Ready Treat Review & Training Guide

By Alisa Healy
November 26, 2020

Note: This is not a sponsored post and I have not received any compensation for this Ready Treat review. I bought this product with my own money and have enjoyed using it. I am simply sharing information for those considering making a purchase.

In this post, I will review the Ready Treat Remote Treat Dispenser. I’ll share how it can be used to upgrade your agility training, what features I appreciate, and how to train your dog to use the machine. Spoiler alert: I love it! And if you don’t already have a remote treat device, you may want to consider this one. Keep reading this Ready Treat review to be convinced!

What is the Ready Treat?

The Ready Treat is a small remote treat dispensing machine. With the click of a button on handheld remote, a cover on the machine retracts, and the food becomes available for your dog to eat. Then you can refill the compartment, shut the cover, and it’s ready for another repetition. Pretty simple. It makes a subtle sound when the cover is opened. To operate it, you turn the machine on with a push of a button. Use the remote to open it, then put in your treats and manually push the cover closed. The remote works up to 100 feet away indoors or outdoors. Both the machine and the remote require batteries. I purchased mine here from Clean Run.

How Can it Be Used in Training?

I’ve found so many ways to utilize this little machine! Here are some of my favorites:

Weave poles. We all want an independent performance on our dog’s weaves. It really helps to have a pre-placed reward so our dogs can drive ahead and aren’t watching us to toss their reward or feed them from our hand. The Ready Treat gets the reinforcement off of you, which helps the dog learn how to weave regardless of your position. Set the machine in front of the weave exit and then trigger it open once as they complete the poles.

Stopped Contacts. The Ready Treat provides a more realistic way to reward your dog during contact training. For stopped contacts, I often see handlers run past the obstacle and then go back to go give their dog a cookie for correctly performing the stopped contact. But, you’ll never see a handler make that U turn in a trial. In a competition, the handler will release their dog to the next obstacle, which is its own form of reinforcement. If you instead release your dog ahead to the Ready Treat once they’ve done their stopped contact, the reinforcement strategy is much more in line with what the dog will see at a trial. Whether you release the dog to the machine or the next obstacle, the handler continues moving ahead and that supports the picture they see in competition.

Running Contacts. It can be really challenging to be watching your dog closely to ensure they hit the contact and then throw a perfectly placed toy or treat. And also be moving down the line yourself. The Ready Treat allows you to have the reward ideally placed for every repetition. You can keep moving and simply press the button while you watch your dog.

Stays. Whether you are working on a start line stay or agility, an obedience stay, or just a stay for everyday life, the Ready Treat offers a really smart reinforcement strategy. I like to place the machine behind the dog. A common issues with stays is that our dogs self-release before we give the release cue, or they inch forward in anticipation. By placing the reward behind the dog, that urge to advance forward can be decreased. Suddenly blasting ahead in hopes of getting a treat from their handler becomes less reinforcing, as they understand their reward will now be coming from behind.

Distance. If you want to improve your dog’s distance skills, you have to get the reward off your body. The Ready Treat gives you a super easy way to do that. Whether you’re working on lateral distance or handling your dog from behind, a pre-placed reward will help you reinforce your dog without you needing to be there.

Handler vs. obstacle focus. If your dog tends to be a little too focused on you while running agility, finding ways to reward your dog that don’t involve your hands can really help increase their obstacle focus. Simply place the Ready Treat in the location where you will want to reinforce your dog during a sequence. With some practice, the dog learns that they don’t need to be constantly watching your hands for the possibility of a cookie.

Teaching delayed reinforcement skills. Dog sports often require delayed reinforcement. This means that our dog performs the behaviors we cue, but aren’t immediately rewarded. Instead the reward happens later, outside the ring or off the field. You can read all about why these skills are so important to train our dogs, and how to train them here and here. But the Ready Treat offers a great tool for introducing the concept to our dogs.

What I Love about the Ready Treat

It’s portable. This machine is about 4x5x2 inches and very lightweight. It’s much easier to pack in a training bag than a Treat n Train. And you can quickly move it around the training space as you work on different skills.

You can use any kind of food in it. While you do have to refill it for each repetition, you can put a wide variety of treats inside. This is really helpful when you want an especially high value reward. I’ve used pizza, steak, grilled cheese, meatball and feta cheese. The compartment is large enough to fit all kinds of goodies. Of course, regular kibble or dog treats work just fine too. This gives the Ready Treat an advantage over larger machines like the Treat n train or Pet Tutor, which need smaller, more uniform treats or else they may jam. I absolutely love how much variety the Ready Treat accommodates!

It’s user friendly. This is a very simple device, but I’ve found it to be incredibly reliable. I’ve had mine for several years now and it’s never jammed or not opened when I hit the remote. Because it’s so simple and dependable, I use it almost every day in my training sessions. I borrowed a friend’s Treat n Train, and while there are obvious advantages to that style of remote treat dispenser, I found myself not utilizing it as much as I had envisioned because it’s bulky and often jammed during training.

It won’t break the bank. If you’ve been wanting a remote treat dispenser to upgrade your training, but are hesitant to drop so much money on a Treat n Train or Pet Tutor, the Ready Treat can be a great option. It costs $49.99 and I’ve seen it on sale from time to time for less.

How to Train Your Dog to Use the Ready Treat

You may be tempted to start using the machine in your training right away. But I recommend taking some time to help your dog learn how it works and how to work in its presence. Without some training, your dog may feel conflict about moving away from the Ready Treat or confused as to when they can go collect their treat. And we never want conflict or confusion in our training. Spending a few short sessions before you integrate it into your actual training will make sure your dog has total clarity about the device.

This may seem like a lot of steps, but it goes quickly and they flow easily from one to the next. Some days may only need one or two sessions before they fully understand how it works.

Introduce the machine. Begin by opening the cover and placing a treat in the compartment. Let your dog eat the treat out of the machine. The goal is for them to understand that this is a thing they can eat out of. Once they’re reliably eating the treat, you can close the cover. Then use the remote to open the machine and let your dog eat the treat. They don’t need to do anything to earn the food at this point. You simply want them to be okay with the sound and motion of the machine, and understand how it works. I recommend avoiding opening the machine when the dog is sniffing up close to it, in case they are startled by it. It’s best to start when the dog is in the vicinity and can see and hear it without being surprised.

Ignore the machine. Now that your dog knows how the device works and has some positive feelings about it, it’s time for them the learn to ignore the Ready Treat. We want the dog focused on the task at hand, and not preoccupied with the machine. Load up the device and then let your dog investigate it. Wait for them to look back at you, then mark and reward with a treat from your pocket or pouch. If they can’t seem to look back at you, mark if they even look at something else, then work up to the dog looking at you. Don’t prompt the dog to look at you. No kissy sounds, or saying their name, or even sighing loudly. Let them choose to look at you.

Add in some motion. Once you’ve got focus on you, get moving. Take a few steps and see if your dog moves towards you, then mark and reinforce with a treat from your pouch. Walking backwards can help with this at first. When your dog is moving a couple steps at a time at your side, walk a circle around the Ready Treat. Start with them on the outside of the circle, then switch to the dog on the inside of the circle. Try walking past the machine. Keep some distance at first, and again, start with the dog on the outside to make it a bit easier for them. As they show success, you can work up to waltzing right past it, with the dog between you and the machine.

In this video, my 4 month old Whippet works on walking on the inside of a circle around the Ready Treat.

Cue known behaviors. Now it’s time to see how well your dog can think in the presence of the cool treat dispenser. Some dogs may be putting so much energy into not looking at the Ready Treat, that they aren’t able to respond to other cues very well. This will give you information about your dog’s mental state. Ask for an easy, well-known behavior and observe how quickly and accurately your dog responds. If they can’t do it, or do it more slowly or sloppily than usual, stay at the walking around stage for a while longer. If they respond like it was no big deal, try out a couple more cues to see if they can reliably respond with the machine nearby.

Reward from the Ready Treat. You finally get to use the machine to reinforce your dog! Before you do, decide if you want to use a verbal marker to indicate that the food from the Ready Treat will be made available. Or if sound of the machine opening will be the cue that indicates they can collect their reinforcement. I actually use both. If I’m training in a smaller, quiet space, the sound of machine is sufficient. But I also like to have a verbal marker, for times I’m working in a noisier space or when the machine may be at more of a distance. Cue a simple behavior, mark (if you’re using a verbal), then trigger the cover open and let the dog get the food. Ping pong between rewarding your dog from your hand, and rewarding from the machine. If the dog becomes fixated on the machine after eating from it, you may have to go back a couple steps.

In this video, my Whippet puppy is introduced to being rewarded for behaviors from the Ready Treat. My verbal cue is “cash.”

Up the challenge. When the dog shows consistent success with easy cues, try some cues that are a bit harder. This could be a more complex trick, or a short behavior chain. For my young dog, doing a stay would pose more challenge. For my adult dog, her backup trick takes a lot of brain power. Again, alternate between rewarding from the machine and from your pouch.

Switch up the training location. Before I fully deploy the Ready Treat in my sport training, I like to test it out in a couple new locations. My training room is in my basement, so I took it upstairs, out to my deck and to the agility ring I routinely rent.

Integrate the Ready Treat into your training. At this point, you can utilize the machine to help you achieve your sports training goals. I typically like to show the dog where I’m placing the machine. Because of all the prior training steps you worked through, the dog should be able to easily move away from the machine and work in its presence. This is where using the Ready Treat can get really fun!

Refilling the Machine

The Ready Treat requires a refill after each repetition. I like for that process to be smooth and seamless during the training session. I don’t really like to leave my dog hanging while I add more treats. I find that can add confusion because they aren’t sure if that food is for them, or if they should be doing something else.

Here is an easy solution. Once the dog has eaten the food from the machine, simply toss a treat away from the reward zone. While your dog is away, reload the Ready Treat. Alternatively, you can toss a scatter of treats off to the side and while they snuffle those up, get the machine reset. This works a lot better than trying to reload while your dog’s nose is right there, or while they wonder what they should be doing.

What To Do If Your Dog Picks up the Ready Treat

Sometimes a dog doesn’t even need the treat inside the machine to find the device reinforcing. They may enjoy picking it up and carrying it around. Or knocking it around with their paws like a ball. This can be problematic because if their little game is reinforcing, you can’t use the Ready Treat in the way you intended. To get around this, you can tape the machine to something like a heavy cutting board or piece of wood. My whippet loved to carry the machine around, but as soon as it was taped down on a thick plastic cutting board, he could no longer prance around with it. Once you’ve made it stationary again, you can proceed with the training steps. Once he learned what the device is actually for, I was able to remove it from the cutting board without issue.

What to Do if Your Dog is Scared of the Machine

If you’ve got a dog that is afraid of novelty, or sensitive to the sound or motion of the machine, you may need to take some extra time to help them feel comfortable with it.

If it’s the noise that has them worried, you can start by having someone else trigger the device at a distance and you feed after every repetition. Simple counter conditioning. Or if you don’t have a helper, you can put the machine behind you, or under a towel to help lessen the intensity. Then work up to having the machine closer and closer as you open it. The same process will work if your dog is concerned by the motion.

You can also take more time allowing your dog to eat out of the open machine. This will help build up a positive association with the Ready Treat.

Happy Training

I’ve really enjoyed incorporating the Ready Treat into my agility and life skill training. The positive results I’ve observed make this a must-have tool for me. My dog’s weaves have become independent to a level I never imagined possible for us. And speedier too. Her rear crosses have significantly improved after using the Ready Treat as a target to drive ahead to. Our lateral distance and sends have really benefitted as well. With my young pup, the Ready Treat allows me to focus on our connection and giving him information, instead of fumbling around trying to toss a reward in a timely, accurate way. It helps us train in clear, clean loops. I love how he’s already learning that reinforcement doesn’t always come from my hands. It’s a small, but mighty machine.

I hope you’ve found this Ready Treat review helpful! If you already have one, tell me in the comments how you use it in your training. If you’re considering adding a remote treat dispenser to your toolbox, let me know if you have any other questions.