# help! my pup only listens when i have treats



## coolstorybro (Nov 3, 2010)

my pup is 4 months old. he can sit, lay down, shake hands, and speak. he only listens when i have a treat in my hand. when i take him for a walk, i say these commands, and he doesnt listen, act hyper, and just roam all over the place.

how can i make him listen without the treats?? thanks.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

Don't let him know when you have a treat. For about a week, treat as normal without letting him see the treat. Keep the treat hand behind your back. The next week, treat about 75% of the time. Praise only the other times. THe next week, treat about 50% of the time. From here on out, treat only the good fast sharp times he does the behavior. THe next week, treat only 25% of the time. After that, treat occasionally just to let him know he might get one. Let me repeat ... never let him know if you have a treat or not. Keep the treat hand behind your back even if it has no treat in it. ALWAYS praise when he does as desired.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I pretty much always have treats on me, so my dogs know I have them all the time. It's whether or not they get one and they only get one when they listen promptly. 

A dogs sense of smell is so powerful that he will know if you have a treat at all, let alone in your hand or in your pocket. He will know if you have a treat or not based on sense of smell. So I advise keeping treats on you all the time (or within close reach all over the house in "treat tubs"- but this only works if your dog is clicker trained because your dog may do a behavior that you do want to treat and if it takes you 5-10 seconds to get to a treat in those tubs, you need some kind of "bridge" to let your dog know that a treat is in fact coming...if you want more info on clicker training just say so!). 

I personally love the treat bags that clip to your belt (you can find them at any pet store for under $10), I have two and like I said, I pretty much have them on me all the time when I'm at home or anywhere out with the dogs. Training is an ongoing thing with our girls, but the adults only get treated maybe once every 5-10 times they do a desired behavior, except with recall...I treat nearly every time I ask them to come to me. 

So, you should always have treats on you. Like Bill said gradually work your pup down to only treating maybe 25% of the time if you can which this may take months. When you get your pup to the point of doing behaviors without treating all the time, only give treats when the follow through from the dog is immediate and perfect. Don't give treats for delayed or "half-assed" responses. 

Hope this helps! Good luck!


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## coolstorybro (Nov 3, 2010)

thank you all! 

i will try this. thanks!


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## EnglishBullTerriers (Sep 10, 2008)

danemama08 said:


> I pretty much always have treats on me, so my dogs know I have them all the time. It's whether or not they get one and they only get one when they listen promptly.
> 
> I personally love the treat bags that clip to your belt (you can find them at any pet store for under $10), I have two and like I said, I pretty much have them on me all the time when I'm at home or anywhere out with the dogs. Training is an ongoing thing with our girls, but the adults only get treated maybe once every 5-10 times they do a desired behavior, except with recall...I treat nearly every time I ask them to come to me.
> 
> ...


I am the same way. I almost always (well not anymore now that my dogs are better trained, but ALWAYS on a walk) have a treat bag on my hip. Then, when I need to or want to, I just pull it out and hand it over. It's how I got Titus to not pull on me when we would walk by the horses. (it never worked with the cows though.) I would even sometimes put my hand in the bag and not bring one out and then have him 'heel' and just let him sniff the hand and give him a pet on the head. He is now used to the fact that I might not always have a treat in my hand, but I always have a reward in my hand when he does what I expect of him. 
We also started with going to the vets and he would get a treat when he would just not bark. Now he doesn't get a treat unless he sits nicely and doesn't bark... that doesn't happen too often, so he hasn't gotten too many lately. He will get better though. I am WAY more stubbern then he is! :biggrin:  :wink:


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