When you are training a dog, there's always been some controversy over whether you should give treats such as MilkBones, dog biscuits, and so on. Giving treats to a dog when you are training him does have a couple of advantages as well as disadvantages. Any confusion that you might have would hopefully be cleared up with this article.
What some people would say is "Of course! Give the dog treats so he'll obey you. After all, you won't get his attention if you don't give him anything he enjoys." But then again, some would say "No, don't give the dog treats! He'll be only obeying you for the food."
There is truth to both the opinions stated above. After all, the dog does need some kind of incentive to obey you. But at the same time, what if the dog would only obey and work because of the food? If that happens, what then? In case he is not hungry and doesn't really want the food, then he has no reason to obey you.
So should you use dog treats? The answer is YES, but in moderation . Don't give the dog a biscuit every single time he obeys you; instead, sometimes just praise him excessively instead. Also, don't make the "prize" too big or you'll be overfeeding him. For example, break a biscuit in half or even cut it into three pieces so you're not feeding your dog too much when you train him.
There's another way you can train young puppies. Avoid feeding them biscuits at all and instead, use adult dog food pellets. The pellets are big enough to be a treat for the young puppy's tiny mouth, but small enough that it won't overfeed the puppy.
Another very important point I'd like to make is that you shouldn't train your dog to obey you only for the food as a reward. It is easy to slip into the habit of just rewarding your dog with a treat every single time he does anything remotely good even though you may not be consciously doing this.
What you would want your dog to think of you as is the"strong master," or the "alpha" over him, so that he obeys you because you're the master and because he wants to please you, not just because you have a treat. In order to accomplish this, you can try to praise him a lot in a high voice when he does something good and in a deep, "you're in trouble" voice when he does something bad. You want to figure out as well as distinguish between the voices that a high voice means "good" and low means "bad" and whenever you do the low voice, you are not pleased with him.
What some people would say is "Of course! Give the dog treats so he'll obey you. After all, you won't get his attention if you don't give him anything he enjoys." But then again, some would say "No, don't give the dog treats! He'll be only obeying you for the food."
There is truth to both the opinions stated above. After all, the dog does need some kind of incentive to obey you. But at the same time, what if the dog would only obey and work because of the food? If that happens, what then? In case he is not hungry and doesn't really want the food, then he has no reason to obey you.
So should you use dog treats? The answer is YES, but in moderation . Don't give the dog a biscuit every single time he obeys you; instead, sometimes just praise him excessively instead. Also, don't make the "prize" too big or you'll be overfeeding him. For example, break a biscuit in half or even cut it into three pieces so you're not feeding your dog too much when you train him.
There's another way you can train young puppies. Avoid feeding them biscuits at all and instead, use adult dog food pellets. The pellets are big enough to be a treat for the young puppy's tiny mouth, but small enough that it won't overfeed the puppy.
Another very important point I'd like to make is that you shouldn't train your dog to obey you only for the food as a reward. It is easy to slip into the habit of just rewarding your dog with a treat every single time he does anything remotely good even though you may not be consciously doing this.
What you would want your dog to think of you as is the"strong master," or the "alpha" over him, so that he obeys you because you're the master and because he wants to please you, not just because you have a treat. In order to accomplish this, you can try to praise him a lot in a high voice when he does something good and in a deep, "you're in trouble" voice when he does something bad. You want to figure out as well as distinguish between the voices that a high voice means "good" and low means "bad" and whenever you do the low voice, you are not pleased with him.
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