February 20, 2002
Wednesday

Puppy treats are an easy, fun and unequivocal way of bridging the language gap between you and your puppy. They let him know in no uncertain terms that whatever it is that he just did was wonderful to do, and rewarding too, because there's the chance he may get another treat for doing it again. More importantly, if you back up the treat with praise, he learns that what he did is to your liking. And since he is in his Golden Age of Learning, from birth to about five months of age, what pleases you is what he lives for.

So make sure he knows exactly what it is that he's doing right, and use treats to make sure there's no misunderstanding. But once he's learned the thing you wanted him to do, like sit, make it a little harder to get a treat, or you run the risk of becoming the Pop Machine of treat dispensing.

When you put 75 cents in the pop machine, you press the button, you get a can of pop. Every time. 75 cents, button, pop. 75 cents, button, pop. What happens, the day you put your 75 cents in, push the button, no pop?

No pop? You get mad, kick the machine.

But think about Las Vegas, and the slot machines. All those people feeding coins into those machines on the one chance in a hundred, a thousand, maybe, that they hit the jackpot. And yet they keep coming back, feeding more coins into the slot, on that off chance they'll win.

Be the slot machine of treat dispensers. Once your pup has figured out the basics of what you're trying to teach him, make it harder for him to get a treat for the same thing. Then make it intermittent, unpredictable, and you'll keep him coming back for more.

Next: potty training, the basics

 

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