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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