Say Please

We often get the question, "when can we stop using so many treats?"  We will never stop using treats completely, but we will begin phasing in life rewards to reinforce as many behaviors as we can. We call this "saying please."

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When we first teach a behavior, we give lots of treats so we can quickly build up a large number of reinforced instances of the behavior. One of the basics of behavior is that behavior that is reinforced increases. We want your dog to increase the behaviors we want.

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The basis for saying please is teaching your dog that certain behaviors yield certain consequences. For example, after your pup knows sit very well, we can implement saying please - or life rewards - for the behavior.  Think creatively with this - one common example is sitting for mealtime. You prepare your pup's meal, you ask her to sit, and when she does you say "yes!" and provide the meal.  With repetition, you holding the meal will become the prompt for sit and you won't have to ask for the behavior. Now, it's as if your pup is asking nicely for the meal. These are life rewards.

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Let's brainstorm ways to use life rewards:

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• Sit for door opening services

• Sit to be leashed

• Sit to be let out of crate or x-pen

• Touch to get attention when someone comes to visit

• Come to play with a toy

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You haven't removed the reinforcer for the behavior -

you have replaced it with a naturally related one!

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It's important to start requiring polite behavior early so that we don't get a demanding dog. Identify what your dog is wanting and require her to ask nicely for it. If she asks in a rude way - jumping, barking, pawing - make sure this doesn't pay!

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