The Cookie Trap

If you have spent much time around dogs, you’ve probably seen a dog that responds only when the owner holds a treat in their hand. It usually happens when someone has taken an obedience class or two, but doesn’t continue practicing at home. The dog is eager and willing to work for the owner—if treats are visible. Otherwise? Phhht… the dog has more interesting things to do! 

Dogs prefer to work
for something of value

As a result, some people throw the baby out with the bath and refuse to use any treats at all in training. However, just like people, dogs prefer to work for something of value.  How many people would return to a job, day after day, without ever receiving payment? Our currency is money, but dogs intrinsically understand the value of food, which can be dispensed in small amounts and immediately after the desired “work” is done. If you have a dog, you feed him anyway; why not make him work for it? Rewards can be special treats mixed in with regular dog food. 

Keep reading to learn a trainer’s secrets to have an obedient dog without always having a cookie in hand.

Start with the Basics

Often, the first step in teaching a dog a new skill is to lure him: for example, by placing a cookie over his nose, and gradually pushing it back towards his ears, you can encourage him to ‘sit’ and reward him with the cookie.  The next step is to repeat this action so the dog anticipates the behavior. 

Fading the Lure

Once the dog is anticipating the behavior (usually within 5-10 repetitions), only pretend like you have a cookie in hand and quickly lure him into the sit.  If he sits, congratulations!  Immediately reward him with a cookie from the other hand or a nearby treat bag.  He will learn he doesn’t need to see the treat in order to be rewarded.   He should be just as willing to perform for an imaginary cookie, because he knows he will still get rewarded.

* If he doesn’t sit and just looks confused, lure him again for a few repetitions before trying again with an imaginary cookie.  

* If he loses interest, it’s best to put the cookies away and try again when he is hungrier.  Do not bribe him with a cookie at this point!  This is one of the situations where dogs learn to control their owners: “Hmmm, if I don’t sit, she will get out a treat!”  If you are having difficulty at this step, I encourage you to find a dog trainer who can help you recognize a dog that is truly confused vs. a dog that is not interested or trying to get his own way.  

Fading rewards

When the dog is consistently performing the cue using an imaginary cookie, it is time to start fading out the rewards.  One way is by having the dog perform several actions in a row for a single treat.  You can perhaps have the dog do a ‘sit’ for a cookie, then a ‘down’ with a cookie, then another ‘sit’ and a ‘down’ before offering a cookie.  Notice you don’t take away the treats all at once.  Your dog should understand he will still be getting treats, but you decide how often they appear.  

It is equally important when fading rewards that you aren’t consistent in delivery: if you decide to reward after every other command, and then every third command, the dog will quickly figure out the tactic and will lack motivation to work.  But if you reward the dog randomly, say, on the 2^nd, 3^rd, 5^th, 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th tries, he will work harder because he doesn’t know if this will be the one that earns his cookie.

The jackpot is another method to fade rewards, especially useful when performing multiple commands.  A jackpot is a series of small treats delivered one after the other, just like a jackpot of coins coming out of a winning slot machine.  It is more meaningful to a dog to have several small treats offered one at a time, than to have one large treat or multiple small treats delivered at one time.    So if you have your dog sit, then down, then sit again, you can reward him with verbal praise and petting while also delivering a jackpot of cookies, one at a time.

Hoss was a dog that would happily work
just for love and attention.

Once your dog understands the commands, your dog’s favorite activities can be substituted in place of cookies. I encourage owners to switch around rewards with their dogs.  What are your dog’s favorite activities?  Does he like being petted on his neck, having his tummy rubbed, chasing a tennis ball or tugging with a tug toy?  When your dog approaches for petting, have him ‘sit’ or ‘down’ before rewarding him with scratches.  When it is dinnertime, have him ‘sit-stay’ until you are ready to put his dish on the floor and let him eat.  There’s no need to offer a cookie: his reward is his supper.  When he wants to go for a walk, have him sit and stay while you put on his leash, then have him sit at the door threshold before giving him an enthusiastic “Free!” to let him go through the door.  He certainly doesn’t need a cookie for going on a walk with you. The walk itself is the reward.

My own dogs are watching intently to see
if they will get a treat this time!

The final method of fading rewards is a process that involves pairing praise with cookies.  It is crucial that the praise starts before you offer the cookies.  The dog’s mind will start to link cookies with praise, and over time, the dog will recognize praise as a reward by itself.   This is the nirvana that everyone seeks: the dog that worships you, does what you ask gladly, and seeks only for your approval.  Most people don’t realize that it can take years to cultivate this, and is a result of careful training where the owner consistently praises the dog before providing cookies.  Note that this process can take a long time to develop, and the mental link will disintegrate if praise is never again followed by a reward.  As a result, good trainers continue to occasionally use cookies, always paired with praise, to help strengthen that mental link.

As you can see, training with cookies does not mean you will need to rely on them for every command for the rest of the dog’s life.  Once your dog understands the basics of a behavior, you should stop using the cookie as a lure.  It is helpful to continue to reward the dog randomly throughout his life, but rewards can vary from praise, jackpots, and real-life rewards.

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Training focused attention in heeling

As promised, this embarrassing video shows what happens when you don't have good focus in heeling. This was an official AKC Obedience trial, held outdoors at Purina Farms in Missouri. Obedience trials are different from Rally trials because you are not allowed to talk to your dog or use multiple hand signals. One command, and your dog is expected to follow. A second command is allowed but will knock points off your score. At the Novice level, the heeling pattern is first done on leash, then repeated off-leash. You lose points if your dog doesn't stay with you, and you lose additional points if at any time you have a tight leash.

One thousand reasons, aka excuses, why Atlas and I did poorly in this trial.  It was our first outdoor trial, and earlier in the day there had been sheep and pigs in that same ring.  You can imagine the heavenly smells for a dog to sniff.  We hadn't practiced as much as we needed, obviously.  I had never trained a dog for obedience trials before Atlas, and all our training was done indoors. Can you train focused attention in an outdoor environment? Absolutely! Had I done it? The video speaks for itself. Atlas was supposed to stay nicely by my side through the whole off-leash heeling, and you can hear sympathetic giggles from the audience as he chose to sniff and left me to continue the heeling routine sans dog. I was hoping when I started the "fast" jog, that my movement would catch his attention and bring him back to me.  When that didn't happen, I resorted to calling him again, but it wasn't enough to save our performance.

The moral of the story here?  Training is a continuum, and this Obedience trial was simply one pit stop on a long journey towards having a well-behaved dog. Atlas and I continued to practice, we worked on focus, and we were able to improve significantly.  One training trick that made a huge difference was when I incorporated "jackpots" into my training.  A jackpot is a series of treats, given one after the other, continuously, like a slot machine paying out a prize.  Sometimes it can be 3 treats, sometimes 5, and sometimes even more.  But it is never a rote reward to be given after every exercise.  The jackpot makes the dog want to work more, and work harder, because he never knows if this will be the moment that will earn him the jackpot.  Like a gambler becoming addicted to the slots, the dog starts thinking that training is fun and cannot wait for the next chance to win the big prize.  I saved the jackpot for exceptionally good performance on a single exercise, and it caused him to focus intently on me for a much longer period than if I just gave a single treat after every exercise. Repetition=boring. Variety is the spice of life!

The next video shows what happens after I started incorporating jackpots into my training routine, and stopped giving treats routinely.  Unlike in Novice Obedience, Rally Advanced is done completely off leash but allows the handler to talk and encourage the dog. I have to say, this was one of the proudest moments of my life.  Enjoy!