Giving treats when it's cold outside

I have a puppy and its getting colder here (Ontario) I train indoors till its amazing and then will move it to outside. Training is transferable. You can add distractions inside where its warm

Once its perfect indoors with distractions then I would worry about moving outside. By then it hopefully will be warmer.

As well if its really difficult to do it will be hard to do it well. This will lead to frustration of both parties and be counter productive.

Texting gloves here. Not sure if they'd work in super cold.

First of all, my friend meant that this thread doesn't need to be only for us when we told that she thought that we would create a thread where people could ask/offer ideas on how to reward the dog outside with treats. So, my friend thought that we wouldn't talk only about Lotta in this thread.

My friend is not dismissing your suggestions. She just told you what kind of products she can or can't buy in stores. For example, we ourselves live in Finland and my friend has seen in local stores, including pet shops, only cuttable treats. Southpaw had suggested products my friend hasn't seen in stores but you can put those kind of suggestions for others. My friend has also been trying to explain things. Of course she could try your suggestions if they were something she could do.

Of course my friend wears gloves when it's cold outside. She meant that she couldn't wear the kind of gloves that don't cover the fingertips because of this: There are things/behaviors one needs to teach the dog outside. By the time you would have finished doing whatever you were doing, it might feel like as your fingers would have frozen even when it's not very cold outside.

Others may figure out also other examples about things that can only be done outside but here is one. It doesn't relate to Lotta though:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4kHsaUSylQ&list=UUKQCCGM0Y-KiOojUtlInJ9w

For example in that video they are feeding a lot of treats to that dog.

Here's another example: heeling and loose leash walking. So, all of those things requires a lot of space. It's also so that the dog may behave differently outside than inside. What my friend is trying to explain here is that one should be able to train her/his dog also outside...

So, one may need to wear those kind of gloves/mittens in winter as in the pictures we had linked. S/he may need to hold a leash in one hand and possibly a clicker in another. So, my friend has two questions:

1) How would you then feed cuttable treats to the dog? Where would you keep them? How would you take them in your hand if they are very small?

2) In what kind of container would you put peanut butter or something similar? How would you feed it if you should wear gloves/mittens?
So, would also others need ideas on how to feed treats to the dog outside?

Actually no. Especially with a smallish dog. I am teaching my new pup heeling and loose leash walking in my Apt! The principles are the same. Get the dog walking very reliably beside inside (up and down hallways, move furniture if you need to to give a bigger space temporarily - just slide my coffee table over) and then move it outside on warmer days. I have trained competition grade heeling to my dogs indoors many a winter (and then competed them.)

I think one of the problems 'your friend' might be having is deciding something needs to be done a particular way and then when it comes about that there are other easier ways its not acceptable.

If feeding treats is very difficult to do in the winter, then feed treats inside Or just save training sessions till its warmer out. IME the best ways to train is to think outside the box and find ways to make training easy and fun for both dog and human.

First of all, my friend was just giving examples of things what can only be done outside. She was not talking only about Lotta...

My friend was asking ideas on what kind of treats to feed outside and how...

Fair enough. And I explained how I train dogs when its too cold to easily feed treats outside.

As a dog trainer (its my side business) I wouldn't advise a client to train outside if it was going to be difficult to reward the dog. Correct timing and frequency is going to be an issue and in many cases you are better off not doing it vs not doing it well.

Has your friend tried holding a treat in the palm of her hand, and giving that to Lotta? When other options won't work, that's what I will do with Roxie. At least then she's not eating my fingers.

I don't train outside when it is that cold personally; if it is too cold for me to have a bare hand kept in a pocket (where I can keep treats, and pull the hand out to deliver bare), then it is too cold for my dogs to be out there training. We train other stuff indoors when it is that cold. Both of my dogs would find it unacceptable to be outside working when it is that cold.

However, when I worked outdoors, I needed to find a balance between keeping my hands warm in a Vermont winter, and still having enough dexterity to do the job. I would wear silk glove liners under warmer gloves, and when I needed to use my hands more than the warm gloves would allow, I could slip my hand out and still have some coverage of my fingers.

For treats that are easier to manipulate, things that are long and the dogs can nibble on the end. String cheese, hot dogs. I could hold either of those in a big mitten, and reach down to the let the dog take bites off the end.

Amazon UK shops deliver to Finland. Some are even eligible for free delivery.

You can buy lickable treats from there. Have a look

Or use a chunk of something she can nibble a bit off. Like a sausage or cheese. Not cut up.

I still say texting gloves. The ones with the little gripper things on the fingers... much easier to grab treats.

Sometimes its not that easy. I have known autistic adults and kids (my mom was a special ed teacher) and I am familiar with this type of aversion to asymmetry.

What about vinyl gloves like this


With handwarmers in them like this

Those are cool! I might get a pair for me LOL.

We have had three Saturdays that we have done Agility in a cold indoor arena and I just have a pair of woollen gloves and have no problem reaching into my pocket for treats for Remmy, and they have kept my hands warm. The treats are homemade treats cut up into small pieces so can't see the problem giving treats with gloves on, just don't try it with heavy bulky gloves.

The point Jess is making when she says "make sacrifices" is that our regular solutions will likely not work for her friend, and that her friend is going to have to work with treats and gloved hands if she wants to work outdoors, or stay inside to train in the winter. Almost any solution we provide will have some form of asymmetry or another.

What about keeping the treats nearby in a container like a small bowl or Tupperware instead of a pocket or treat pouch? They should be easier to pick up that way, maybe?

My other thought was some kind of dispenser. Like a sweetener dispenser or pez!

I still think you should just buy something off Amazon though.

And I don't think autistic people can just 'make sacrifices'. Their world doesn't work like that.

Also, I don't know if the remote treat dispensers like Manners Minders are available where you live? That way she would just have to operate a little remote control device instead of actually giving the treat from hand.

Like this: http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...vptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_2ujr6wfsz7_e

Like we told there are things/behaviors one needs to teach the dog outside. We put few examples in the previous message. My friend was not talking only about Lotta or about teaching basic things. So, all of those things require a lot of space. It's also so that the dog may behave differently outside than inside...

That would be difficult. However those kind of gloves would be too thin if it was cold outside:
That wouldn't always be possible because of this: By the time you would have finished doing whatever you were doing, it might feel like your fingers would have frozen even when it's not very cold outside. My friend means that it might only feel like it. So, one needs to wear thick gloves/mittens during winter even when it's not freezing outside.

So, that is one reason my friend herself cannot wear a thinner glove only on one hand and this is another:
My friend just also thought that she couldn't take one glove off fast enough in order to reward her dog although she knows that one can buy more time by using a clicker.

So, you have already put some ideas on what kind of treats to feed to the dog and how. Here is one. My friend can see if there is something Lotta will eat:
Amberdyan had suggested to reward the dog with peanut butter. This is what my friend tried to ask about it: In what kind of container would you put the peanut butter or something similar? How would you feed it if you should wear gloves/mittens?

When my friend was talking about that one should be able to train her/his dog also outside she was talking about things that are done for example in a walk. There are also other people than my friend that live in tiny appartments and that don't have their own yards.

My friend can see if that worked even when she would need to wear thick gloves:
That's correct, but it's not the only reason my friend cannot do some of the things you have suggested. It's also for example because of the weather.