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Typist: Bethany
My dogs are weird. But in all fairness, I am too. Between the dogs being picky about training treats and my disgust at having my hands covered in dog food, it is ridiculously difficult for both positive reinforcement trainer and trainee to treat and be treated effectively. I also have some sort of issue with every one of the dozen or so training treat pouches I have tried. Too many pouches are bulky, uncomfortable, spill when the dogs and I are active or are too difficult to quickly get treats from. Then there's my weird dogs turning their nose up at a treat they may have considered a high value or jackpot reward just days before. So the training treat struggle of my odd issues coupled with crazy dogs goes. My search for training treats that work for all of us seems never ending. |
Huxley being rewarded with a lick of a TreatToob
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Last year I thought I had finally found a portable, easy to distribute treat that all three dogs liked and that I could feed without a need to wash my hands seconds later but the treat began to grow mold. Allowing the dogs to lick from a small jar of baby food was another training treat it seemed all three dogs and I could agree on until recently when the organic baby food company we purchased from stopped making our favorite dog friendly flavors. Should the most difficult thing about training my dogs really be finding appropriate treats? Last month, I purchased and tried TreatToob™ which resulted in squirting pumpkin puree all over the dogs and the ground at a Seattle area park. Unwilling to give up on my purchase, I left the TreatToob on the counter in hopes of changing the cap to not need as much pressure to dispense food. Overnight, TreatToob fell victim to orally fixated Amelia. That cat loves to chew on anything rubber or silicone. Fortunately, this months Positive Reinforcement Pet Training review post was looming so I ordered another TreatToob in hopes of finding a way to make the treat dispenser work for us.
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TreatToob filled with a Cascadian Nomads canines favorite.
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The second TreatToob I tried worked wonderfully. With gentle pressure, the pumpkin puree came out slowly and evenly. Maybe it was my determination to find a way to like TreatToob or that I had worked a little on getting the dogs over the fear of the treat dispenser that started when pumpkin squirted all over them but my guess is that the makers of TreatToob, Paww, has less than reliable quality control. Whatever the reason our second TreatToob seems to work so much better, the dogs and I are both very pleased. Pumpkin has been a treat that all three dogs have consistently liked to the ability to bring it anywhere as a reward will make a huge positive reinforcement training difference for us all. I carry a clicker everywhere but without the ability to always tote treats, I rarely click outside of formal training sessions. Both trainer and trainee will have more fun enjoying spontaneous training while we're out and about.
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If I can manage to keep the cat from chewing a mass of holes into the food grade silicone of my new TreatToob, it is my hope that the dogs and I will have our treat training troubles solved for many years to come. I look forward to easily changing what treat the TreatToob contains according to the passing food whims of Wilhelm, Brychwyn and Huxley. Enjoying a long training session without a hand coated in training treat residue is going to do wonders for my bonding time with the dogs. And best of all, the dogs and I can each continue to be our weird, quirky selves while having training treats wherever we roam.
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Cascadian Nomads was not asked to or paid to promote any businesses or organizations mentioned and linked in this post. We paid for all mentioned and linked products ourselves and we are in no way compensated for clicking on the posts links we've provided. We're just sharing information or stuff we like!
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Welcome to Positive Reinforcement Pet Training Week which begins on the first Monday of each month and runs all week long. The May theme is reviews and on the list below bloggers share posts with reviews of dog, cat or other animal training books, DVDs, tools, etc. Any positive reinforcement training themed posts are invited to join this and every month. Positive Pet Training Week in June is the 1st through the 7th and the theme will be training multiple pets. The weeks hosts, Cascadian Nomads, Rubicon Days & Tenacious Little Terrier, look forward to having anyone in the positive pet training community, bloggers, readers and followers, join us every month sharing stories and comments about the joy of positive training with pets of all kinds.
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