I'm coming to terms with the fact that Kody is just naturally special. He was more fearful than his brother and we just have to take in one day at a time. But this morning something really nice happened!
We went on our morning walk and I decided to try to get Kody to walk beside me without luring him with treats. It's always hard to get this process started so it took a while to get him to come to my leg. When he did, though, I found I could control him with my voice and prevent him from running ahead and bring him back if he started to edge forward. This amount of control with Kody is amazing! I'm really happy with it.
We went our usual distance I'm guessing somewhere between 30 and 50 feet and only then did I pull out a treat and reward him.
Now, whether some perfect trainer could have gotten here faster or better doesn't matter. I'm just a regular guy. But I know that if it weren't for a lot of patience and treats we wouldn't have arrived here. It's not like we're done or anything, this is just another milestone. I'm sure as with everything have good days and bad days, but things are steadily getting much better.
Most trainers very much encourage the use of treats but often have goals to remove the need for treats as soon as possible. I'm not a trainer. I think I have the perspective of a normal person who's trying to train his dog right. If you don't totally know what you're doing to the extent that a professional trainer would, as most of us owners don't, you need a crutch. Small training treats are a great crutch that will help you make progress and limit any damage to your dog (assuming your treats are healthy.) Then remove the treats only when both you and your dog are ready and confident.
And heck, what do those people in the rings at dog shows have for their perfect dogs to make them behave? Treats!
If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me!