Using Food in Dog Training
This topic is a seemingly simple one but one that continues to need addressed because man are humans weird about using food with dogs! Those weird feelings are almost universally to the detriment of effective training and behavior modification and often to the well-being of the dogs and the dog/human relationship.
So why should you use food in training?
In short, it is the single most effective and adaptive training tool you have. That’s not our opinion. It’s been shown across studies to be the most effective way to reinforce desired behaviors and to condition a positive emotional response during behavior modification. Using food works. It works REALLY well. If you are not like, heck yes it does I so agree, please go read more here.
But can’t I just use toys and praise instead?
We love toys and praise and use them all the time and there are absolutely situations where they may be the more appropriate tool or reinforcer. The same is true of play and environmental rewards like sniffing that really awesome tree over there. The issue comes when people get it into their heads that these are in some way preferable or better reinforcers than food on the whole. They’re not. They’re far more context specific and often less effective when it comes to most dogs and most training/behavior modification contexts. So yes, use all of the reinforcers your dog values when appropriate to the situation! There are times we will choose non-food reinforcers as preferable to the context or individual dog too! But don’t let the idea that non-food reinforcers are somehow superior get in the way of effective behavior modification.
Embrace front loading the work!
This topic has its very own post because it’s a big deal and it’s not just food specific. What this means is if you want to effectively change behavior, you have to do what it takes in the beginning to genuinely help your dog be successful. We often joke in sessions with leash reactive dog clients that if you are machine gunning chicken at your dog for the first few weeks because that’s what it takes to successfully build the behavior you want, that’s what you do!
Use the rate of reinforcement and value of food it takes to really and truly achieve the behavior you are working for. This means a genuine positive emotional response and a dog consistently executing the behaviors we want. *Then* start to taper and taper at the rate that *maintains* that success you initially achieved. What happens when we’re stingy with our food in the beginning (and the other pieces of the puzzle that go into front loading the work) is we sit at a plateau and don’t move forward. Then that tapering doesn’t work so well. But if we go all in and really help our dogs succeed? That tapering becomes pretty natural and over time, your rapid fire chicken becomes a casual snack or two.
But food makes my dog too excited!
There are lots of things we can do if the way we’re using food is genuinely bringing your dog’s arousal level too high. But first, is it the food or are we working over threshold in some other capacity? If it’s a different variable, we want to address that first (is the scary/overstimulating thing too close, for example). If we’re pretty sure it *is* the food, we can adapt the value level of the food we’re using as well as our delivery method and can adjust our rate of reinforcement as long as doing so doesn’t throw off our success with the behavior we’re working on.
There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. We want to be intentional with our food use. That doesn’t mean your dog doesn’t get snacks or rewards just because (they should!). But it does mean we don’t want to over do it to the point we’re diminishing the value of our reinforcers, genuinely adding too much arousal, inhibiting the dog’s environmental engagement by constantly feeding them, or causing upset tummies. Use the value and quantity of food you need for the context, save your highest value food items for when you really need ‘em, and be intentional with when you are using food. If you are working on a behavior where you have to go big with front loading the work, do it! But also be intentional about reducing that quantity and potentially the value as you are able.
Fine, I hear you, but what if my dog gets fat?!
This is a genuine concern and one we’ve had to pay attention to with our own dogs early into their behavior modification too. In fact, we have a post on exactly that topic that you can check out for lots of tips for keeping things healthy.
We’d also direct you back to that front loading the work concept (that volume of high value food should be temporary) and the need to prioritize. For example, we hear concerns like this a lot when working with fear aggressive dogs. If your dog is a bite risk, successfully deescalating their fear and getting them on the right path forward to keep them and everyone else safe is, in our opinion, much more important than feeling stressed by how many snacks they took to feel safe and happy with a new human. When we come to meet your fear aggressive dog, you will likely see us use A LOT of food during the first session or two. It always tapers. Always. But it tapers at the dog’s pace as we see them genuinely feeling safe and comfortable with us.
Alright, so why the picture of the wolf?
Because ya know which species humans aren’t super dramatic about using food with? Wolves and other wild animals. No one thinks we should just use praise when working with wolves or that you’re cooler or tougher because you poo poo giving out snacks to tigers. Do you know what reservations about using food actually tell you, especially when coming from a professional trainer? They tell you that trainer isn’t adequately educated in the science of behavior. And while we’re on the subject, training and behavior modification isn’t about making humans feel or look cool or tough. It’s about helping dogs and helping them with as much kindness and compassion as we can, as effectively as we can. And as a nice reminder of that: https://www.doggiedrawings.net/animaltraining
