Let's Discuss Day 1 of the 7-day Mini Course!

[Adina P]

Day 1 is titled "Finding Effective Reinforcers"

Now that you've read through Day 1 of the 7 Day Mini Course...feel free to post your thoughts, questions about the lesson here. Also any suggestions or results from your homework!

[Doodle Kisses]

5 min a few times a day is perfect!

[fergie11]

If you go to the food group there is some good recipes on there. My favorite to make is the liver treats. I made them with chicken too one time.
4 cps oatmeal
1 cup cooked ground chicken or liver
1/4 cup broth of some kind
4 eggs
mix well and drop little balls - flatten a little and bake at 350 deg. for about 12 minutes.
These are easy and break apart easy to use small pcs. You know they are healthy so no problem with how much you give them.

[Denise, Winnie, and AngelAbby]

I tried this recipe today - but I added peanut butter instead of meat in half of it - and I melted velveeta cheese in some milk and added it to the other half. Abby likes them both but I think she has a preference to the peanut butter. This is so flexible - add what your dog prefers.

[Adina P]

One thing we haven't discussed TOY reinforcers and environmental reinforcers.
Fresh tennis balls (or any brand new-to-them toys really) are highly valuable to my dogs.
Rosco and Thule both love their rocket balls (a rubber ball on an elastic rubber string you can launch FAR)
Rosco loves to play with his rubber pig outside.

As for environmental reinforcers:
--sniffing tree trunks
--other dogs
--people who want to meet them
--squirrels depending on the timing (they can still heel with a squirrel nearby).

[Amy]

My 6 year old spaniel mix, Maggie, ( our doodle hasn't arrived yet! ) doesn't really like to play with toys. In fact she doesn't play a lot. She likes walks and car rides. She is not the most obediant dog but very rarely does anything "bad". She was 3 when we rescued her. We can leave the trash can out in the kitchen and she won't touch it! I thought I could start to learn the program with her until the puppy comes home but am having a hard times finding reinforcers for her.

[Adina P]

Amy, perhaps you can try the advice about teaching your dog to play.
Is she at all food motivated? Liver treats? Lamb lung? Feta cheese?
Does she like to eat her normal food?
If all else fails, at least you'll have a good theoretical model behind you when puppy arrives!

[Amy]

Yes she likes special treats like meat scraps. Yesterday I cut up a package of kosher hotdogs, (small) baked them and froze them so I can use them as needed. She did like it! I will get string cheese today to try. So I think food will work but I we may have trouble with the other reinforcers. Thanks for the suggestions!

[Doodle Kisses]

You don't have to use other reinforcers...it is just an option so that you have lots of tools available if/when treats are not possible. The definition of 'reinforcer' is something that reinforces/rewards a behavior. If YOUR dog isn't reinforced by something then don't worry about it...use what works :)

[fergie11]

OK Adina - now this the second time I've seen this (Jane said it too). Lamb lung????? What is that? Feta cheese is pretty expensive to use for this.

[Doodle Kisses]

I agree about feta...that's why I would use a small bit and shake it or mix it with something cheaper (cheerios?) for enhancing the flavor of the cheaper thing.
Lamb lung is a bit crunchy so may not be best for when you want to get a lot of clicks/treats in a short time...but a great thing to use maybe for the final reward.

[Adina P]

Oooh one other thing. In the lesson it talks about not always delivering the treat the same way. This is really important -- does anyone have any guesses as to WHY sometimes you don't want to just reach down and feed the dog the treat?

[Dozzer55]

Heard a dog trainer once say that you should be a fun person to be around with your dog. Varied ways of delivery just keeps the dog guessing. In other words NOT BORING.