Is my dog obsessed with food because I have marker trained him? How can I teach him better food manners without quitting marker training?

Question

Hi,

    I've just finished reading the new page on marker training, wow, what a clear description! Thanks for all the great resources on the website and forum.

    I wanted to ask you a question, and hope you'll have the time to answer it.

    About 5 years ago, I adopted a 4 year old bull terrier. He had almost no training, and I had to start from scratch. I did marker training with him with food and a clicker, which he loved. A couple of years ago we moved into using toy rewards in training (using info on your forum!). That gave him a great recall & even allowed us to do a few obedience competitions. He's not perfect, but he's much better than he was, and far better behaved than most dogs I've met.

    Anyway, since then I've become engaged to a lovely man who has a background in dog training. My fiancee is very against using food rewards in training. He thinks that giving a dog food rewards will encourage it to become obsessed by food. He says a food trained dog will beg for food, and will steal and snatch food from peoples hands since it is used to taking food from the hand.

    In truth, my dog is very interested in food. He doesn't have bad manners - he doesn't steal food if I tell him to leave it alone, and he won't snatch food from peoples hands unless they offer it to him.

    But if there are people eating in the room he will stare at them, and won't leave them alone until I tell him to go away. And if anyone goes into the kitchen, my dog makes tracks to go see what they are doing in there! I never considered this interest in food to be a problem, but it really annoys my fiancee.

    Is my dog obsessed with food because I have marker trained him? How can I teach him better food manners without quitting marker training - or do you think I should stop marker training? My fiancee thinks it would be best just to feed him in his bowl at meal times, and not use food for training at all.

    I am hoping you could clear this up for us, since it's been a source of a few arguments at our house!

    Thanks heaps,
Rachel

Accepted Answer

Some dogs are food obsessed, marker trained or not. Personally, I think NOT training with food is a mistake. I want my dogs to make a positive association with the training process so I use things that hold high value to them (food, toys, praise, playing with me) If I don't use food I am missing out on a valuable training tool. I don't let dogs just snatch food or beg for food, as it's not part of the training process.

    I use markers and food for all the beginning positions like sit, down, stand, heel and front and this makes my dog more able to think clearly and get a concrete reward for a new skill. I use toys much later after the initial learning has been established for each exercise. My particular dogs are toy & food driven but it's never been anything I consider a negative.

    I think that people who think training with food makes the dog reliant on the food or obsessed with the food are probably using it as a lure or a bribe, instead of as a reward. There is a big difference! I don't dangle food out in front of my dog and then try to teach him something. The food is always hidden in a pocket or bait pouch and I don't get it out until the dog has correctly done the behavior and I have marked it with YES (or a click) Many old school trainers also think training with food means the dog isn't really "obeying". These are the people who say "I want the dog to work for ME, and not for the food" I find this way of thinking to be opposite of mine! :) These are usually (not always, but usually) people that use corrections or physical manipulation to teach their dogs. Marker trained dogs are problem solvers and love learning, dogs trained in other ways tend to have a 'wait and see" attitude because they are afraid of making a mistake. I'm not saying this is the case with your fiancé, but it’s a pretty common thing that I encounter every day.

    I will say that I don't let my dogs stare at or follow people around my house, whether they have food or not so this has never been an issue for me. My dogs know the rules and abide by them.

    My dogs have beds they lay on or they go to their crates if I am having lots of people over. They tend to be focused on me, not the food.

    Cindy