Olie

I line my treat bag with plastic too, and its vinyl. I am anal, I don't like messy and because I have to use "crumbless" treats they get moist because I get hot! But the trainer has not said anything....yet - she has changed up on me a couple times.

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***Loves Poodles!!***



"You Know Who's Not Happy With Their Lives, When Their Busy Discussing Yours "

flyingduster

I personally use my right pocket. I have dog clothes that I don't care if they get a gross pocket in (though I've never had a problem cleaning it out after training and it's fine; even though I never use dry foods!)

I do competition obedience, and when I'm in the ring Paris needs to work for me, even though I have no treats on me, so in other words I need to TRAIN as if I have no treats (even though I do, cos I'm training!) so that when we transition to the ring, she doesn't get savvy to the fact no treats are coming and blows me off!

So yes, that means no plastic bags for me, and food in the right side pocket (her nose is pocket level, so she knows if my left pocket has no food in it or not!) I generally have a handful of food in my right hand (along with my clicker) and when she's clicked at heel position, I pass food across to my left hand, where it can then be fed to her (so the food comes to her from my left hand, but I don't CARRY the food on my left)

Often I'll have treats on me, but I won't use them; I'll have a container stashed somewhere (kitchen bench or something) where after doing a short burst of training, we run and get her treat from the bench (or where-ever I've stashed the food) cos that's what we have to do in the ring too. The place food is stashed, varies a lot too.

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Teffy

Wow thanks for all the input! I am going to try the food in my mouth and the mad dash for food in a container.

I like the pouch idea, I've just flipped it upside down one too many times.

No, there was no second date, I was mortified. He wasn't a dog person anyways so it was for the best.

Beach girl

Ah. Golden Rule of Life: If you are a dog person, never, ever, date a non-dog person. It won't work and you will both be annoyed with each other.

My first hint that the guy I was dating might become my husband: when he loved my dog Killer at first sight, and Killer ran up to him and wagged his tail enthusiastically at first meeting. Big K did not do that for everyone, and had totally ignored the previous guy I had been dating. Smart dog, that one. ;-)

markfsanderson

From what I've read, only humans and dogs (not wolfs, pigs, dolphins or great apes!) are the only creature born with an innate understanding of what 'pointing' means. Using your arms, a dog understands that it can point in the direction of something interesting. To take advantage of that skill, try pointing at your mouth (with the treat on it) before doing a specific exercise.
To train you dog to catch a treat, make the treat that they are to catch the highest value treat you have. For instance, if your dog likes hot dogs, so so for biscuits but is nutso for freeze dried liver - use the latter. Then make a rule that the ONLY way that s/he gets that treat is if they catch it. You must start small, from the top of the dogs head, etc and drop it. If it falls on the floor - get it first! No catch - no treat! Make sure they get a good sniff of what they might be missing before the exercise starts. This will work in most circumstances for even the most stubborn.
Oh - yes an alternative to the yucky-treat-in-the-mouth routine is to fabricate an arm band that has a short piece of dull plastic (not metal) protruding from the arm band. Put the armband on the left side (for obedience - or two for non-obedience) and push a treat onto the protruding plastic piece. Leather working aficionados will find this the easiest . . . or have friend do it for you? Make sure you point at the treat before/during/after an exercise and pop the treat off the holder when on the ground close to your left side when its reward time. Or just pull it off and hand it to them . . . mix it up! I haven't found any for sale, and a lady that I knew in Austin trained her dobermans this way. Very cool stuff - and no yucky treats!

Mark, Jamie and The Poodle Gangsters

Rocketagility

I think a treat pouch is a start but as soon as I can I also work with the treats off my body. I will put them in a bowl or on a table or plate and show the dog where they are and when the dog does something then I will mark it with a click or a yes and say lets go get that treat so he knows the treat is coming and sometimes he has to walk over to a table to get it. I hope this makes sence.

I do agility and I show my dog where his treats are left for him and after the run we can go and collect them for a good job. Same thing can be done with obedience.

debjen

one thing about running to get your treats from a table or crate area...make sure that your dog knows putting the leash back on is part of getting the treat..where we use to train the crates where in the same area as the setup so we would run back to our crates to treat the dog..well you can probably guess what happened a time or two..once in an obedience ring I had just taken the leash off for the stand for exam..dog was sitting next to me..looked at me looked at the gate (our setup off to the side but near the gate)..looked at me again..then the gate and took off running to his crate where the chicken was sitting..arggggggggggghhhhhh.. happened at an agility trial to..unfortunately he had the zoomies in the ring and finally ran out of the ring to his crate sitting there patiently waiting for his treat.

So now I always take them in and out of the practice ring on leash too and their last command in the agility ring is "leash" so they run to their leash and we can get the leash on before we run back to the crates for the good dog treats.

Teffy

debjen, sorry your furbabe running off for the crate is too funny! I can see my girls doing that, great anecdote!

Sorta related to this topic, I found another item for food storage. My girls, especially Tessa won't play with toys outside of home so agility training has been difficult with the reward line. I bought the 'Tug It', stuffed it with liver/chicken/stinky stuff and presto! They'll drive through the obstacles now towards the toy, mind you they STILL don't grab the toy but at least they go towards it. I then take a piece out of the velcro meshy thing for them.

Here's the link for anyone interested
Tug Training Dog Device -"Tug It" to teach dog to tug.

I got the link from Susan Garret's blog, I just started her 2x2 method and can I say wow, entry is not a problem anymore. Gotta work on the weaving now.

Vibrant

Treats are in my right pocket (cause I'm right handed), but after the treat is removed from my pocket it is put in my mouth. If I'm rewarding a signal I've given with my left hand the treat is removed from my mouth and offered with the left hand, and vice versa for the right. If I'm rewarding a front I take the treat out with both hands and offer it with both hands at one time....keeps the focus on the face and not on one hand or the other. Rewards in heel position are always offered with the left hand.
I often find soggy pockets when I've been lazy and left my pants where they fall in the evening. Troy doesn't miss an opportunity to get food!! No holes yet, though!!