Dog Community

Spitting Treats? (aDork)

Posted : 1/17/2011 11:35:19 AM

The other day Jennie said something about spitting treats. I'm wondering how this works (not the actual mechanics of spitting, but how do you give commands and spit treats)? I don't use a clicker with Misha, because the noise either startles him, or he focuses on the clicker too much -- it provides treats, after all. I do use a marker word, which is why I was wondering how to spit treats. Should I hold them in my hands, mark the behavior, then put the treat in my mouth and spit it? That seems like too long of a delay. My thought is that it will get Misha's focus more on my face (and my reactions) and less on my hands; in case I do reach out to another dog, or a piece of trash, so that he won't decide those are edible things.

kpwlee

Posted : 1/17/2011 11:43:57 AM

My experience with B is that he starts to pay attention if I go get a cheese stick so then I bite a piece off and he is looking at me because he wants the treat - I then fire away LOL

I delay the 'firing' to extend the time he focuses on my face.

He's not a very food motivated dog but this worked right from the start with him. Now you can do it with anything, baby carrots, cherries, nuts, no doubt meat too LOL

Good luck!

jennie_c_d

Posted : 1/17/2011 9:05:14 PM

I either put a few treats in my cheek, or between my teeth, and we work for a few minutes between treats. Cheese doesn't work great, for me, because it melts Stick out tongue Bean can't catch worth a poo, anyway, so I've quit spitting, LOL.

jennie_c_d

Posted : 1/17/2011 9:05:15 PM

I either put a few treats in my cheek, or between my teeth, and we work for a few minutes between treats. Cheese doesn't work great, for me, because it melts Stick out tongue Bean can't catch worth a poo, anyway, so I've quit spitting, LOL.

HaloWolf

Posted : 2/25/2011 7:07:00 PM

I use dental dam for this, my babies love Temptations CAT treats, they are tiny and, for my dogs enough motivation to get them catching. I just would rather not taste cat treats, so I use a too loose dental dam to avoid that and still let me spit their treats.

How I trained it was to simply spit them with 2 dogs watching, it wasn't long before they both figured out they had to catch them mid air if they didn't want the other dog to get all the treats. Once they caught well, i added the command (catch). Now they do it alone.