What Are “Screw Up” Cookies? | Maximum Fun Dog Sports

What are “Screw Up” Cookies?

 Home

Articles

What Are “Screw Up” Cookies?

Written by Lorrie Reynolds

Lorrie has been an agility enthusiast since 2002 and has taught tricks, family obedience, agility, and canine conditioning since 2005. When she's not writing articles, developing courses, or training dogs, you can find her curled up with a book in her hands and a dog warming her feet.



Categories

Dog Agility | Dog Training

My seminar students have often joked that I need a loud play-back device that would let me record the things I say 500 times in each seminar and just hit a button to save my voice. Nominations for phrases include things like:

- “Get off the line!”
- “Where are your shoulders?”
- “Your dog can do it – stop babysitting!”
- “Take a step!”

And probably my favorite and most used one:

- “Reward your dog!”

Something happens to our brains when we are training. When things go well, it is very easy to remember to give our dog a treat or throw the toy. But when training goes sideways, especially when we are the ones at fault, we get so focused on trying again that sometimes we forget that our dogs need to get paid.

The paycheck your dog gets when you mess up is what I define as a “screw up cookie” to my students.

Agility dogs posing on a rock in the mountains

Think about the last time you were in a weekly class and you stopped to listen to the instructor’s critique. What did you do with your dog? Did you bring him to you and ask him to sit, or grab his collar while you listened to the instructions? Did you let him wander off until your instructor was finished talking?

(If you stopped and rewarded before listening to the instructor, good for you! You are in the minority.)

In my seminars, it usually goes like this, “Stop, let’s try that again and make it cleaner….REWARD YOUR DOG!….Here’s what you can change to make it better.”

While I appreciate that people want to learn and hear what I have to say, I appreciate it even more if they ignore me for a second and give the dog a treat or toss a toy.

Despite the all caps, it’s not an angry yell, by the way. I completely understand that people get caught up in what they are doing. I just don’t want it to impact their dogs.

We want our dog’s motivation to stay high. We want him to know that working with us pays off. We want to keep him engaged and excited about training. When we just “switch off” after making a mistake, and forget to provide a reward, we are, in essence, punishing the dog for something we did.

This can lead to a dog who shuts down if everything isn’t perfect, or who loses confidence in your cues. If your dog did exactly what you asked him to do, even if it wasn’t what you really wanted, and you don’t reward him, he won’t trust that cue the next time.

So next time you make a training mistake, pretend I’m pushing that button on the recording, and remember to reward your dog before trying again.