Logical Reasoning

PT148 · S3 · Q1 Treat training consists of rewarding

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Treat training consists of rewarding dogs with edible treats whenever they respond appropriately to commands.

Conclusion

You should use praise and verbal correction to train your dog instead of treats.

Evidence (since)

Treat-trained dogs will not obey commands unless they are shown a treat, and you cannot always have treats on hand.

Evaluate

Ultimately, the argument is suggesting one method over another. That could put us into Weighing Tradeoffs territory, where the correct answer shows that the advantage of one theory outweighs the advantage of another.

We heard that the advantage of the Treat method is that dogs do quickly learn to do the thing they get a treat for.

The advantage of the Praise / Verbal method is that you can always supply Praise / verbal correction, whereas you might sometimes be lacking a treat.

Goal

Let's look for a conditional answer like, .

Or look for a comparative answer like,

1.

Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the reasoning above?

  1. The more quickly a dog

    Out of Scope

    This rule would help you conclude how likely it is that someone will use a training method. But the conclusion is about which method you should choose. This principle is powerless to help us with that kind of conclusion. Also, if anything, this answer seems to lean towards the Treat method, since we were told that dogs can learn via that stimulus very quickly.

    1% picked this

  2. The more often a dog

    Opposite

    If frequent exposure to a stimulus makes a dog obey even without that stimulus present, then using treats often would still produce obedience when no treat is shown. That undermines the author's premise that treat-trained dogs will not obey without seeing a treat, and so it undermines the case for switching to praise.

    2% picked this

  3. A dog should be trained

    Too Weak

    This principle endorses any method that produces a high obedience rate in at least some circumstances. Treat training produces a high obedience rate when treats are present, so that easily qualifies as "some circumstances." Perhaps the Praise/Verbal method also has a high obedience rate in some circumstances, but then at best this answer would endorse both the Treat method and the Praise method. This doesn't give us any reason to pick the Praise method rather than the Treat method.

    1% picked this

  4. Correct

    A dog should be trained

    Why this is right

    This is saying, "if the owner can't supply the stimulus in all situations, then a dog shouldn't be trained with that stimulus." A treat can't be supplied in all situations ("Since you can't always have treats on hand"), so this principle tells us that we shouldn't use the Treat as a stimulus. By contrast, can praise / verbal correction be supplied in all situations? We can probably think of some exotic counterexamples (you're in church; you're been gagged by your kidnapper; you're in the movie A Quiet Place), but yes common sense tells you that you can always say "good boy!" or "No!" to your dog. So the author's suggested method sounds eligible as a proper training method, while the Treat method has been disqualified.

    Skill tested: Principle-Strengthen · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    96% picked this

  5. A dog should not be

    Out of Scope

    This rule is saying, "If the method hasn't proven effective for any other dogs, then you shouldn't use that method." Can we say that the Treat method hasn't proven effective for any other dogs? No, we were explicitly told "this appears to be an effective training method".

    0% picked this

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