Using Food or Toys with Reactive Dogs with Tyler Muto

This video is taken from our online course, Leash Reactivity with Tyler Muto.

It is important to remember that the primary reinforcer we are going to be working with is space. However, it can at times be beneficial to utilize food as an additional reward.

If you're going to use food, I recommend only giving the food reward after you have moved a safe distance away and are outside of the threshold zone.

Although toys can be powerful motivators, and very effective tools when training obedience, I strongly advise against using toys as a reward when we are working with reactive behavior. This does not mean that you cannot use toys as a reward when you are only working on obedience, away from any triggers. I am only advising that you do not use toys as a reward in the presence of whatever your dog's trigger is.