Nearly 20 years ago, a new friend asked me, “Do you always wear one of those?” She was referring to the treat pouch, aka a “bait bag,” that I wore whenever we walked our dogs together. She wasn’t being critical; she was honestly curious. She hadn’t yet met a fan of positive reinforcement-based training. Neither had she trained her dogs with any particular goal or intention in mind! In fact, she was astounded when I started luring her chubby little senior Chihuahua into “sit” and “down” positions. She actually told me that she didn’t know that you could train a very small dog!
It didn’t take her long to buy a treat pouch of her own and to wear it whenever she takes her dogs for a walk with or without me—and today, her even smaller dog knows dozens of tricks and good-manners behaviors.
If I’m going on a walk with dogs (my dogs or anyone else’s!) I pretty much always bring a bait bag and treats along—though I am also prone to putting freeze-dried treats in my coat, vest, and/or pants pockets, and have lost more than a few pockets and garments that way. (At my age, I tend to throw off layers suddenly and abandon them; my female peers will understand. I forget that my foster dogs don’t have the restraint or habituation that my polite dogs have—and if I’ve left the room, or left dogs in my car, I often return to find that the pockets of that particular garment have been chewed through.)
I use treats on off-leash walks to reward and reinforce my dogs for “checking in”—any time they are running ahead and, without prompting, turn around and come back toward me. If I have to call them at any time, whether to bring them closer to me or to move them farther from something I want them to avoid, I almost always reward them very generously. This keeps their recalls very sharp and prompt; no lingering over a cow patty or goose poop!
I am also quite generous with treats on leashed walks; I reward any extended bit of relaxed, loose-leash walking to ensure I get lots more of it! If one of my dogs shows concern or too much interest in something I would rather they ignore or pass quietly, I cue them with “Off!” and reward them for trusting me with their lack of further attention to that thing.
I also like to have treats with me in case I need to make friends with and catch—or distract and redirect—a loose dog that approaches me and my dogs. More than once, I’ve thrown a handful of treats right in the face of a loose dog who was coming in hot directly at me and my leashed dogs; most dogs will stop and blink for a moment before realizing they smell something delicious, and they will usually switch from being interested in your dogs to hunting for the treats. It’s a great technique for taking the wind out of their sails and giving you a little time and space to retreat with your dogs.
Far more of my monthly budget goes toward dog treats than treats for myself—mostly because I buy mostly high-quality, freeze-dried treats that are easy to store, don’t go bad in even double the amount of time I tend to use them, and aren’t greasy (and so don’t stain clothing). But it’s an investment in both the training and my relationship with my dogs that I wouldn’t change for anything.
Can I walk my dogs, on or off leash, without treats? Of course! And their behavior is still quite good. But I wouldn’t expect them to work every day without one of the most meaningful reinforcements available to me; that’s just taking their good behavior for granted, and I won’t do that to anyone I love.
I love this! I usually carry treats of two value levels: one very high value (cheese or chicken) and one of lesser value so I’m prepared to reward accordingly, depending on the ask/behavior/situation. One of my favorite tricks for cheese is to buy the string cheese sticks, which can be quickly grabbed from the fridge, come wrapped & can be broken off in big or little pieces. And great suggestion on throwing treats at incoming off-leash dogs! I’m always scouting around for a good bag to carry all these things so would love a future article reviewing treat bags, if it’s not already out there! 🙂
Viola and Vono look to be similar treat pouches so I’m looking forward to your write up!
I have crappy skin – almost anything will make my hands bleed and I had a very expensive silicone treat bag (from Australia) that would peel the skin off the backs of my hands when I put them in to get treats (it was very “grippy”). Is the Voila treat bag also very grippy or do you have a lot of room around your hand when you reach in? I’ve been using Doggone Good bags for years due to their size and secure belt attachment but they are tedious to clean.
Hmmmmm, good question as my skin is very dry here in AZ and consider my skin crappy too! Nancy!! I hope your reading the replies here and can shed some light on the bag you use compared to the Viola😲
Having also been the victim of Pocket Surfing Dogs (a recognized AKC breed, by the way), I’ve learned to always hang my jacket or coat in a closet or behind a closed door when I get home. This doesn’t prevent the occasional Jacket Thrown On The Seat–Dash Into The Store–Oh Rats–Incident, but at least it minimizes the frequency! And it’s always one’s favorite jacket, isn’t it? Because that’s the one you’re going to be wearing 99% of the time!