Rewarding Your Pet

by Katharine Babatzanis RVN

It's important to get to know your dog and find out what motivates them. This will not only help you to understand your dog better, but it will also aid in being able to communicate effectively with your dog.

While the most common reward used for training dogs is food, it's important to remember that all dogs have different values and preferences. Some dogs will rather play with a tennis over a high-value treat.

Here are a few examples of rewards that your dog may respond to:

Food: Fresh meat (e.g. Chunkers, Prime 100 dog rolls, and plain frankfurts), boiled chicken, liver treats (not too many, as they are rich). If your dog is on a special diet for health reasons make sure to only use that food.

Toys: Tennis balls, tug toys, squeaky toys.

Interaction: Attention from you (praise and petting), playtime with you, getting to sit beside you on the couch.

Freedom: Being let off leash (only when safe to do so), being allowed to go and play with their doggy friend next door.

Once you find something that works note that it can change depending on the situation or location. For example, while you may find your new dog loves food when training at home, when in the park there are a lot of new smells to discover and they will value their "freedom" (i.e. continuing on with their walk) over the food reward.

Finding "the best" reward for your dog may take some experimenting, don’t force a type of reward on your dog. Let them show you what kind of reward works for them.

Remember treats should only account for 10% of a dog's daily food intake.

PAPT Rewarding Your Pet.pdf

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