Treats for Dog Training
As a dog owner, you often wonder, “What’s the best way I can control my dog’s behavior.” Well for one, using the rod would be counterproductive as your puppy might want to see you as an aggressor rather than as a leader. Is using treats for dog training a good method?
Part of being a dog owner, apparently, is knowing how to win over your dog’s trust and that means applying whatever it takes to achieve that goal.
In many ways, controlling how your dog behave is part and parcel of responsible ownership. As a dog owner you have to look for ways to make puppy training manageable and effective on you and your dog’s part.
If anything, effective dog training has to make use of every possible means to win your dog’s heart at the earliest time possible.
So, in that case, would it be wise to use treats for dog training as a motivator and as positive reinforcement?
For many especially in the world of psychology, modifying a person’s (or in this case, an animal’s behavior) only takes a great deal of using the right kind of reinforcement to bring out the right kind of attitude.
In such a way, you have to know when to apply it and how in order to satisfy the ends of puppy training.
In this scenario, using treats for dog training as a motivational factor to influence your puppy’s behavior seems to provide the right way towards achieving the goals of dog training.
Still, for some who prefer the old ways of dog training, food seems to provide an easier albeit less effective way to start training your dog.
If anything, it becomes more of a hindrance when we depend on dog biscuits to encourage puppies to act on a command like they are supposed to.
In this sense, you need to stalk up one some knowledge on how to effectively use food in the course of training your puppy.
Apparently, you can’t usually get the best tips about puppy training from people who have had actual experience. At most times, effective training comes from common sense and dog owners should always adhere to that rather than believe anything they hear or read from forums or dog enthusiasts’ clubs.
For many, using food has become a staple, but you should be aware that it is not always as effective as people deemed it to be.
If anything, food can only serve to motivate, but not become the prime influence for changing your dog’s behavior and having it follow every command you make.
We can then consider food as an accessory rather than as a functional lever to make a dog follow your every command.
Still, if the going gets tough in terms of having your dog to respond to you positively, food will then become a staple and you will need a lot of it, especially if you are dealing with a dog that doesn’t want to make any compromises.
However, you should be wary of the best and most effective way to use food as a motivating factor and as an influence. The trick is to use food as positive reinforcement.
It has worked for Pavlov, so you shouldn’t have to cast doubt on it if you feel like it’s a myth.
But really, behavioral science has directed dog trainers towards exploiting the pleasure seeking aspects of mammals as a point where behavior can be modified.
In short, stack up on some dog biscuits if you want your puppy to respond to you. But more importantly, you need to make use of the appropriate method of introducing food to your pet.
First thing you have to do is to use the food in order to get your puppy to act. Once it sees the food, direct him towards doing a particular action. For example, if you want him to sit, issue the command.
He will be clueless at first, but once he sits, you will give him a snack. Do this several times and the internalization of the command will occur. Your puppy will be sitting at every instant in no time!
And once you have done that initial step, gradually diminish the amount of food you give until you give your dog none.
You will then be surprised that he will be able to follow your command to sit even if there is an absence of food. Moreover, he will do the very same thing for different commands.
In other ways, people resort to using traditional methods in handing out food. But still, aggression seems to be the best way to keep a dog in line, but this can only do so much worse than simply depriving a dog of pleasure.
Rewards are truly advantageous in terms of training dogs to become disciplined. And if you resort to cursing, shouting and spraying your dog in the face, you will only put your dog in a more complex situation in which your dog will begin to doubt your capacity for companionship.
Still, it is important to note that dogs are diverse in many ways. There are dogs who respond positively to the demands of the reward system, and there are also dogs who want to get the rewards without even working for it.
In the case of the latter, you should be aware of the best and most effective methods for introducing food. And that means gradually diminishing the supply of food every time your dog successfully follows a command.
Don’t worry about spoiling your dog with food. The most important thing here is that you give him a reason to follow your orders, which is to say, remains to be the most crucial objective of dog training.
But aside from using treats for dog training, one can also resort to using other means to control a dog’s behavior as well.
You can never truly depend on food to control how your dog acts inside and outside the house.
The most important thing for you to do is to secure your position as the pack leader and allow your dog to build confidence in you.
