Maintain focus after treat

[jjwoodee]

I've noticed my dog when we are working will often perform a command correctly, i.e. a come and heel by my side which I will click, then treat. About 50% of the time I'm noticed that after he has consumed his treat he proceeds to break the heel and attention and go off and sniff or do whatever.

This doesn't particulary bug me, but I just don't want him getting into the immediate habit of ok I got my treat now I can break without release command.

Is this a problem I should be concerned with before I proceed into agility or obedience should I want to go into that area?

Any pointers would be helpful.

 

[adojrts]

At first there is a high rate of reinforcement, and we c/r for longer periods of focus and heel. The reason they can leave at first, is they don't fully understand yet that heel and focus is what is wanted. They should progress to longer periods of remaining in heel, but you then switch to a variable reward system and only marking occasionally. Also don't c/r immediately for the heel, have him walk in heel, then c/r.
But having said that, if I have a dog that comes to heel, c/r and then leaves or goes to the end of the leash, or sniffs etc. I do not c/r again, that would be rewarding them leaving me in the first place. But that is after I know that they fully understand what behaviour I want and for long periods.

 

[corgipower]

One thing I found helpful was to click, but not reward when the dog first gave the attention, and then click and reward after the dog held the attention for a little bit ~ kinda depending on how well the dog understood the exercise as to how long I would wait. As the dog got better at maintaining the attention, I would start randomizing how many clicks he got, sometimes clicking a few times before releasing the dog.

I also wouldn't click and reward right before releasing. The release itself is a reward. It became something of a game ~ how many times can I click.