Schutzhund Heeling

[Yesmaam]

Thanks for everyone's responses. With weaning off the toy/food, I would assume that is done gradually. Seemingly the dogs don't lose focus in the ring after not being reinforced for a while. In training though, would you still give the occasional reward at random intervals once the behaviour is established?

Nothing comes for free....... You need somekind of reward mechanism for anything you do.

When you say "weaning off" I am assuming you mean preparing the dog for trial???

I use the poker machine anology for rewarding the dog. The payout is very random ie: anywhere from a good basic position right from the start to lengthened out exercises. Obviously depending on what your objectives are in the session though....

A well timed random reward means that the dog never knows when he will be rewarded ie: it could be straight away, after a minute or two or at the end of the session. The anticipation is what keeps them in drive (my dogs anyway - workingline GSD's).

[RubyStar]

Makes my video look rather messy and unrefined. Oh well, I will leave it there to show what novices look like

Are you kidding, yours was great

[huski]

The anticipation is what keeps them in drive (my dogs anyway - workingline GSD's).

I find that the same with my dog, if I reward her when she's not expecting it, it keeps her on her toes as when she will get the reward is unpredictable.

[corvus]

That anticipation is a dopamine reward system. Dopamine seems to go hand-in-hand with arousal.