Sure-fire tricks to get treats from humans.

Getting treats, snacks, and yummies from humans is one of the big reasons we dogs keep humans around. It's really not that hard, even though humans can be very slow to learn. 

The first thing do to train your human may surprise you, but it will really work:  pretend like you don't know how to sit. When they say "Sit," look at them like you have no idea what they are saying. If there is anything edible around, like treats or a pizza, you could go look at it. Sooner or later your humans will figure out that maybe they should offer you some food. When they finally get some yummy treats, then you have to be really slow to respond when they say, "Sit," again. I know what you're thinking:  sitting is soooo easy. But trust me on this. Your human will take time to learn to give you treats when you sit. Besides, if you drag out how long it takes, you'll get way more treats. 

The great thing is that for centuries we dogs have been training humans to give us treats when we sit, so it is likely that when you meet a person with food, they will know to give you treats when you plant your furry bottom on the ground. The picture above is of me at a local café with a human I just met. I sit, I smile, and I look at the human's food. Even the slowest human will understand. To make sure I was doing it perfectly, I was thinking really hard, "Give me the croissant." It worked! I didn't get the whole croissant --- humans have to eat, too --- but the part I had was yummy. Then I was ready to continue taking my human on a walk. Also, don't worry if you happen to drool a little on the human's pants in this process. That's just an extra gift from you to the human.  

The best humans to get treats from, besides your own humans, are humans with dogs. You know those humans will have treats. It's super easy to smell where their treats are, too. If the treats are in their pocket, I poke my nose into their leg by the pocket with the treats, just to remind the human where the treats are. My human is really smart because he carries his treats in a WooferField Wag Hip Pack, so he doesn't have to dig in his pocket for treats. And don't worry about the other human's dog being upset about you getting treats from their human. The dog will know that their human will give them treats, too.

Sometimes humans say, "Only one." These are confused humans. Help them out by sitting, smiling, and waiting. Eventually they'll figure out that when it comes to treats, we don't do "Only one".   

If you have questions or stories for me to share, email me at HeyYukon@sfbags.com. As always, you can see the fun stuff my humans are working on at WaterField Designs. And remember to take care of your humans. They need you, and they're only human.