Yellow Brick Dogs

When teaching your dog anything, it is important to reward your dog for good responses. Think of it like a paycheck. You ask your dog to perform a task, such as "Sit" and then you pay him for it. Some dogs are "food hounds" and are incredibly motivated by anything edible. Some are more interested in play as a reward. Most of our dogs are a combination, which is great for training!

Is a reward always a food treat? Not always. Food is a convenient and often very motivating reward for good behavior. The important thing to remember when selecting a reward (or consequence) is how important your dog finds the reward. Some dogs will work for something as simple as a dry biscuit or kibble. Others are only motivated by really smelly treats like roasted chicken or home-made jerky. There are also dogs who do not find food treats very rewarding. They would much rather have a game of fetch or tug instead.

You may find that your dog will be very food motivated in certain situations, and in others he will prefer a toy reward. Your surroundings have a big impact on how you reward. As you increase the difficulty of your training, you should also up the reward. In the kitchen, you could reward your dog with dry cookies. You move out into the yard, and to compete with the distractions, you could move up to steak.

As you progress in your training, you will be able to use environmental rewards. Anything that your dog finds fun or pleasant can be used as a reward. For example: You take your dog for a nice walk and whenever he makes a good decision, such as passing by a tree (with pee-mail on it!) without yanking you toward it, you could click and take him over to the tree to have a good sniff.

Examples of food rewards (in no particular order):
Dried sardines, Freeze-dried liver, Charlee Bear treats, Freeze-dried salmon, Zukes, Milkbones, Roasted chicken, Kong tots, Buddy biscuits Freeze-dried shrimp, Dried beef lung, Cheerios, Tiny bits of raw hot dog, Yummy Chummies, Kibble, Jerky, Train-me! Treats, Deli meat, Old-west lamb treats, Steak, Food roll, cheese, homemade liver treats, Peanut butter

Examples of play rewards:
Tug games (no--tug is not forbidden! However, out of control tugging and keep away are inappropriate), Wrestling, Squeaker toys, Frisbee toss, Tennis balls, Busy buddy toys, Stuffed Kong, Stuffed toys, Tricks (spin, jump), playing with the water hose

Examples of environmental rewards:
Car rides, Access to crate, Swimming, Access to furniture, Access to playmates, Off-leash running, Access to outside, Sniffing, Cuddling, Use of certain doors, Massages, Dinner, Verbal praise, Scratching itchy spots, Exiting crate, Leash walks, Chasing squirrels, Rolling in grass

Remember: every dog is different. Not all dogs like hot dogs and peanut butter (I know dogs who HATE both!). My Gussy loves dry crunchy treats and "fishy" things. But, her favorite thing in the whole wide world is sniffing and searching for stuff--so I use that a lot! The trick to working in harmony with our dogs is to find out what they go crazy for, and then using that to our advantage.