You should still RANDOMLY reward those first behaviors.

It's like teaching a dog to heel.

Obviously your going to reward that very first step but some people forget that once the dog gets out to 5-10-50 steps and they stop RANDOMLY rewarding other then the last.

That's nothing more then chaining the foot steps together.

Yes I still do randomly reward those different exercises when I train them separately. But when I chain them I don't. If I understood you right, I should even when chaining randomly reward in between and sometimes only at the end?

How many different exercises aproximately do think we can chain? For me 3-4 are for the moment far enough. Just to have a vision what would be reasonable as a more advanced goal.

Can you put a couple together with no reward in your hands or in view of the dog?

That's just as important as anything in training.

If not then the "reward" becomes a bribe that the dogs could ignore without the "reward" in sight.

Doing a 10-15-20 min routine can contain many behaviors and that's where the "randome" comes in to play.

I never stop putting my dogs through many routines just for fun. That's a lot of how we play together.

Many of the behaviors get the "random" reward but when I finish they always get some sort of final reward.

That may be something I have to go in the house to get.

It may be after a complete trial scenario and the reward is off the field when we finished (DQ if caught with a reward on your person).

It may be their tug or Kong that is sitting on the picnic table or even laying in the middle of the yard while I heel by or over.

That can be a great attention exercise because they know the way to get it is to keep their eyes on me and ignore it.

They ALWAYS know that a reward WILL come even if the reward is 3-4 mins after the marker.

Thanks, Bob, for all those tips.

Yes I can put a couple together without having treats in my hand and without wearing a bait bag.

My sessions are normally about 15 minutes with very different exercises. Then I ALWAYS (!!!)reward randomly. (Guess from whom I learned this! )

I also give a final reward. I say to the dogs JACKPOT! They know that word by now. Then I put a bowl with food on the floor, say Leave it! and make them wait in a sitstay. Then I say Take it! and they can eat it. Do you think this is too complicated a procedure? But it works. They leave it, even if I walk out of sight.

I also put sometimes treats on the floor, especially during heeling sessions. I`m doing this to lead them in temptation. When we approach this food I use my leave it command and we pass near that enticement.

In the beginning it happened a few times that they didn`t resist, but now they don`t touch that food any more. But they often turn their head towards it, which of course while heeling should not be. This will need more work. Do you think this counter productive, because it makes them break the eye contact. Maybe I should make it easier, food on a low table or something like that?

In the end the recieve their jackpot, but nothing of the little food heaps on the floor. I reward though from my hand during heeling for correct body position and focus.

Waiting 3 to 4 minutes with the reward after the marker, I`ve never tried. Do they really make a connection with the TM after such a long time?

As long as you mark it they learn reward is coming.

If the dog is solid with marker training then a few mins isn't to much BUT obviously you want to ask for anything in between..

It's not like you can go sit down and have a coffee.

I would do the feeding as a separate exercise.

When the dogs are sitting then you want to mark AS SOON AS they make eye contact with you.

You can build off that to get a bit more time but that's your choice.

No, I go to sit down and have a glass of wine and the dog has time to wait until I've finished it. (Lie) And, no, I don't want to do anything in between. (Unless I train chaining exerciises). I never disappear before mark/rew.

"The feeding as a separate exercise". Yes I was unsure about this.

I have trained it in Mark Keating's Relationship course to teach them to leave the food when I give the command and I'm going on training this.

I wanted to make this behavior solid and generalize it. When I train something with one and the others are loose, they know exactly that now it is not their turn and when I throw food for the one who is in the training session, they know this food is meant only for that one. This works without problem.

But I think you're right, combined with heeling it is somehow contradictory because of the focus. I guess I can use food as distraction later on, once their focus is really solid?

"When the dogs are sitting then you want to mark AS SOON AS they make eye contact with you." I guess you mean this only for when I'm training the eye contact?

If I train something else, I thought I have to mark for the correct behavior within half a sec. With this reward is promised and can come later.

But if I mark too late, the dog will have done something else in between, it might be just a turn of his head or something like this, and then he will associate the mark with this behavior. That's why I thought exact timing is so crucial.

It's all about the dog believing that the marker WILL mean reward even if it's not immediate.

I's believed, and I believe that the marker word itself can stimulate good feelings in the dog.

I think it can be compared to Pavlov's bell in a way.

The bell itself stimulates anticipation of reward.

When someone wishes you a "happy birthday" in the morning and you get excited with anticipation of a present later.

You just don't want to ring the bell without feeding the dog or wishing "happy Birthday" without giving the present later.

Both will devalue those markers if it happens to often.

Yes Pavlov's bell. I've learned about this. Repeated sound with following reward and finally the sound itself makes the dogs drool. Anticipation.

Where I have to disagree, Bob - The sounds my hubby makes when wishing me a happy birthday don't make me drool or whatsoever, because the present comes two months later. My anticipation doesn't last so long. I think I'm not the right creature for being marker trained.

I think that maybe the reward comes a bit to long after the marker in your situation.

If it comes at all!