The never ending push back using food in dog training

This is still something I come up against quite regularly unfortunately. The use of food (and positive reinforcement in general) has come a long way, but still is something people want to limit as much as possible.

The thing is, you get out what you put in. And the reality of learning is that unless it's something intrinsically rewarding that the dog is genetically designed to do already, you are going to need to provide other reinforcement to strengthen behaviours you want your dog to do. And food being a primary reinforcer is just so simple and effective in many situations (not all).

Think about strengthening a behaviour like a muscle. Trying to lift too heavy a weight and only managing a few successful reps at the gym, you'll still be stuck doing the same a month later. Instead managing multiple sets of 10 reps adding in small breaks, all in a 20 minute session is going to quickly get success. Overtime you will manage the harder stuff with ease.

When your dog is learning something that is not a "normal" behaviour to them (which is pretty much most of the things we expect dogs to do), a high rate of reinforcement in the beginning will lead to success in understanding and performing the behaviour.

Some of the most common reasons I find people are not generous with their food rewards:

• They worry about weight (valid worry but mostly easy to work around)

• They don't want to bribe (shows a lack of understanding of basic learning theory)

• They want the dog just to "do it because they said so" (shows just how egotistical humans are and an ignorance to how dogs learn and communicate)

• They have their own history with the concept of a "treat".

I think the last point is actually unpinning a lot of issues with using "treats" with dogs. We are taught from a young age we only earn treats, and especially in the dieting world there is a huge stigma around food and treats. It's drilled into us so much we can't then comprehend giving out so much food to a dog.

But the simple truth is that dogs are not materialistic like us. We work for money, so we can survive yes but also for the extra things in life to enjoy - holidays, hobbies, home comforts, gifts, upgraded technology. To say that a dog should just get the food they need to survive and nothing else is rather hypocritical when we splurge everyday on the extras we don't actually need for survival.

Food is a fantastic way to 'pay' your dog for the work they're putting in to the behaviours you want to see more of. You can change the schedule of reinforcement once behaviour is past the acquisition phase and the behaviour is solid, but for now you need to strengthen that muscle with a high rate of reinforcement.