Dogs And Treat Pouches

For over 2 decades, I have used carpenter's canvas nail aprons as a training treat pouch. They are inexpensive, durable, washable, and laid out in a way that makes them very useful. On one side, I can have treats. On the other side, I can have an extra leash, collar, clicker, toy, or whistle. I prefer them to the clip on treat pouches that most people use. I can also wipe slobber onto the these treat pouches, and avoid putting stinky treats in my pockets. 

When training a dog, it is OK to use treats as a lure to get dogs to start understanding the basics. I like luring as a technique. I'm good at luring. However, in relatively quick order, I migrate away from using visible food or toy lures. Dogs can easily smell whether you have treats on you, as well as detect if you have toys and even what type of toy you have hidden on you. So, luring is just a beginning, but I have ways of getting away from using them. No, that doesn't mean I am then using negative reinforcement as a substitute. The way I make this transition takes a bit to explain, so I won't go into that in this article. 

My goal is to get dogs to do good work, with zeal, without a collar or leash or harness (though I will use some kind of line and collar in public for safety's sake) without having to wear any visible or detectable training aids on the body of the handler. I don't want a dog to start looking to see if the handler has a treat pouch on their hip in order to get any kind of performance out of them. But at the beginning, a visible treat pouch is a very useful tool. 

Here is the type of carpenter's canvas nail apron I'm talking about. You'll see me, and my students, wearing them in photos on my website, during early training. So, you can see I practice what I preach. I always have several on hand.

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