Which Food Rewards To Use?

[corvus]

As far as dogs are concerned the point of a treat is that it's food. My dogs would just about work for cardboard as well. They used to be much pickier, but now they don't seem to care much. My standard treats are Scotty's rolls cut up small because Erik in particular tends to inhale them and he's less likely to cough and splutter over inhaling soft treats, but I usually have some kibble in my pouch and something terrific as well. I haven't noticed any difference in the way they work for Scotty's roll compared to kibble, and it doesn't seem to make any difference if I use stale biscuits, dried fish, cheese, frankfurt, devon, chicken roll, canned fruit... We keep toast or stale bread/biscuits on hand for Kivi's recalls and that makes a difference. Erik would prefer chicken or steak as recall/jackpot treats, but Erik will work for practically anything and his performance doesn't seem to fluctuate much.

Reward experiences are great and have their place, but needn't be involved in every treat delivery. Sometimes for the sake of clarity it's ideal to just deliver fast, frequently, and in the right place. Just depends on what your aims are. I use the latter extensively in shaping and trick training. If I'm ever having trouble I get the clicker out and strip back my signals to a bare minimum and concentrate on getting my timing and reward placement right. It makes all the difference.

[Ren]

Cabanossi and hot dogs work the best for my dog. High value, quick and easy to eat. Not terribly healthy though I imagine.

For lower value I tend to tear up small pieces of smacko style treats. I can't remember the brand but there is one, liver flavour that smells intensely strong. I left the packet in my bag once and had to air it out for the day to dull the smell. Kibble works out ok too, but it takes more time to chew.

[Rilla-My-Rilla]

I think it depends on the dog. Try different treats & see which your dog absolutely loves.

When I'm doing basic tricks inside with Rilla, she'll work for plain cooked pasta bits - mostly because she loves doing her tricks, plus with me jumping around being silly she doesn't need a high value food reward.

When I'm training the recall I use cheese/any leftover cooked meat or liver/kangaroo treats.

I also used these super high value rewards when I did a photoshoot with her - she was surrounded by kids & doing a lot of staying in a high pressure situation she so needed something really great along side my praise.

Whenever I teach her something new, I use high value treats. I also make sure I mix her treats up, otherwise she starts getting bored with it. :)

My sister's dog is completely different though. He'll only work for dried liver at dog club, nothing else.

[Rilla-My-Rilla]

I'll just add that Rilla is on a raw food diet, so I don't have the option of using part of her dinner for training - not very practical to train with chicken wings or minced raw veggies :D

[Kavik]

I'll just add that Rilla is on a raw food diet, so I don't have the option of using part of her dinner for training - not very practical to train with chicken wings or minced raw veggies :D

Susan Garrett feeds raw, she cuts up pieces of chicken necks for training.

[dragonwoman]

I'll just add that Rilla is on a raw food diet, so I don't have the option of using part of her dinner for training - not very practical to train with chicken wings or minced raw veggies :D

Susan Garrett feeds raw, she cuts up pieces of chicken necks for training.

[sheena]

I'll just add that Rilla is on a raw food diet, so I don't have the option of using part of her dinner for training - not very practical to train with chicken wings or minced raw veggies :D

Susan Garrett feeds raw, she cuts up pieces of chicken necks for training.

Depends on what you are training...but to cut up chicken necks into tiny little pieces for training would be impossible. They would be OK for big, easy to see rewards, like throwing at the end of the weave pole. I wouldn't use raw chicken, though, as the thought of maybe me getting salmonella from handling the raw chicken, which may have been out of the fridge for a while & would be all over my hands etc. If you use something like a chunker ( I fry mine in garlic oil), you can either break it into tiny pieces or throw the whole thing, depending on what you are training.

[Kavik]

I'll just add that Rilla is on a raw food diet, so I don't have the option of using part of her dinner for training - not very practical to train with chicken wings or minced raw veggies :D

Susan Garrett feeds raw, she cuts up pieces of chicken necks for training.

Depends on what you are training...but to cut up chicken necks into tiny little pieces for training would be impossible. They would be OK for big, easy to see rewards, like throwing at the end of the weave pole. I wouldn't use raw chicken, though, as the thought of maybe me getting salmonella from handling the raw chicken, which may have been out of the fridge for a while & would be all over my hands etc. If you use something like a chunker ( I fry mine in garlic oil), you can either break it into tiny pieces or throw the whole thing, depending on what you are training.

I'm just saying what she does, not that I would do it :) They are not tiny little pieces she uses. I saw her use them in the online contact course she ran. Her dog in training gets all of his dinner through training. I also don't like the idea of handling raw meat for treats myself, but if you are really keen on only feeding raw it can be done.

[sheena]

I'll just add that Rilla is on a raw food diet, so I don't have the option of using part of her dinner for training - not very practical to train with chicken wings or minced raw veggies :D

Susan Garrett feeds raw, she cuts up pieces of chicken necks for training.

Depends on what you are training...but to cut up chicken necks into tiny little pieces for training would be impossible. They would be OK for big, easy to see rewards, like throwing at the end of the weave pole. I wouldn't use raw chicken, though, as the thought of maybe me getting salmonella from handling the raw chicken, which may have been out of the fridge for a while & would be all over my hands etc. If you use something like a chunker ( I fry mine in garlic oil), you can either break it into tiny pieces or throw the whole thing, depending on what you are training.

I'm just saying what she does, not that I would do it :) They are not tiny little pieces she uses. I saw her use them in the online contact course she ran. Her dog in training gets all of his dinner through training. I also don't like the idea of handling raw meat for treats myself, but if you are really keen on only feeding raw it can be done.

Maybe a bit of raw steak...but chicken, I couldn't do. Maybe she carries around a little packet of antibacterial wipes in her pocket. :laugh: