Frogot to add one other thing I wonder if it would be useful for is for the seperation part of the CGC test. He's got all other parts down, but when I seperate from him he starts jumping on the trainer. He will calm down after a bit but just seem quite restless. I wonder if I can use this and leave the room, working up to longer duration if that would help with this test portion? Or even working up to 3 minute down-stays while first with me in the room, and then with me not in the same room?

 

I got one for Christmas last year. I worked on it some with matwork, and it really was beneficial because I didn't have to be *right there* to deliver the treat. I kind of stopped with the matwork though because even though he was great at it, we were struggling a bit at generalizing and I just got lazy.

Right now I've started using it when Chisum lunges at the door/windows when certain people leave. I just have it away from the door, and as the person leaves before Chisum gets a chance to lunge, they press the dispense button so he will walk away and get a treat instead. It's worked really well for that purpose so far.

There is a variable setting as far as treat release but I haven't worked much with that (yet). I don't really think it will be an issue that treats aren't coming from you, since you really want to reward the behavior more than anything.

The biggest downside is that replacement remotes are PRICEY. I hate that because I was hoping to get one for every family member instead of all sharing one remote but at $30 apiece I can't quite justify it.

 

Glad it worked for you! I wonder if it might work then when he kinda "bothers" visitors. It's like he wants to be the center of attention and just can't seem to settle/relax when people are over if he is not occupied with something. He will just keep trying to go over to them, pawing, etc. so it might work similar to how you used it for when your dog rushes to the door. So when I see my dog attempting to go over to visitors after they'd had enough so to speak, I can direct him to the treat & train? It has a sound when it releases treats right? so when he beeps and he is ready to do the unwanted behavior my hope is that it would redirect him to the device and I can at the same time cue/reinforce his "go to his mat"?

How long of a duration have you used it for? I was hoping to use it for longer intervals of down stays until released kinda thing.

Yea, I was wondering of the generalizing and it kinda transferring over to other things I'm trying to accomplish...like the CGC seperation, I can have someone else stay with him while I leave and have the treat & train randomly feed him...and then just decrease and fade it out eventually. Wondering if that would carry over to when I am in a class setting and the trainer or whoever has him on lease and I leave, no treat & train just them with no treats either...

 

Mine is super nifty! I've used it for obedience, my dog's reactivity to people outside the house (when she is inside)... I even use it to teach clients how to work CC/BAT with their dog (they hold their dog, I work the neutral dog and reward the dog remotely when they look/look away from the neutral dog).

Apparently there are spiffier ones on the market that work from a greater distance, but the TNT has to work from... at least 100 feet. So, for the money, not too shabby.

 

Sounds like it can have tons of uses! I think I'm going to get one and try it out, I'm sure it can only help with a lot of what I want to work with.

Do you have experience using it for multiple dogs? I want to mainly use it on my one dog as he is the one who needs to relax more and think this might help a ton with that. My other dog, not so much but wonder if it might interfere with the training, or cause any resource guarding? I can take turns with them I suppose too and if I really feel it's useful I could purchase a second...

 

You would want to separate them for sure, whether you buy one or two.

It also comes with a standing target, a book and a DVD that both have some games/tricks that you can teach.

 

I've had one for a year or so, and like it, though it can't stay out as Bus would abuse it and break it (been there- he tried to pick up the first one and pushed the little light globe down into the machine- their customer service was awesome and exchanged it for free!). Do not let your dog paw or bite at it!

It's super high value and he DOES guard it from the other dogs and cats- when he does, I give his "all done" marker and put it away, and he's guarding less these days- he just gives the other dogs the hairy eye and then looks to me to remove them. I don't let them mess with him, and usually will gate them away or put one dog on the couch in a stay while the other "works".

It's excellent for teaching a "place" command, and I used it for a while successfully to keep Bus from begging when my parents eat while we're visiting them (my mom feeds him and reinforces his bad behavior :< ), but it's a pain to dig it out of the cabinet every time they eat so I haven't been recently. I also like to use the target stick to exercise the dogs on ugly days (mostly Roxie, who doesn't play fetch and really only gets exercise by being walked) by putting it at one end of the house and the base at the other as they have to go back and forth.

I do have some problems lately with it jamming with the medium size kibble I feed, but that may be an issue of the batteries getting lowish. Need to change them and see if it improves, if not, might have to get smaller kibbles, as I get tired of having to unjam it every couple minutes. That's my only complaint, and it's a small, easily remedied one

 

Got my treat and train, been using it for 3 days now! So far I think it will make use of what my main goal is for it - remaining calm around guests.

At first my 1 year old pit-mix was a little hesitant about it but by the next day I had him doing intervals of down stays and targeting with it.

I'm really crossing my fingers that it will aid in keeping him calm and distracted for when guests are over.

So here's my plan:

I don't think I'll try to place too much emphasis on him being in a down-stay, etc but basically just reward any type of calm/appropriate behavior is my goal around guests.

So when company arrives I plan to have it out and him tethered but still being able to see guests come in, randomly treating him to keep his focus off of guests until settled. Once everyone is seated in my living room, I'll relocate and tether him in my leaving room with the device (this will also not allow any jumping to be reinforced). I plan to have my guests each go up to him and greet him. If he jumps, nothing, if he sits calmly, I will release treats from the device. Then have who ever is over take turns with this. I'm thinking this might really help, as it makes him retreat away from the people to get the reward. Then I'll see if they can do some targeting with the target stick it came with, have him touch the target and he will again have to go retreat back to the device to get the reward. After a few repetitions I'll release him with a long chew to keep him busy for another 15 min or so and then crate/gate him away for the remainder. I don't want to keep him out the whole say 2-3 hours or whatever they are here because I'm pretty sure the good behavior won't last that long (just trying to envision this here lol). So rather put him away while only good behavior can be reinforced. And then as time goes on and he does better, I can try keeping him out for longer periods.

So just wondering if you thought this was a good setup or had any other suggestions?

He seems to get better in this area and then regress, he can be polite a couple times and then I think we are making progress, and another day act completely obnoxious with people, trying to jump in the air at them relentlessly (I have him on lead but he will "try" if I let him). Sometimes no amount of excersise helps much, and recently he hasn't even shown interest in long lasting chews like before so it makes it that much harder. He is simply super persistent and relentless about practically wanting to crawl all over people. Sometimes it depends where we are, who it is, but in any case he's just so intense and rough in his action about it, he goes from 0-60 in a split second, which makes it hard to react sometimes. I have to be honest, I don't show it in front of him, but it makes me anxious to have people over, because #1 I just keep him separate which doesn't help in working on the behavior or #2 I have to get people involved and most of our guests just aren't much dog people so it makes it a little tricky. If I can get my dog to be calm around people and not try to maul them, I would be so so relieved as that has been my BIGGEST challenge with this dog. At almost one and a half now I have been trying so hard but I still seem to have little progress