Shadow-Wood Samoyeds  Training With Food--Beware

Observations by Patti Rasmussen

	AN UNHAPPY DEVELOPMENT I stewarded in an obedience ring at a sanctioned match this summer for the first time in many years and it was an eye-opening experience to say the least! I don't think the word appalled would do justice to how I felt as I watched handler after handler clearly trying to correct problems that they were busy making worse by the second.
It has been quite a few years since I was active in the obedience ring with my own dogs, and almost as many since I have been actively involved in teaching. The use of food for training (anathema to all trainers when we began in obedience over 30 years ago) had been introduced at several different seminars and was being widely and enthusiastically adopted by trainers and obedience instructors far and wide. Instructors at our club had all leaped on the bandwagon and were busy teaching their own dogs with food and also teaching their classes to use food for training.
What I remember seeing at that time were people trying to use a training method which they did not all understand clearly, and worse yet, teaching that method to novice handlers who had even less clue. Dogs were learning quickly, and working happily, so all seemed well. However, as these food trained dogs began to show up at trials, the weaknesses inherent in the system became obvious. FOOD-GENERATED PROBLEMS Number one problem (for me) was the tremendous number of dogs being shown that were clearly not thinking about what they were doing, but were blindly going through the steps required to earn their reward. Dogs with short attention spans were not qualifying because the reward was not forthcoming soon enough and they lost interest in the exercises before their turn was over. The number two problem was the lack of "natural" manner on the part of dog and handler with many of these competitors. I was amazed to see handlers carrying their right hands crossed in front of their bodies, fist closed, clearly indicating that there was a treat in the hand to be given the closely heeling dogs any second. (The dogs themselves were so focused on the hand rather than on the handler, that they would have walked off a cliff if that is where the hand led them). I was astonished then, as I am now, that judges did not penalize (or NQ) these teams for lack of naturalness. Shortly after these observations our lives became complicated by the activities of our four children and the time previously spent on training dogs was being spent coaching, watching and absorbing soccer. I assumed that as trainers saw the problems develop that they would be making appropriate adjustments to their training methods so as to avoid potential disasters in the ring. The occasional stint of obedience stewarding for our all-breed club's matches or shows was my only contact with the obedience world by then and I looked forward to it, both to catch up with old friends and to see what advances were being made in training. RING WISE AND FOOD DEPENDENT You cannot imagine my horror when, while stewarding in the open ring at a sanctioned match, I watched one handler after another using food IN THE RING to correct what were pretty obviously problems created by using food incorrectly in the first place. Dog after dog showed quite plainly that while they obviously knew what to do (many of the dogs being shown were already CDX's), they saw no good reason to do it if the treat that they were accustomed to receiving in training was not forthcoming at the trial! In other words, they had become extremely ring-wise and saw no reason to perform unless they were sure to be rewarded. SANCTIONED MATCHES ARE NOT FOOD-REINFORCEMENT TRAINING GROUNDS While I am as amused as the next person by watching a dog outsmart a handler occasionally, a whole morning of watching teams in which there was obvious confusion about who was in charge is just not my idea of a good time. The only enjoyable part of the experience was seeing the incredible lengths some of these people went to in an attempt to entice a qualifying performance out of their dogs. One woman was using a can of CheeseWhiz! Every time her dog faltered, out came the can of CheeseWhiz which she squirted onto her hand and fed the dog! What was she planning to do in the trials - pretend to have a can of CheeseWhiz in her pocket? If I were that dog, I would never give a qualifying performance again. This went on, dog after dog after dog. To my amazement, the judge, rather than pointing out that this constant feeding was going to backfire at the first AKC trial, or suggesting that they try the exercise again without the bribe, just quietly watched as this continuous training went on in his ring. I have always felt it was more than fair of match judges to allow some mild correction and/or encouragement in the ring, even at a sanctioned match, as the dogs are there for practice not high scores. But the point of a sanctioned match is to test your dog in a trial situation so that you can see what still needs work. These people were using the ring as a training session, clearly hoping that the dogs would remember getting food in the ring this time and perform at the next trial in hopes of getting it again. While I definitely noticed that the number of handlers who use food to train had increased (and that very few of them had learned to be more subtle about it), I had not realized that so many people were insisting on using sanctioned matches as extended training classes. The sole redeeming feature of the day was that the top scoring, happiest and best working dog there was a male Siberian that went through the entire class with precision, enthusiasm and nary a nibble to be seen anywhere. He and his owner restored my faith in the ability of our dogs to learn to work for the joy of working and pleasing. THE APPROPRIATE USE OF FOOD IN TRAINING I am by no means suggesting that the judicious use of treats is not an effective method of solving many training problems and/or shaping desired behaviors, but I think exhibitors and trainers need to take a hard, honest look at what they are doing. It is wonderful that training has moved away from the old "do it or get clobbered" style of teaching, but at some point, the concept of obedience to commands (as opposed to doing tricks for treats) seems to have been lost. The old stand-by used by generations of parents - "because I said so" still merits a place in the world of dog training. If that concept is lost, it becomes questionable which member of the team is being trained. Certainly rewards have their place in teaching and problem solving, but unless AKC is planning to radically change what is required in obedience trials (and what aids are allowed in the ring) that place is not in your pocket in the Open ring!  © 2007, Patti Rasmussen--all rights reserved, not to be published or reproduced without the author's permission