I was wondering if anyone had any pointers when offering treats while marking behavior. As I understand it timing is critical from marking the behavior (click) and offering the treat (within (.5) sec of the behavior.
Sometimes I find myself fumbling for the treat with my coat pocket. As clicker trainers do you have any carry items that allow you to easily access the treat and offer it? In the CU(control unleashed) book, the author advocates keeping the treat bag conspicious as you don't want to condition the dog to work only when the treat bag is in sight.
Also do you usually have more than one treat in hand as to catch the next behavior and treat immediately. Sometimes in colder climates - with gloves,etc it can be hard to juggle all this on a walk or in sessions.
Timing is important as far as when you click. It is not so important when you deliver the treat. This is the joy of clicker training! When you first start clicker training, you have to "load the clicker," which means teaching the dog what the clicker means - when you hear this sound, you're going to get a treat. At this point, you do need to deliver the treats very quickly (although I think 1 to 1 1/2 sec is fine). When your clicker is loaded, you don't usually have to deliver the treat so quickly.
You CAN deliver the treat TOO quickly. If, say, you click and give the dog the treat at the same time, your marker is actually the treat in the dog's mouth, which is so exciting to the dog that she probably didn't even notice the click. If you click while your treat hand is moving toward your dog's mouth, your marker is then your hand moving toward her mouth, which again is so exciting she doesn't notice the click. If you click while you're reaching for the treat, again, the dog doesn't notice the click. Many "clicker trained dogs" don't react to the click, because the trainer has actually delivered the treat too soon.
Make sure that every time you click (yes, even when just starting out with the clicker when you're still loading the clicker), you don't move at all until after the click, then reach for the treat. Don't smile, praise, bend your knees, anything. You want the click to be the ONLY feedback your dog gets at that particular instant. After you click you can smile, praise, of course treat, whatever, because everything that comes AFTER the click is part of the reward.
Many trainers chant "click-treat, click-treat" so that people remember what to do when their dog does the right behavior; but it should actually be "click...THEN treat, click...THEN treat."
As far as placement of treats, you don't want to keep a handful in your hand, because then you will accidently bribe your dog. The only exception is when you need an EXTREMELY high rate of reinforcement, like when working on stays with lots of distractions, but these situations are not extremely common. I keep a treat bag clipped to the back of my pants, and reach around to get a treat every time I need one. If you keep it in the center of your back, you can use either hand to grab a treat, which makes "juggling" a little easier. And, with it on your back, your dog doesn't immediately notice it (although I'm not so nieve as to say that they
never notice the bag!).
I have not yet figured out how to deliver treats with gloves on. Luckily, where I am, I don't need to wear gloves TOO much, but if anyone has a suggestion here, I'd be grateful!
