Weaning Food
- judisedwards
- Nov 26, 2021
- 1 min read
Last post for the day. Many of you appear to worry about the food on the track. I’d like to encourage you to stay the course and trust me. Rule #1: a few days or weeks before A test is a horrible time to remove the food
Rule #2: the only tracks your dog will ever do that have zero food are your certification track and your test.
Rule #3: one food drop is better than zero. 20 food drops isn’t necessarily better than one.
ok, let’s do some math.
Scuff 10, Walk 3, food @2, repeat 3 times (S10, W3, F2, R3). Your dog has to go 2 walk steps + 10 scuff steps to find food.
perhaps next I suggest S10, W5, F3, R3. Now we have increased the distance between food drops to 4 walk steps and 10 scuff.
maybe I’ll suggest S10, W10, F5, R5 next. Now the dog has to track 10 steps + 10 scuffs between food drops.
this is very precise and planned. The research shows the most effective way to build duration is on a fixed rate of reinforcement. Sadly, the randomization we were all taught is less effective at creating long duration behaviors. Along with being precise and planned….it’s easier for you to lay, and easier to observe your dog.
so please, hang with me. I’d rather keep you at one step for too long, than risk having to step back. I’m rarely comfortable adding food back in when the dog is strugglin—it can be a slippery slope to accidentally reinforcing diminishing behavior.
This took me a while to wrap my head around, but the food is still teaching the dog even if they don't stop to eat it. (right Judi?) So don't drastically reduce your food drops just because you don't see the dog eat them. Use a precise change in reinforcement like Judi described.
For Thor, I have been using multiple articles as his motivator and rewarding when he indicates an article. I will use a FD on a leg with no article.
Is this ok?
Thank you for advice, just in time. Rule #1 deals with the dilemma I've just been wrestling with. I have started rewarding Ilsa on every other article, or at least skipping some at random. I don't want her to look up at me after the second article in a trial with the question "Well, where is it?" But there will be food drops on the track and rewards with at least every other article indicated until the end.
Ralph