When Not To Use A High Value Food Reward

Training Dogs with Food Rewards - Version 2024

It may seem counterintuitive to say that we don't want to use our dogs highest value food reward, but with some dogs there may be times in teaching a behavior where that's exactly what we need to do. The same thing may happen with dogs that are transitioned to toy rewards.

Let's say we have an extremely high high food drive dog that gets so amped up when it knows you have steak that it's brain stops working and the steak becomes more of a distraction. So much so that we need to add pressure to calm the dog down so we can help it learn.

If that ever becomes the case with your dog, then change your food rewards to a lesser value food reward, maybe kibble. Once the dog knows the behavior and once it has gone through impulse control training, you will be able to go back and use steak again. At that point, the dog understands that the road to steak is to stay focused and offer the behavior we ask for.