When to Train Your Dog Using Kibble As a Food Reward

Leerburg Dog Training Podcast

It may seem counterintuitive to say that we don't want to use our dog's highest-value food reward all the time. 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 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 high-value rewards like steak again. At that point, the dog understands that the road to steak is to stay focused and offer the behavior we ask for. | Links mentioned: Training Dogs with Food Rewards - Version 2024 https://university.leerburg.com/Catalog/viewCourse/cid/206