Session 112: Avoid Making Your Dog Too Crazy with Food Treats

The Dog's Way Podcast: Dog Training for Real Life

In today's episode I'll go over some mistakes some people make in food treat training and how to avoid making your dog hyper when using food in training.

I don't typically use food as my standard training method (which you've probably learned if you've listened to my podcast for a while). There are instances where it is helpful, and there are very different methods depending upon your dogs age, personality, and upbringing, etc. I'll talk about instances where I use food for training and areas for you to consider as well.

I will answer a specific question from an email I received from Mitch, regarding specific mistakes of using food all the time.

Assess whether it's actually an issue. I'll show you some things to look for.

If you determine that it is a problem, experiment with some different techniques. I'll give a few things to try that I've used when training other trainers, including posture, demeanor, and more.

I talk about "marker" training as an option, and will discuss downplaying treats as a reward as part of this.

I will also talk about redirection, and the comparison and contrast of training methods to use depending on the type of challenge you face.

Enjoy, and hopefully this helps!