Which Food Rewards To Use?

[BrigadoonRose]

As I'm discovering with all things doggy, there's lots of differing opinions about what sort of food rewards to use.

I've read that some people provide most of the dog's daily food as hand fed rewards during the day (I assume this means kibble). Then, there's others that say only super tasty treats, like hotdogs, should be used for training.

So, what do you tend to use for training rewards (food-wise) and why?

[Kavik]

I use both dry food (the dog's dinner) and treats (I mainly use cheese but sometimes other things). It depends on what I am training and where. For house manners etc I use dry food, for training specific exercises where I want the dog to be really keen I use treats, and when I am training in a distracting environment (eg training, at a trial, at the park) I use treats.

[BCNut]

Similar to Kavik, at home I use the dry biscuits that would otherwise be the dog's dinner, as the distractions become greater i'll switch to a 'lucky dip' of cheese/fritz/kabana. The higher value stuff is useful too if you want to increase the challenge of a task i.e. 'its yer choice'.

Also kept a bag of freeze dried liver treats in the tree near the toilet spot for toilet training which is handy because they're always there, never go off and they're a bit more exciting than biscuits.

[luvsdogs]

My obedience club uses chunkers. They are like little meat balls & are easily divided into even smaller pieces. You can use chopped up devon, chicken roll, cheese if you don't mind spending the time chopping them up. I sometimes use Nature's Own cat treats which I divide into 1/2. You can dry your own meats thinly sliced such as liver, chicken or beef by placing in a slow oven or even freeze dry. Bit fiddly but if you have the time, good if you don't want your dog to have junk food & you know what's in it.

[Staffyluv]

I only use cheese and homebrand devon for training - they love it and never get it at any other time (other than training). Diced up into small pieces.

The night before training they get half dinner and the morning of training, the foster girl gets about half her breaky and my boy only gets about 1/3 cup kibble..

He gets less as he is learning to train without treats and just on hand command now.

The foster girl gets loads of training treats as she is just starting in obedience.

I take into account how much they get and adjust dinner the night of training accordingly - because I have already accounted for the extra food in the dinner and breaky before training..

[Chequeredblackdog]

I have a large (1kg) bucket of treats that live in my car in the 'magical dog bucket of magicalness'.

It contains all sorts of different commercial treats as well as cat biscuits and a little bit of kibble. They never know what they are getting so it keeps them guessing.

I also use 'squishy treats' eg. Cheese, chicken, sausage, any left over meat really.

I have found that the BEST treats are always SOMEONE ELSE's! :p doesn't matter if I have cabanossi and they have normal dog biscuits, if its not theirs........... Sigh.

[grumpette]

Dried liver or liver bread, BBQ or roast chicken, left over roast beef, chicken sausages are also a huge favourite.

All of these are used in high distraction situations or if I am teaching something entirely new.

However, more and more it is the isqueak or Cuz that is desired by Dee and Zeph is shifting from the balls to food, which is strange as he has never been food motivated and is very fussy.

[BC4ME]

It shouldn't be about what treat your using it should be about the reward experience your dog is having....

[hankdog]

For me it ranges from kibble,through chunkers, cheese or chicken and ultra special only when other dogs are present is peanut butter. I guess if they'll train for their dinner then use that, if its for major distraction then whatever has value.

[Guest Clover]

My favourite to prepare at the moment and the dogs go nuts for is baked chicken hearts. $2 a pack from woolies and chucked in the oven for ten mins, then drained and the oven bumped right up and put them back in for another 5 - 10 mins. I cut them in half or thirds depending on how big they are.

[Weasels]

Experiment! :)

[minimax]

The best treats are the ones your dogs will work for

Right now, the thing my guys are doing cartwheels for is the dried lamb crumble puff things from Costco. Usually it's something that they don't get often, like bbq chicken, or cheese, or vegetmite on toast (or anything that comes from a humans plate) :laugh:

[Staffyluv]

Experiment! :)

This..

Our instructors told us to get at least 5 different foods and see which one the dog goes for first and use that..

I guess it is a personal thing but my dogs never get the stuff used for training treats at any other time - it is wholly used at training..

[huski]

I mix it up, like with my prey driven dog, I don't want her to be dependent on a specific toy. I tend to lean towards using soft and smelly food that is easy for the dog to swallow, dried treats are harder to swallow and can cause the dog to stop and cough it up.

With my beagle when I was competing with her so training more frequently I would boil chuck steak and chop it up to give her a leaner treat.

[The Spotted Devil]

My dogs have such a strong reward history they'll just about work for cardboard :laugh: High distraction and/or early learning = awesome rewards (cooked/fresh meat, boiled egg, 4 legs etc). Low distraction or an advanced exercise with strong reward history = low value rewards which are now regarded as close to awesome by the dogs (e.g dry food, dry treats). Mix it up and keep them guessing! Em did some water work the other day in freezing pouring rain and I jackpotted her with a brisk towel down and a pig ear.

[BrigadoonRose]

Lots of great suggestions, thanks! Some of these things I've never heard of, so a bit of investigating is in order :) I've been tending to mix it up, but probably should cut back on the kibble & add in something more yummy for the higher distraction stuff.

I have a large (1kg) bucket of treats that live in my car in the 'magical dog bucket of magicalness'.

It contains all sorts of different commercial treats as well as cat biscuits and a little bit of kibble. They never know what they are getting so it keeps them guessing.

I also use 'squishy treats' eg. Cheese, chicken, sausage, any left over meat really.

I have found that the BEST treats are always SOMEONE ELSE's! :p doesn't matter if I have cabanossi and they have normal dog biscuits, if its not theirs........... Sigh.

I have a 'magical coat pocket of magicalness'. Every time I put that particular coat on, it's all eyes on me :)

It shouldn't be about what treat your using it should be about the reward experience your dog is having....

My clumsily put question was more about the theory that the dog should work for it's dinner, I guess, rather than the actual reward. But isn't the reward experience going to be more "rewarding" if it's something he really likes?

My favourite to prepare at the moment and the dogs go nuts for is baked chicken hearts. $2 a pack from woolies and chucked in the oven for ten mins, then drained and the oven bumped right up and put them back in for another 5 - 10 mins. I cut them in half or thirds depending on how big they are.

Hmm. I tried cooking up some beef & kangaroo mince in the microwave. Don't know why, but it made me feel Stupid because I cook them both for human food

My dogs have such a strong reward history they'll just about work for cardboard :laugh: High distraction and/or early learning = awesome rewards (cooked/fresh meat, boiled egg, 4 legs etc). Low distraction or an advanced exercise with strong reward history = low value rewards which are now regarded as close to awesome by the dogs (e.g dry food, dry treats). Mix it up and keep them guessing! Em did some water work the other day in freezing pouring rain and I jackpotted her with a brisk towel down and a pig ear.

:)

[Nekhbet]

The point of a treat is it is a taste of something. Fresher food coats the mouth so you can use smaller bits, train for longer without filing the dog up/causing stomach ache, and is fast to be eaten so the dog doesn't have to sit there and chew.

The treat is only ever the intermediary between you and the dog anyway, it should not be massive hunking bits. It's really adding to you being the reward in a manner the dog understands, not the whole reward itself. It's why I use hotdog and Kabana, even the toothless old dogs can still get a treat without working too hard to chew it.

[BrigadoonRose]

The point of a treat is it is a taste of something. Fresher food coats the mouth so you can use smaller bits, train for longer without filing the dog up/causing stomach ache, and is fast to be eaten so the dog doesn't have to sit there and chew.

The treat is only ever the intermediary between you and the dog anyway, it should not be massive hunking bits. It's really adding to you being the reward in a manner the dog understands, not the whole reward itself. It's why I use hotdog and Kabana, even the toothless old dogs can still get a treat without working too hard to chew it.

Yes, that makes sense. Zeus doesn't (seem to) chew his kibble if I use it for treats, just straight down the hatch so I'm sure there's not much of a flavour hit - it could just as well be cardboard :)

Little bits of hot dog have been working well. Doubly so because I've been able to convince the kids it's raw and they won't pinch it all, not like kabana :)

Last night I took Zeus to my daughter's netball training where I often get weird looks for having a pocket full of treats. I told one lady (self proclaimed dog know-it-all) I was giving him hotdogs & she was gobsmacked. She just kept repeating 'Hotdogs!' It was hilarious. I'll have to think of something to blow her mind for next week ;)

[Tassie]

The point of a treat is it is a taste of something. Fresher food coats the mouth so you can use smaller bits, train for longer without filing the dog up/causing stomach ache, and is fast to be eaten so the dog doesn't have to sit there and chew.

The treat is only ever the intermediary between you and the dog anyway, it should not be massive hunking bits. It's really adding to you being the reward in a manner the dog understands, not the whole reward itself. It's why I use hotdog and Kabana, even the toothless old dogs can still get a treat without working too hard to chew it.

Totally agree. And another advantage of soft food - like devon, cabana, cheese (I use 50%fat tasty), chicken sandwich loaf cubes - is that you can break a 1cm cube into about 4 quite easily for a 1,2,3,4 jackpot - dog is blissfully unaware that he's still received only one piece - excited because he's had 4 rewards at once.

A really important part of the process, as Nekhbet indicates, is the way the food is delivered - the handler needs to get really involved - really letting the dog know how much his good work is appreciated.

[sheena]

A good article here for homemade treat ideas & how to use them Homemade Treats even if I did write it myself :)