Must Carry Treats

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.