Resources > Training > Food Rewards
Food Rewards
Roo Choos
Roo Choos offers a large variety of pure kangaroo treats. My dogs particularly appreciate the kangaroo sausages in large chunks as a reward for a nice recall.
Aussie Pet Health Treats
100% Lamb crumble and many other dried pure meat treats, small pieces and large pieces (for recall training).
4Legs All Natural dog roll
A great, healthy "filler" reward to mix with other yummy things such as sausage, cheese etc. No artificial preservatives, flavours, salt or sugar. A balanced dog food that doubles up as a treat. The least gooey and smelly of the dog rolls I've tried.
Roo Choos offers a large variety of pure kangaroo treats. My dogs particularly appreciate the kangaroo sausages in large chunks as a reward for a nice recall.
Aussie Pet Health Treats
100% Lamb crumble and many other dried pure meat treats, small pieces and large pieces (for recall training).
4Legs All Natural dog roll
A great, healthy "filler" reward to mix with other yummy things such as sausage, cheese etc. No artificial preservatives, flavours, salt or sugar. A balanced dog food that doubles up as a treat. The least gooey and smelly of the dog rolls I've tried.
Which food rewards should I use?
The short - and usually not terribly helpful - answer is "whatever your dog will work for".
What your dog will work for depends on several things:
- The level of distraction of the environment (low distraction in the house, high distraction at an off leash park with dogs playing)
- The difficulty of what you are asking your dog to do (a new behaviour vs. something he already has a grip on)
- How hungry he is.
- How much he likes the treat in a certain environment.
So, he might work for freeze dried liver in the house, but spit it out when out on a walk.
The only way to find out what your dog likes is to experiment with various foods in various situations, and observe your dogs reaction. If he eagerly looks at you for the next treat, the treat is sufficiently rewarding. If he refuses to eat the treat, or he eats the treat, but then wanders off to do something else, or loses interest after a few repetitions, the treat is not rewarding enough in the given training environment.
The value of a food reward can be raised by:
- throwing it, or several pieces of it, so the dog has to chase and find it,
- offering a larger piece that takes longer to chew, or
- giving lots of it, one small bit at a time, not all at once.
This will obviously not be suitable to all training situations, ie for quick repetitions, but it's good for a jackpot or when rewarding a recall.
[See this video for some outside-the-box ideas of how to reward your dog]
It's also important to vary the food rewards. Even if your dog loves roast chicken, he may not enjoy getting it all the time. When your dog is not particularly food driven, like my Giro, this can be a tough one, as there isn't much to choose from, but persist until you find at least two different foods you can alternate. For Giro, this is roast chicken and cooked sausage in demanding environments.
Soft, non-crumbly food usually works well, both in its value for the dog, and for training that requires the dog to stay focused on the trainer.
The disadvantage is that it makes your hands gooey, and requires some preparation such as cooking or dicing.
Examples of soft food you can try to use for training are:
Whilst soft food is typically the food of choice for training, sometimes when there's not much time to do the preparation, dry food can be handy.
Here are some examples of dry food:
What NOT to use for food rewards
Most commercially available treats, such as Schmackos, contain artificial flavours, colours, preservatives, and sugar. If you do use them, use them very sparingly. Usually dogs are much keener on the healthier alternatives listed above anyway.
Which size should treats be?
The smallest you can get away with, ie that your dog still accepts as a reward. For medium sized dogs 1/2 cm cubes are usually about right.
What your dog will work for depends on several things:
- The level of distraction of the environment (low distraction in the house, high distraction at an off leash park with dogs playing)
- The difficulty of what you are asking your dog to do (a new behaviour vs. something he already has a grip on)
- How hungry he is.
- How much he likes the treat in a certain environment.
So, he might work for freeze dried liver in the house, but spit it out when out on a walk.
The only way to find out what your dog likes is to experiment with various foods in various situations, and observe your dogs reaction. If he eagerly looks at you for the next treat, the treat is sufficiently rewarding. If he refuses to eat the treat, or he eats the treat, but then wanders off to do something else, or loses interest after a few repetitions, the treat is not rewarding enough in the given training environment.
The value of a food reward can be raised by:
- throwing it, or several pieces of it, so the dog has to chase and find it,
- offering a larger piece that takes longer to chew, or
- giving lots of it, one small bit at a time, not all at once.
This will obviously not be suitable to all training situations, ie for quick repetitions, but it's good for a jackpot or when rewarding a recall.
[See this video for some outside-the-box ideas of how to reward your dog]
It's also important to vary the food rewards. Even if your dog loves roast chicken, he may not enjoy getting it all the time. When your dog is not particularly food driven, like my Giro, this can be a tough one, as there isn't much to choose from, but persist until you find at least two different foods you can alternate. For Giro, this is roast chicken and cooked sausage in demanding environments.
Soft, non-crumbly food usually works well, both in its value for the dog, and for training that requires the dog to stay focused on the trainer.
The disadvantage is that it makes your hands gooey, and requires some preparation such as cooking or dicing.
Examples of soft food you can try to use for training are:
- Chopped cooked meat roll. I've tried various brands, and the 4Legs All Natural brand works best for me. It is free of artificial nasties, and can be diced into small pieces easily. It's also not very gooey. Some "dog meat" rolls are pretty disgusting both from a smell and "goo" factor. 4Legs All Natural also sells meat balls, which (chopped into small pieces) work well for some dogs (although not mine). EcoPet cooked rolls also work, but are more crumbly than the All Natural roll. For my dogs, this is a relatively low reward food. I use it in the house or for reasonably well established behaviours on the road or at the off leash park, but I mix it with higher value rewards.
- Slices of cooked sausage. I hear dogs love cooked sausage; being vegetarian I can't quite stomach the smell of cooking sausages, so I don't know what my dogs think!
- Slices of frankfurts (my dogs prefer the skinless variety) or hot dogs. Supposedly a high value treat mentioned in many books, my dogs accept it, but it's only a little better than the meat roll.
- Cubes of cheese. Usually quite high value, but with a similar problem to salami, i.e. high in fat and salt. Many dogs get diarrhea even from small amounts, so try it in small quantities first.
- Home cooked chicken. Can be a high value treat even in the "bland" version, but most dogs think most highly of Roast Chicken.
- Roast beef. Leslie Nelson, of "Really Reliable Recall" fame, swears that 99% of dogs think of this very highly.
- Home cooked liver. Another one I can't get myself to do being vegetarian, but said to be very high value for most dogs.
- Cubes of raw meat. Supposedly a high value treat, but my dogs don't care for it much, even less than for the cooked meat roll. Combined with the hygiene issues of handling raw meat, it's not a food I use for training (although my dogs get it for dinner).
- Tin of fish, fishy cat food, or "Fish for Dogs". This is a great reward for a reliable recall (and of course it's not useful for repetition training). I take a plastic spoon to the off leash park with me, and occasionally, I serve the dogs their surprise treat by spoon, from the can. This keeps them busy for a long time, and this in turn increases the value of the treat. Pure fish or cat food seems to beat the "Fish for dogs" version in really challenging environments. If your dog is a gobbler make sure you use a large enough spoon so it can't be eaten along with the food.
- Licks of human food, eg pasta sauce, cream cheese, yoghurt. This can be useful for a bit of training on the side, for example for reinforcing lying quietly (and so keeping out of trouble) while you're cooking.
Whilst soft food is typically the food of choice for training, sometimes when there's not much time to do the preparation, dry food can be handy.
Here are some examples of dry food:
- Dry normal dog food (kibble): Most dogs don't think of this as a treat. However you can use it in the house sometimes once you are maintaining a behaviour (as opposed to training a new one). The the end of some training, you can throw some kibble, which increases the value of this food as a reward.
- Some kibble may be valuable enough to maintain established behaviours (only rarely will you have much success training a new behaviour with kibble). For my dogs, ProPlan Sensitive is accepted, as it is high in fish and so seems to be palatable.
- Another high quality dry dog food is manufactured by Ziwi Peak, a New Zealand company, again without grains added. A friends' dogs enjoy this as treats too.
- Freeze dried liver. It would be great if my dogs liked this as a treat, but unfortunately, they don't think much more of it than of the kibble. But try it and see what your dog thinks of it. It is a handy treat and free of any artificial ingredients and sugar.
- Pieces of dry bread. For some reason, Kiara the whippet really likes little pieces of bread. I dry the crusts my kids leave and break off little pieces as rewards. Cheap and easy!
- Aussie Pet Health Treats - Lamb Crumbles. 100% lamb. High value for a dry food. Smells strongly and so I assume it tastes nice (for the dogs) too. I can use these even as a reward for a recall. They have many other varieties of dried treats you can try out.
- Dried Kangaroo Sticks. Very high value to my dogs. Can be chopped into slices (with a bit of patience), and is a high value reward when served in chunks to my fussy Giro. Giving him a whole one of these on a good recall initially made a big difference to his recall quality. Available at Roo Choos.
What NOT to use for food rewards
Most commercially available treats, such as Schmackos, contain artificial flavours, colours, preservatives, and sugar. If you do use them, use them very sparingly. Usually dogs are much keener on the healthier alternatives listed above anyway.
Which size should treats be?
The smallest you can get away with, ie that your dog still accepts as a reward. For medium sized dogs 1/2 cm cubes are usually about right.