Doppler And Treats

We are all creatures of habit, none more than Doppler. That’s especially true when it comes to her visits to the front lawn.

We’ve just come back from Doppler doing a number one. The expectation was a three (one plus two).

“She’s working the system,” Helaine said.

That’s because Doppler knows an excursion to the lawn is always followed by a treat.

Once we come back into the house and I remove her leash, Doppler sprints to the family room where she waits in her crate for the reward. If I take too much time, like today when I began to chat with Helaine, Doppler will come into the kitchen to better gauge the hold-up.

We all know the drill. Doppler stands under the edge of the kitchen table looking up, wistfully. As soon as I begin to take her treat from the bag she turns toward the family room and hits the accelerator. There’s not enough traction on the hardwood floor.

It’s a cross between Fred Flintstone’s feet and some ‘drifting’ from a Vin Diesel movie.

We’ve seen it a thousand times. It never gets old!

8 thoughts on “Doppler And Treats”

  1. Take a video-would love to see that!! Pets give us such pleasure- unconditional love and laughs!! Who could ask for more???

  2. dogs are so funny aren’t they? We give Wally a milk bone and it appears he won’t eat it until everyone is in the house! And he won’t eat his meal until both my husband and I are standing in the kitchen.

  3. Our cat Snickers sits next to my husbands recliner every evening, starting at about 10pm and waits for her bedtime treat. She will sit there, sometimes for an hour before we are ready to go upstairs!

  4. They know our habits and patterns better than we do. I swear sometimes “that” look is saying “Didn’t you forget something?”

  5. Animals are so smart. My cat will sit in front of the cabinet that her treats are in & wait & wait til I give her one. And when I get one out she runs across the kitchen cause she knows I throw it & she runs for it. If I ignore her she will sit there & follow my every move with her eyes as if to say “well what’s taking you so long?” I Love it.

  6. I started making my own dog treats, chicken jerky. I buy a flat of boneless chicken breast, line some cookie sheets with foil, spread with either peanut butter, or liberally sprinkled minced garlic. Put on a show on the kitchen TV, and thinly slice the chicken across the grain,lay slices on the sheet (a little overlap OK, it “shrinks” quite a bit) and bake at 170@, overnight, about 8 hours. Don’t worry about shape, even the leftover bits after slicing bake out nice for treats. Cool, break it up to appropriate treat size pieces, I keep it in the freezer and feed treats right out of freezer. Nice to have to give to friends dogs too. Avoid all that China made stuff….!

  7. This sounds like a classic “Pavlov’s Dog” response. If you apply the principle of “intermittent reinforcement” and do not give Doppler a treat each time, you will gradually break the stimulus-response of #1 (or #2)-> treat. I usually give my lab a treat before bed, but sometimes don’t give him any. Other times give him a big treat like a homemade doggie cookie, other times just a kibble of his regular dog food. When he gets the big cookie, he’s very grateful- he rolls it over his tongue, and bites into it very slowly as if to prolong the excitement. Very controlled for a lab. If he had the cookie all the time it just wouldn’t be as exciting for him.

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