task you’re about to work on, would you do it? You bet! Would you be healthy and happy at this job? I’ll let you ponder that on your own.

Now, which one of these dogs is doing things for you just because they want to, just because you’re asking them to? Neither of them! Think about it, when was the last time you saw a dog perform a behavior on cue just to do it for their human because their human wanted them to? Is the dog whose human has the bait pouch doing the sits simply the owner asked her to? No! She’s waiting for the payoff! Is the dog whose human is popping away at the choke collar sitting just because his wants him to? No! He’s doing it because he is forced to, because is afraid of what might happen if he doesn’t and because it hurts if he doesn’t!

So do dogs ever do things when there is no treat involved or no choke involved? You bet! When I hold my hand out for Special Dark so he can smell the fantastic sandwich I had for lunch he eagerly slaps his fuzzy paw in mine to shake my hand because that’s his visual cue for “paw!” When we’re out walking, and he finds a giant bone and I say “leave it,” he does! When we’re sitting in the car and I turn around and ask for a high five, he does it without hesitation. Is he doing it “just for me, just because I asked?” No way! As someone who has studied animal behavior as a profession for the last decade, I can tell you he’s doing it because it’s paid off enough in the past by getting him something he needs or wants- the odds are in his favor. We have faded the treats such that the behavior now looks reflexive because it’s been repeated many times and the treats weren’t stopped cold turkey (check out almost any positive reinforcement training book for a discussion of “reinforcement schedules” to learn how to do this).

And guess what? He may still get paid off with life rewards too! When I ask him to leave the bone, the walk doesn’t end when he leaves it, we keep going! Sometimes I try to supply a treat (there are behaviors that I still reward for simply because I think he deserves it) and he’d rather move on instead. The dog who does things “just for you, just because you ask” doesn’t exist! (For more on the ideal “Disney dog” we all seek, read Jean Donaldson’s The Culture Clash.)

The closest you’ll ever get to that happy go-lucky cartoon dog who loves to please is through the use of positive reinforcement. You’ll have a dog who will do what you ask because it’s fun, because it’s rewarding, and not because she’s scared or in pain. You’ll have a happy, healthy bond from both human and canine perspective. In my mind there is no question about the validity of treats in training. You get as reliable results as you could accomplish with any type of training (if not better!) and a well-adjusted, happy dog. What more could you hope for?

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