When can I stop using treats?

Stowen / Stock.Adobe.com

Okay, have a seat. We need to talk.

My dental hygienist (who’s really great - shout out to Stephanie!) has a needlepoint in her office which says, “You don’t have to floss all your teeth, just the ones you want to keep.”

I’ll bet you can see where this is going, right?

You don’t have to reinforce all the behaviors you ask your dog to do - just the ones you want to maintain or improve. I’ll be completely honest with you. I don’t always give my dogs a treat when they sit upon request. Why not? Because their sitting behavior is good enough for me. It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough.

On the other hand, it’s really important to me that they come when called (because that could be the difference between their life or death if they are running towards something dangerous). So, I give them a treat EVERY TIME they come when called. And I pay handsomely. My dogs are so aware of this that they run right past me and head to the kitchen when I call them in from the backyard. They look back at me as if to say, “hey, you called me - and we have a contract that says you’ll pay me for coming. Now get in here!”

And I do. I pay them. Every single time.

I’ve called my dogs away from chasing ground squirrels, playing with other dogs at the dog park, and one time when my dog was running toward a flock of pelicans that might have looked like they were just a foot off the ground and about 20 feet away (but were actually 20 feet straight ahead - off a 40 foot cliff). Juno got a HUGE payout for coming back to me that day.

But, surely, one day I’ll be able to stop paying, right? I mean at some point, surely they KNOW to come when called.

Well, what if your boss stopped paying you? Would you keep going to work? I mean, surely the work must be so fulfilling that you’d happily continue going even you no longer get a paycheck, right?

It’s the same with behavior. Behaviors which get reinforced are maintained or improved. But those which are no longer maintained go extinct. I don’t want my dogs to stop coming when called, so I’m going to keep paying.

If they blow me off for sit, well, that doesn’t bother me nearly as much.

Which behaviors do you want to maintain or improve?