I give my dogs treats for fun. It is one of the benefits
they have living here with me.
Using food for training works with some dogs. The main
reason I don’t rely on food for training is that before I knew anything about dog training, my first dog got killed
by a car. He got hit as he ran across the street to see another dog. As I got into training, my major goal was to protect
my dogs from my failure to train my first dog.
The fact is that there are things dogs like to do more
than eating food. For some dogs chasing, hunting, fighting, guarding, protecting or extending territory, curiosity, sex, fear
and aggressions might be stronger motivators than food.
If your dog wants to go visit another dog, or chase
a cat running across the street, would you trust your dog’s reliability and life on a hot dog, or piece of steak?
Another problem with relying on food is that food trained
dogs know when you have food and when you don’t. Many callers say, "My dog minds when I have treats, but ignores me
when I don’t."
Save the food training for the fun tricks such as rollover,
but for the important skills such as coming back the first time you are called, don’t bet on food training.
