Just Say Yum! Using Treats in Training

If your dog is food motivated, you can use food to train behaviors that you want repeated. photo: AdobeStock

Food is what’s called a primary reinforcer: a dog needs it to survive. That means he’ll work to get it. Toys and balls are not primary reinforcers, though they can be powerful motivators when used well. Corrections or punishments have limited value for teaching new behaviors, though they can sometimes reduce unwanted ones. But, in general, the majority of dogs work most eagerly for food.

When to Use Treats—and When You Don’t Have To

Here’s when you use food treats:

• To train behaviors you want repeated.

• To teach alternatives to unwanted behavior (e.g., sitting instead of jumping).

• When training “against the grain” of instinct, such as calling a dog away from a squirrel.

Here’s when you don’t: 

• To eliminate unwanted behaviors. However, food can help train the alternative you do want.

• When the environment is more reinforcing than food, such as waiting to go out. In that case, going through the door is the best reward.

• If the dog knows better and chooses to misbehave, though that’s rare - much more rare - than most people think. In that case, a verbal correction is better.

Learning Theory and Dog Behavior

Dog training has two stages: acquisition and maintenance. During acquisition, the dog is learning what you want. If you use food or other inducements, he’ll learn faster and more happily. Relying on corrections may get results but can cause behavioral fallout. The dog may become cautious or anxious around you or redirect frustration toward someone else. Positive reinforcement using food treats allows learning with less stress and better results.

In the acquisition stage, it’s best to reinforce every correct behavior with a treat. The dog must be sure what earns the reward. Dogs guess a lot. They’re sometimes right, sometimes wrong. They may look like they understand, but that’s usually because they want to understand, not that they do.  

Switch to Hidden Treats ASAP

Just because you use a treat every time doesn’t mean your dog should always see it. That’s where many people go wrong. If you always show the treat first, the dog learns that a picture predicts the behavior: Trish standing, treat in hand, saying “Sit” predicts that they’ll get the reward. No visible treat for them means no sit. 

That’s why it’s important to switch from the obvious treat to the hidden one as soon as you can, ideally within the first 15 to 20 repetitions, if possible. But we humans are impatient. Dog sits, gets treat. Dog sits again, gets treat. Trish hides treat, dog doesn’t sit, Trish gets frustrated, brings out treat—dog sits. Success? Not really. Now the dog only sits when he sees the treat.

So hide that treat as quickly as you can during the acquisition stage of training. 

Moving Ahead with Maintenance

Let’s say you’ve succeeded in the acquisition stage and your dog now knows “Sit” and probably some other cues. You’ve used a marker word (“Yes!” or “Good!”) and kept the treat hidden. But now the training has become repetitive: sit/treat, sit/treat. Time to move on. 

Here’s how: 

1. Reinforce what you want. Ask for more than one repetition before rewarding. Sit—marker word—sit again—reward. Two sits for one treat! You’re introducing variable reinforcement, asking for more effort or better quality, like faster or straighter sits, before rewarding. That’s what maintenance is all about.

2. Add in other behaviors. Combine your dog’s known cues: sit, down (treat), sit, down (treat). Then try mixing them up: sit, down, come, wait, roll over (treat). The variety keeps your dog engaged and thinking.

Why don’t many people get this far in their training? Guilt. The dog sits, looks expectant, and we feel bad not giving a treat. Don’t! Ask for another behavior, then treat. Your dog will be fine - and better trained.

Rewards, Punishment, and Realistic Expectations

Can you ever stop giving treats? Sure, but your dog still needs positive reinforcement - play, praise, or access to something he wants. Personally, I always keep treats handy. You never know when you’ll catch your dog doing something right! That’s how you maintain all the good work you’ve both put in during the acquisition stage. 

Punishment? Use it sparingly, if at all. It’s usually better to ask why the dog is misbehaving, prevent it from happening again, and train what you do want instead. Never correct just because you’re frustrated or embarrassed.

And if you’re unsure whether you’re asking too much of your pup, ask yourself these questions:

• Can my dog physically do this?

• Is he 90% reliable with this cue?

• Have I practiced in this environment before?

Perfection? It doesn’t exist. 100% recall? 100% sits? Not possible. Even the people who brag about it are kidding themselves. If you want perfect obedience, get a pet rock.

Bottom line: your dog won’t be perfect unless you are. And we all know how likely that is to happen.