Good Work Deserves Good Pay

"I don't want him to expect a treat every time he does something I ask."

While not a new comment in the dog training world, it's one that I feel like I'm hearing with concerning prevalence lately.  Variations on this may include "He or she shouldn't expect a treat each time they do what they're told" or "I don't want to use food/treats forever."

Let's mull this over, shall we.

Say that you secure a great job that is constantly challenging you in a positive way and requires generalization of job tasks in different places. You're paid very well for your work, and you are happy to do the work your organization asks of you.  After all, you enjoy the diversity and the benefits are great!  A month into your time there, you receive your first review.  Your boss says you're doing extremely well, and they're proud of the work you're doing.  They are also going to start cutting your pay to 75% of what you signed on for.  Um....okay?  You're confused, but you enjoy this job so you keep going.  Two months in, they are still praising you, but they cut your pay to 50%.  Suddenly, the challenges aren't as exciting as they are draining.  The travel and generalization begin taking their toll, and you aren't as motivated to perform as well as you did at the beginning.  As your apathy grows, tasks begin to slip through the cracks, and management begins to write you up.  

Can we envision this? It seems impossible that the situation would occur, and we can't imagine why someone would work (even doing work they love) for less and less pay.  Yet, it's something that can happen during training with your dog.  

​Rewards are a dog's paycheck, and whether that is treats or toys, we need to give our dogs a motivating salary.  When the work is especially difficult, we pay them more for their hard work.  When the work is easy, the paycheck is smaller or in less frequent intervals.  But we still identify a reward schedule that is motivating for our dogs.  ​

Too often, treats are cut out quickly, and I hear that "My dog only does [X] when I have a treat ready".  That tells me that their rewards stopped abruptly, and they don't understand why they should do a task they aren't paid for.  Consistently rewarding your dog is not a deficit in training.  As someone who trains and competes with her dogs in various sports, I fully understand that the timing of rewards cannot be constant in a competition setting.  But I would never expect my dogs to run a full agility course without payment, when I had previously been rewarding them after every obstacle.

So, what is one to do?  Vary your reward schedule.  Instead of each time your dog sits, it becomes every two sits, or every four obstacles, or every 15 steps in heel.  And it's a BIGGER payment than your dog received for the individual actions.  Say we're at that job again, the job that has been decreasing our pay.  If the job changed to bi-monthly pay, but a little more each pay period?  We'd still be all in!  The same goes for our dogs.  When we need to alter the reinforcement schedule, it needs to be mindful and have more impact.  

You can certainly fade a food lure and alter a singularly high rate of reinforcement, it just needs to be thoughtfully done and still offering enticing motivation to your dog.  Utilizing surprises also will keep your dog excited - give treats or toys on a variable schedule, keeping their interest.  

Good work deserves good pay.  Build the relationship you want with your dog through positive reinforcement!