One of the most important pieces of Positive, Force-Free training is the REWARDS your dog earns! Before embarking upon the journey of training your dog, you need to first figure out what your dog finds rewarding – what makes them happy.
Many people believe that a dog should obey their owner because it pleases the owner, which makes the dog happy. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Would you work at your job just because it made someone happy? NO! You might enjoy making your boss happy, but if they decided to quit paying you, I’m sure you’d find a new job. When you are rewarding your dog, think of it as paying them for a job well done!
Food
Many dogs are most motivated by food rewards. As a trainer, I always start with food, then try other rewards. Food rewards don’t need to be anything fancy, but it should be something your dog thinks is tasty. Some dogs will do anything for a little bit of hot dog. Others turn back flips for bananas! Many dogs will even work for regular ol’ kibble. Of course, there will be some foods that your dog likes better than others. When testing out training treats, try to remember which ones your dog absolutely loves – you’ll need these treats for group classes or other distracting environments. You may find it helpful to keep a list of the treats your dog likes and try ranking them in the order of your dog’s preference! If you choose to use kibble, I would suggest using something different than what your dog eats every day for breakfast and dinner. Remember, we want to be feeding them tasty treats, not something they may find boring because they eat it day in and day out.
Once you have found out what treats your dog will work for, and which are his favorites, it’s time to prepare the treats for training. Training treats should be small so your dog can quickly eat them and move on to the next behavior. Your treats should be about the size of a pea for most dogs. Tear or break larger treats into small treats in advance to make training even easier! I also suggest keeping a stash of treats in snack size baggies on hand for training. If you already have your treats in small pieces and ready to go, you’re much more likely to spend time working with your dog than if you have to prepare treats each time. You can even keep treats stashed in every room of your house so they’re always on hand! I suggest the snack sized bags because it is easier to get treats from these bags than regular sandwich bags because there isn’t as much plastic in your way 😉 Sandwich bags will also help keep your pockets free of doggie treat crumbs!
Physical Touch
Almost all dogs enjoy a good scratch behind the ears or a nice back scratch. While most dogs are most motivated by treats, some are more motivated by being petted. In fact, one of my recent students much preferred touch over treats! Just like with the treats, you will need to do a little experimentation to find out what touch your dog finds most rewarding.
Most dogs do not like being patted, and many don’t feel comfortable when someone reaches over their heads. Try scratching your dog under their chin or on their chest, rubbing their back, or scratching their ears. As you are petting your dog, keep your eyes peeled for any signs that your dog is not comfortable. If your dog tries to move away, turns their head, licks their lips, or yawns, they are likely telling you that they do not enjoy what you are doing. If this is the case, you may want to use treats as your main reward and avoid touching your dog in the manner they did not enjoy.
Another thing to keep in mind while petting your dog is the manner in which you are doing so. Dogs will find slow strokes more relaxing, while fast strokes will likely excite them. You may also want to experiment with the amount of pressure you use. Pressing too hard may be uncomfortable for your pet.
Always keep in mind that not every dog finds touch rewarding. For some pets, especially shy or fearful dog, being touch can be very aversive to you dog; they may feel like it’s a punishment, not a reward!
Toys/Play
If your dog has a lot of energy or is very playful, you can even try using toys as a reward! If your dog knows how to fetch a ball, or how to play tug and release the toy on command, you should certainly experiment with using play as a reward. Breaking up a training session with a quick ball toss or short game of tug can help keep things light and keep your dog engaged. One thing to keep in mind is that using toys as rewards can increase the time it takes for you and your dog to move from one behavior to the next. Catching a ball and bringing it back takes significantly more time than eating a pea sized treat. I suggest using toys as a jackpot treat; when your dog does a REALLY good job, toss the ball or bring out the tug! Interspersing jackpots like this will increase your dog’s excitement over training and make it more likely that they will repeat the behavior you just rewarded!
Verbal Praise
Many people think that their dog finds a simple “Good dog!” rewarding. Unfortunately, that’s not really the case! While our dogs can recognize our different tones of voice, “Good dog!” (or any other phrase) does not have any meaning to your pup. You can teach your dog to find verbal praise rewarding, but studies show that verbal praise is not the most effective way to reward your dog. You can pair a verbal praise phrase with food rewards (just like how you charge your clicker or marker), but you will still want to follow verbal praise with another type of reward for it to remain rewarding. Verbal praise can be very handy to let your dog know they’re doing a good job in instances where you might not be able to give them a treat right away or when you’re working on a behavior that has several steps.
So, how do you pay YOUR dog? Knox really works best when I use tasty food treats. He does enjoy a nice ear scratch, but for him treats are tops! I have worked with him so that if I say “very good!” or “Good job!” he knows I like what he’s doing and that a good reward is on the way!