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Things Your Dog Will Love: Yuppy Puppy Treat Machine

Half slot and half gumball, the Yuppy Puppy Treat Machine is a puzzle toy that not only keeps your dog challenged but is a blast to watch.

Yuppy-Puppy-Treat-MachineDogs are natural problem solvers and we see it in them everyday when they do something pleasantly unexpected or when we’re left scratching our heads to figure out where they got that from. Again.

If we don’t figure out new and engaging ways to keep them cognitively challenged we risk them doing it on their own in ways that won’t be acceptable.

This is why I love puzzle toys so much, keep a closet full of them at home, and why my dogs’ eyes light up every time they see the Yuppy Puppy Treat Machine come out.

In essence, the Treat Machine is half gumball machine and half slot machine but what it really is is a window into the sheer power of the positive reinforcement variable reward schedule.

It takes a couple demonstrations on the owner’s part to get the dog to understand how it works – pull the bone-shaped handle down to dispense some treats – but once it clicks in their minds they’re hooked.

In theory, the Treat Machine dispenses with each successful pull of the bone-shaped arm but the beauty of the puzzle is that most dogs just aren’t all that coordinated with their paws to be able to pull the arm with each try so they introduce the necessary variability into the reward schedule to get them coming back again and again.

The variable reward schedule that the Treat Machine takes advantage of is the secret sauce of positive reinforcement training and it’s just as strong in humans as it is in any other animal – if not more so.

By providing a reward of sufficient value in terms of monetary value, physical gratification, or sheer yumminess at a frequent enough schedule to ensure a relatively good chance of receiving it with each attempt, the variable reward schedule can essentially coax the mind into repeating behaviors that will hopefully lead to the reward payoff.

While in positive reinforcement dog training we leverage the variable reward schedule for the benevolent purposes of teaching and shaping fun or pleasing behaviors, the sheer power of it that I mentioned earlier is also what leads in humans to gambling and drug addiction, risk-taking behaviors, and why people stay in unsafe relationships.

Coming back to more pleasant territory, the Yuppy Puppy Treat Machine fulfills my criteria for a great positive reinforcement puzzle toy:

  1. It’s relatively inexpensive.
  2. It does exactly what they say it will do and will consistently keep your dog challenged.
  3. It’s not something they’ll ever grow bored of provided the rewards dispensed remain interesting to them.

I use the Treat Machine at home with my own dogs and I use it in class frequently. I think it’s a great tool to add to our positive reinforcement bag of tricks and believe you will, too.

Three Dogs 2012 Silly Holiday Photo Contest Winners!

It’s almost Christmas, so that means it’s time to announce the winners of our 2012 Silly Holiday Photo Contest!

The moment we’ve all been waiting for is now upon us!

Lawrence has been diligently collecting all the silly Holiday photo contest entries (and there were even more this year than last!), sat me down to go through them all, and then told me who the winners were.

So, without further ado…

Our three winners are, in no particular order:

In the next couple of days, Lisa will be reaching out to you about your prizes.

There are two honorable mentions in being Very Patient Dogs that were too good not to highlight:

Congratulations to our three winners – and thanks to everyone who entered!

 

Lisa and Boo are this week’s The Quaz Q&A!

Lisa and Boo are this week’s The Quaz Q&A over on JeffPearlman.com!

In case you don’t know, The Quaz Q&A is a weekly column over on JeffPearlman.com.

(If you’ve read Sports Illustrated, ESPN.com, or a million other things you’ve likely read something that Jeff has written.)

Here’s a link – The Quaz Q&A: Lisa Edwards.

Enjoy!

Lisa and Boo are on Yahoo! Health!

Lisa and Boo are featured today on Yahoo! Health for their animal-assisted therapy work with children!

Lisa, Boo, and A Dog Named Boo are featured today over on Yahoo! Health for their animal-assisted therapy work with children!

It’s very exciting to continue to see Boo’s story being able to reach out and touch more and more people.

Here’s a link: The Dog Who Teaches Kids to Talk.

Enjoy!

Lisa’s going to be on Sirius XM all this week!

Lisa’s going to be talking about A Dog Named Boo with Pia Lindstrom all this week on Sirius XM Radio!

If you’re a Sirius XM subscriber, make sure you tune into Sirius XM Radio’s Pia Lindstrom Presents for her interview with Lisa about A Dog Named Boo!

The interview will be broadcast:

[unordered_list style=”tick”]

  • Monday 11/26 at 10:00 PM
  • Wednesday 11/28 at 3:00PM
  • Sunday 12/2 at 8:00 PM[/unordered_list]

Enjoy!