Mr Biscuit is an amazing one year old Blue Merle Border Collie with a long list of over 200 tricks. He lives on 5 acres in southern Louisiana, with two other Border Collies (Sissy & Oreo). We purchased all three from an great local breeder (https://www.facebook.com/SpotOnBorderCollies/) out of Waggaman, Louisiana. In the one year since we brought Mr Biscuit home he has learned over 200 tricks. He’s trained using a small tennis ball with a squeaker along with voice and hand signals… no treats ever.
I use human interaction & his favorite toy (tennis ball) as positive reinforcement. I believe dogs want to interact with their owners more than anything in the world, this not only creates a great bond between the dog & their owner, but also helps the dog and their owners learn each other’s patterns of expected behaviors.
Dogs are very loyal companions and will give their lives for their owners but most likely would not give their life for a treat. This behavior tells us that positive interaction with their owners is the holy grail of rewards for your dog… this is why Mr Biscuit can learn just about any trick within minutes… not days or even weeks. Treat are not only unhealthy for your dog, but they are really just a form of bribery and don’t create a strong bond between you and you dog.
Understanding this will allow any dog owner to make their dog a Rockstar by simply interacting & playing games with them. Think about this, clicker & treat training tells you to spend 30 minutes a day for weeks and sometime months just to teach your dog one trick. My dogs learns multiple tricks & commands everyday without any actual training sessions.
I would like to invite you to like or follow Mr Biscuit’s page so you can see all his fun videos and the results of this training method for yourself.