Treats - Can I give treats for anything? What do they Really do?

Treats - Can I give treats for anything? What do they really do?

Giving rewards such as treats, toys or even sniffing is good during training but is that the only time you can give a reward? No.

You can reward or reinforce any behavior you like. If your pup is sitting calmly at the vets, give a treat. If your pup sees dogs passing by through the window but doesn’t engage by barking, play tug with them.

Once your pup associates their behavior/actions with rewards/consequences, the frequency for certain behaviors can increase. Basically if they realize that when they sit calmly they get a yummy treat or a fun toy they will sit calmly more often, because they want that reward.

Be aware that dogs view different things as rewards and may continue with nuisance behavior because of this. For example when you come home and you pup is so excited to see you that they start jumping on you and you start to push them off, that can be rewarding to them.

When dogs are jumping they are trying to get your attention and when you go to push them off, that little bit of attention is a reward to them.. they got what they wanted, your attention.