Why Use Food In Training?

Occasionally I encounter clients who are uneasy with the idea of using food for training their dog.  They somehow see it as cheating, or a bribe. Instead, they ask why it is not sufficient to use only praise and petting as rewards, and corrections when the dog gets it wrong?

Modern trainers no longer use punishment based training because it is out-of-date, unkind to the dog, and much less effective than reward based training. Traditional training is about making a dog do what you want, modern training is about motivating a dog to want to do what you want.

Dogs don’t do good or bad behaviours, right or wrong behaviours, they just do behaviours that work, meaning that their behaviour has resulted in some pleasant consequence; a positive reinforcer.  Therefore if we humans would like to teach our dogs what works, then it naturally follows that we should train using a positive reinforcer.

All animals (including humans) learn to repeat behaviours that have had pleasant consequences. Modern reward based training is about getting a dog to want to do what you want by providing an immediate positive reinforcer so the dog learns to do that behaviour again in the future.

The most practical and easy to use primary positive reinforcer is food, food is a primary reinforcer because it is something all animals are born needing to survive, they don’t need praise and petting to survive.  Therefore as a reward, food holds a much higher value as a positive reinforcer than does praise or petting.  Meaning food is a better motivator for learning, a better motivator for working, and a better motivator for your dog to pay attention to you!  Attention is everything, it is the prerequisite for all learning and training. Praise and petting alone cannot compete with environmental distractions for your dog’s attention!

During the early stages of learning food is simply the easiest positive reinforcer to use, but it’s important to note that you will not always need to use food.  Once your dog has learned a repertoire of behaviours to a certain level of reliability, then there are many other reinforcers you can use; play, attention, throw of a ball, toss of a frisbee, game of tug, as well as going for a walk, greeting other dogs,  sniffing a tree, leash going on, leash coming off, door being opened, and countless other life rewards. Life rewards are anything a dog likes doing: going for a walk, likes attaining: attention, or likes gaining access to: the sofa.

So do yourself and your dog a huge favour, throw away your dog’s food bowl now. Use the same amount of food he would be given for free everyday in his bowl and feed it piece by piece, contingent upon desired behaviour. This dispels with the notion of spoiling your dog with treats, instead your dog is doing as nature intended, working for his food. In addition he is learning that it pays to please you and give you attention.

Note: Eating has a calming effect on dogs, dogs that are anxious or reactive tend to calm down when food is used for training. Using harsh corrective methods will only increase the stress level of anxious or reactive dogs in training.