Dog Training Treats, Which Are Best?
As you begin teaching, you must understand how to use an incentive system and which are the best dog training treats. We’ll look at 4 different alternatives and how to best use them.
The three categories include:
• your dogs regular foods, like kibble or canned pet food
• foods you eat & homemade treats
• store bought goodies
Behavior development goodies are not used just to show affection, but especially to show approval; to reward good behavior. This is an important tool for any trainer. Before we embark on the journey of which rewards are best, we have to understand them and their purpose.
Rewards are to be used for bargaining value. Just as with money bonuses, you get a lower reward for a lesser valuable action, and greater reward for optimal behavior. For example, a teenager will expect more money for cutting the grass than he would expect for loading the dishwasher. Pets are the same. A lesser action, like “fetch” will receive less treat benefit than a harder action like “wait” will earn.
Also, treats are consumed differently and that should be taken into consideration. If taking your furry friend for a walk in the park and he comes when ordered, a crunchier treat that will take a few minutes to eat is fine. But while in the throes of an active training session, you want a treat that is gone almost as soon as it hit his mouth. This keeps the momentum of the session going.
Finally, some goodies can be too good! If your dog responds to a tasty surprise with so much excitement that he loses focus and his focus becomes the goodie instead of the good behavior development, it is not the correct stimulus to use for teaching obedience.
Types
Treats are rarely calorie free. More pets than ever before have obesity issues. Our lifestyles affect them, and they do not always get enough exercise. But that is not the only issue. People buy based on what they think their canine will like. We rely on what the manufacturers tell us they would like. Many packaged products are high calorie, high fat, and too large. Because of this, your animal’s tasty reward should contain no more than 10% of their caloric intake.
Pets love all kinds of tastes. When considering what yours will respond to, try their regular dog food first. If your dog likes his regular food enough to entice him to perform, you’re good to go, and by throwing in an unexpected treat every occasionally, you’ll keep their interest high. A great trick to make dry food more interesting is to mix in some small pieces of bacon for a few hours to allow the dry food to soak up some of the smell and flavor. For canned food, put some in a small jar and reward “Fido” with a lick once in a while.
Next, try all natural people food. Small bites of veggies and fruits are great. Professional trainers do not even worry about their caloric value, which is so low. You may want to stay away from too much dairy though. Most owners have great success using:
• baby foods served right from the jar, or canned meats and soups; one lick per trick. If the food comes in a small jar, you can then refill the jar with ground meat in sauce, yogurt or cream cheese, peanut butter, soups, gravy and veggies. This works great for rewarding your dog in public places you take your furry friend but he must be on his best behavior.
• minced or chopped meat: Dry it first, in the oven or microwave. Various kinds of meat work well but limit high fat content meats like sausage.
• shredded cheese: Most dogs will eat any type of cheese, but Mozzarella works best because it’s not gooey or crumbly.
• chopped fruits and veggies: Most fruits can be eaten raw and most dogs love things like apple and pear slices, seedless melon chunks, blueberries, apricots, bananas and berries. Lightly cook to soften carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, squash and pumpkin (but always remove the seeds), asparagus, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. Although dogs may not digest all of these too well but they still provide excellent nutritional value and are ideal for dogs on a diet.
• cooked eggs
Store bought treats are plentiful and the only advice here is to monitor the ingredients very carefully. Watch calories and especially look for complicated chemicals and additives. The general rule here is, if you can say it, or spell it from memory, you probably don’t want to give it to your beloved companion.
Remember it is about the behavior development, not the food. If he doesn’t respond to your reward well, withhold his food for a day then try again. A hungry canine responds better. Never go more than 24 hours withholding food and never withhold water.
Once you have discovered which all natural incentives work best and what the appropriate reward amount is for the activity you are working on, use it sparingly. Do not reward “almost” right. Almost right is wrong.
Your pet companion is very smart. Do not feed them right after training. They will soon figure out that food is coming soon and will stop responding as well. Make sure you wait at least two hours after a teaching session to feed your dog.
The three categories include:
• your dogs regular foods, like kibble or canned pet food
• foods you eat & homemade treats
• store bought goodies
Behavior development goodies are not used just to show affection, but especially to show approval; to reward good behavior. This is an important tool for any trainer. Before we embark on the journey of which rewards are best, we have to understand them and their purpose.
Rewards are to be used for bargaining value. Just as with money bonuses, you get a lower reward for a lesser valuable action, and greater reward for optimal behavior. For example, a teenager will expect more money for cutting the grass than he would expect for loading the dishwasher. Pets are the same. A lesser action, like “fetch” will receive less treat benefit than a harder action like “wait” will earn.
Also, treats are consumed differently and that should be taken into consideration. If taking your furry friend for a walk in the park and he comes when ordered, a crunchier treat that will take a few minutes to eat is fine. But while in the throes of an active training session, you want a treat that is gone almost as soon as it hit his mouth. This keeps the momentum of the session going.
Finally, some goodies can be too good! If your dog responds to a tasty surprise with so much excitement that he loses focus and his focus becomes the goodie instead of the good behavior development, it is not the correct stimulus to use for teaching obedience.
Types
Treats are rarely calorie free. More pets than ever before have obesity issues. Our lifestyles affect them, and they do not always get enough exercise. But that is not the only issue. People buy based on what they think their canine will like. We rely on what the manufacturers tell us they would like. Many packaged products are high calorie, high fat, and too large. Because of this, your animal’s tasty reward should contain no more than 10% of their caloric intake.
Pets love all kinds of tastes. When considering what yours will respond to, try their regular dog food first. If your dog likes his regular food enough to entice him to perform, you’re good to go, and by throwing in an unexpected treat every occasionally, you’ll keep their interest high. A great trick to make dry food more interesting is to mix in some small pieces of bacon for a few hours to allow the dry food to soak up some of the smell and flavor. For canned food, put some in a small jar and reward “Fido” with a lick once in a while.
Next, try all natural people food. Small bites of veggies and fruits are great. Professional trainers do not even worry about their caloric value, which is so low. You may want to stay away from too much dairy though. Most owners have great success using:
• baby foods served right from the jar, or canned meats and soups; one lick per trick. If the food comes in a small jar, you can then refill the jar with ground meat in sauce, yogurt or cream cheese, peanut butter, soups, gravy and veggies. This works great for rewarding your dog in public places you take your furry friend but he must be on his best behavior.
• minced or chopped meat: Dry it first, in the oven or microwave. Various kinds of meat work well but limit high fat content meats like sausage.
• shredded cheese: Most dogs will eat any type of cheese, but Mozzarella works best because it’s not gooey or crumbly.
• chopped fruits and veggies: Most fruits can be eaten raw and most dogs love things like apple and pear slices, seedless melon chunks, blueberries, apricots, bananas and berries. Lightly cook to soften carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, squash and pumpkin (but always remove the seeds), asparagus, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. Although dogs may not digest all of these too well but they still provide excellent nutritional value and are ideal for dogs on a diet.
• cooked eggs
Store bought treats are plentiful and the only advice here is to monitor the ingredients very carefully. Watch calories and especially look for complicated chemicals and additives. The general rule here is, if you can say it, or spell it from memory, you probably don’t want to give it to your beloved companion.
Remember it is about the behavior development, not the food. If he doesn’t respond to your reward well, withhold his food for a day then try again. A hungry canine responds better. Never go more than 24 hours withholding food and never withhold water.
Once you have discovered which all natural incentives work best and what the appropriate reward amount is for the activity you are working on, use it sparingly. Do not reward “almost” right. Almost right is wrong.
Your pet companion is very smart. Do not feed them right after training. They will soon figure out that food is coming soon and will stop responding as well. Make sure you wait at least two hours after a teaching session to feed your dog.