Thread: Paul Huttons -Facts and Fallacies

Praising your dog and giving a treat is just like a double up of the praise (reinforcer).

Some people need to use a treat to get their dogs attention on them. I have noticed often that some dogs don't even respond to their name, which tells something of how much the dog is (not) going to respond to its owner.

In the end your praise should mean so much to the dog you don't need to reinforce with a treat.

A baby puppy can begin to learn heel by following a treat but the chucking of food around and relying on it to bait the dog in just will not work when the dog has something else on its mind that it feels is more of a reward. It hasn't really learnt who is the leader in the team. Soon as many of these dogs get into a new open area where they can run free and enjoy themselves what the owner wants no longer has high priority, or much priority at all.

It does no good to state "don't use treats" because they are of great assistance, used sensibly.
If one persons dog drops the dummy to get a treat, it doesn't mean treats are bad, it means the trainer needs to either not use treats for this part of training, or think outside the box (a back pocket is pretty useful).

Whatever works.

Training someone elses dog can be a lot easier than training your own.