Metaphorically speaking...

Now this is an enlightened point of view, to be found at

http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20%20MAIN/indexdog.html

A really great training site...about the best I've seen so far...and it's free!!!

YOU CAN TAKE THAT TO THE BANK!

Every time you give your dog a reward for a behaviour, you're "banking" the behaviour. Think of putting a penny in a jar every time you give the dog a treat. Call the dog, she comes, a treat for her and a penny in the jar. She comes 100 times, you've given her a 100 treats for coming, and you've got 100 pennies in the jar. Let's say that to your dog, coming is worth a nickel. Every time you call your dog and DON'T give her a treat, you're spending a nickel out of your "come jar". When you run out of money in the jar, you don't get the behaviour any more. Dogs will work gladly on what you've banked, but they don't work much on credit.

Each behaviour has a different value to each individual dog. To my dog, picking something up and giving it to me is a cheap behaviour. She likes to retrieve, it makes her feel good, and she'll sell me retrieves 3 for a penny or 50 for a dime. Going in her crate, though, is an expensive behaviour. She's a service dog, she's supposed to be with me all the time. She's USED to being with me all the time. Going in a crate and then having to listen to me round up my coat and the car keys is just plain insulting. Going in a crate is a 50-cent behaviour and I BETTER have 50 pennies in the jar before I ever THINK about putting her in that crate without a treat, or there's gonna be trouble tomorrow!