Dog Training Rewards Don’t Always Have to Be Food

Rewards are a vital part of dog training; they’re basically your dog’s paycheck for a job well done. Dogs must be rewarded whenever they choose to perform a desired behavior. Giving your dog a reward tells your dog he’s on the right track and to keep doing the rewarded behavior.

Dogs must choose their own rewards. Since each dog is different, he will find certain foods, toys and games more rewarding than others. Finding a dog’s ultimate reward isn’t always easy, but once discovered it makes learning new dog behaviors quick and fun. Finding a dog’s ultimate reward is so important that I ask pet owners this question during our first dog training session. So here it goes: what does your dog love more than anything?

Dog Training Rewards

Food Rewards

All dogs love food—even picky ones. It’s our job to experiment and find food rewards that will cause our dogs to drool, dance, offer a sit behavior or climb countertops to get to their favorite food rewards.

Dogs like fresh food. The more moisture a dog training treat contains, the better. High percentages of moisture make the treat smell stronger, and you can never go wrong with meat foods. When looking for your dog’s ultimate reward, don’t limit yourself to certain types of food. Try a variety of moist foods, such as:

Baked chicken (if you’re in a hurry, try store-bought rotisserie chicken)
Canned sausages (Vienna sausages)
Roast beef lunch meat
Cheese chunks
Tuna fish (tuna fish pouches work best)
Hot dogs

Toy Rewards

Many years ago, I remember watching a dog working for food treats during a dog training session, but he was missing that “Oh my gosh, I got it right!” excitement. Hmm, I asked the pet owner what his dog loved most in the world and he said, “Catching a tennis ball.”

I asked him to bring a tennis ball to class next week and keep it in his bait bag. The following week, whenever his dog chose to sit, down, heel, leave it or whatever, he would take out the tennis ball and play a game of “toss and catch the tennis ball” for a few seconds. Wow! A tennis ball was this dog’s ultimate reward and, from that moment on, this darling dog learned quickly.

If your dog enjoys toys more so than food rewards, try using a toy as a reward. Some dogs love to chase a ball, bite a squeaky toy or pull on a tug toy, so experiment with different toys and games. When my Rottweiler was introduced to an underwater treadmill for physical rehabilitation after having his ACL repaired, he worked for food, but still disliked the treadmill.

One day, our physical therapist brought out a yellow tennis ball and Sobek smiled with glee. He totally enjoyed mouthing and holding a tennis ball in his mouth while walking in a tank filled with water. I was left scratching my head, but it didn’t matter. We finally found Sobek’s ultimate reward for this situation. Oh, and it helped tremendously that tennis balls float in water. 🙂

A Bit About Praise

Back in the dark ages (or the ’80s), dogs were only rewarded with praise. It was thought that food was bribery back then. Now that we know better, food rewards are an important part of a dog’s learning process. Eventually, praise fizzled out as a reward.

Honestly, I cringe when someone still says his dog only works for praise. I don’t completely buy it. I’ve worked with dog training clients who swear their dogs work for praise as a reward and it seemed effective in the beginning, but fizzled out when making the decision to perform the desired behavior became harder. If you believe your dog works for only praise, you should try other dog training rewards. You might be shocked at your dog’s decision.

Praise is good as a reward, but it shouldn’t be the only reward. Think of praise as the icing on a cake—it works best when paired with food or toy rewards. We all love praise. It’s nice being verbally recognized by your boss, but you still need your paycheck, right? It’s the same for your dog.

Use praise as a maximizer for food or toy rewards, and use praise during breakthrough or difficult decision-making moments. Oh, and praise shouldn’t be limited to pats and “atta boy.” You need to have a party! Clap, jump, sing, make smoochie sounds, say “puppy, puppy, puppy,” pat your dog quickly and smile! Dogs love high-pitched, rapidly repeating sounds. Make praise count.

Ultimate Rewards Can Change

This is totally true! Your dog may love spoonfuls of peanut butter, but suddenly a floating tennis ball becomes an object of desire during a certain moment. It happens. Don’t assume you’ve chosen the wrong dog training reward. Embrace your dog’s newfound love and use it as a reward.

Reward your dog often, and reward yourself too!

Healthy Dog Treat Recipes

Let’s think outside of the conventional treat bag, as I’m always searching for the best treats out there. First, understand I’m not a good cook. Actually, I’m terrible. But I still want to provide healthy dog treats that dogs love! If dogs don’t love them, then they will not work for them. It’s that simple. Will you work for a piece of string bean? I won’t.

Hence, my quest for finding the perfect healthy dog treats that require no cooking begins!

Dried Fruits for Dogs

Dogs love dried fruit, but not all dried fruits are the same. 🙂 As a dog trainer, I was pretty shocked at the results of using dried fruit as treats. Think of dog treats as your dog’s currency. The better you pay, the faster your dog will learn. Would I classify dried fruit as a high value reward around major distractions (during a group class)? Probably not, but they will improve behaviors around your home, such as your dog’s recall (coming when called from the backyard), which is pretty darn important to me. 🙂

Dried fruit winners, listed in order of doggie deliciousness, are:

Banana Chips
Pineapple
Apricots (Yes, I was pretty shocked too!)

Why Dried Fruit?

As with teaching or improving any behavior, rewards are pretty important. If you don’t believe me, try teaching your dog to sit using a piece of kibble or chunk of tuna fish! I tried all types of fruit, even a few veggies, such as dried green beans and sweet potato, but my dogs did not respond as fast as I would have liked. Yes, they came when called, responded to cues, but not quickly or enthusiastically until they tasted dried bananas, pineapple and apricots. They were hooked!

If you’re sprinkling additives to your dog’s daily meals, take a peek at the ingredients. Supplements add additional vitamins to your dog’s diet, right? Well, daily dried fruits will do this for you too! Let’s take a deeper look into the dried fruit winners.

Banana Chips

Banana chips are a great example of a low glycemic fruit that provides a unique mix of vitamins and minerals. Bananas are rich in vitamin B6, vitamin C, potassium, manganese, biotin, copper and much needed fiber. Plus, bananas provide plenty of fructooligosaccharides (FOS), which feed friendly bacteria in your dog’s gut.

Pineapple

Pineapple is loaded with vitamin C, vitamin B1, vitamin B6, folate, manganese, copper and lots of fiber. This is a sensitive topic, but does your dog eat poop? Well, pineapple can help! Bromelain, found abundantly in pineapple, produces a bitter taste to stools. This prevents your dog from eating, well, you know. 🙂

Apricots

Even while dried, apricots maintain their chewiness, which dogs love! Apricots are packed with vitamin C, vitamin A, carotenoids (protects eyesight when aging) and polyphenolic antioxidants like flavonoids, which prevent heart disease and many other illnesses. If you’re still not convinced, apricots contain large amounts of catechins (also found in green tea) and reduce inflammation in the body.

But Dried?

Fresh fruit is best, as a small percent of vitamins are lost during the dehydration process. You still can’t beat the convenience of dried fruit though. Plus, supplements contain dried fruit too so you’re still providing much needed vitamins while rewarding good behavior!

Experiment. Which dried fruits (excluding raisins) drive your dogs crazy?

The Ultimate Dog Training Reward For Your Dog

Dog Training Rewards Don’t Always Have to Be Food