Should
You Use Them In Dog Training?
There’s
always been some controversy
over whether you should give
treats (i.e. dog biscuits or
MilkBones) when you are training
a dog. There are advantages
and disadvantages to giving
treats to a dog when you are
training him. This article will
hopefully clear up any confusion
you might have.
Now, some people
say, “Of course! Give
the dog treats so he’ll
obey you. After all, you won’t
get his attention if you don’t
give him anything he enjoys.”
On the other hand, some other
people will say, “No,
don’t give the dog treats!
He’ll be only obeying
you for the food.”
There is truth
to both the opinions stated
above. The dog does need some
incentive to obey you, right?
But also, what if they dog does
begin to work only for the food?
What then? If he’s not
hungry and doesn’t really
want the food, then he doesn’t
have any reason to obey you!
So should you
use dog treats? The answer is
YES, but in moderation . Don’t
give the dog a biscuit every
single time he obeys you; instead,
sometimes just praise him excessively
instead. Also, don’t make
the “prize” too
big or you’ll be overfeeding
him. For example, break a biscuit
in half or even cut it into
three pieces so you’re
not feeding your dog too much
when you train him.
Here’s
another idea for training young
puppies. Don’t feed them
biscuits at all – just
use adult dog food pellets.
The pellets are big enough to
be a treat for the young puppy’s
tiny mouth, but small enough
that it won’t overfeed
the puppy.
Another very
important point I’d like
to make is that you shouldn’t
train your dog to obey you only
for the food as a reward. Although
you might not consciously be
doing this, it’s easy
to slip into the habit of just
rewarding your dog with a treat
every single time he does anything
remotely good.
Instead, you
want your dog to think of you
as the “strong master,”
or the “alpha” over
him, so that he obeys you because
you’re the master and
because he wants to please you,
not just because you have a
treat. You can do this by praising
him a lot in a high voice when
he does something good and in
a deep, “you’re
in trouble” voice when
he does something bad. You want
him to distinguish between the
voices and figure out that a
high voice means “good”
and low means “bad”
and whenever you do the low
voice, you are not pleased with
him.
I hope this
article has helped you in training
your dog. I hope you have much
success in developing a well-behaved,
friendly dog!
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