Having various flavors and desirability of dog training food at-the-ready is imperative when training a dog. Because, when working on a behavior that’s difficult for a dog to learn, getting and keeping a dog’s complete attention and willingness to move forward will be more challenging. That’s when the steak-level training food is brought out with the well-vetted training plan.
For example, when working with a dog to step onto a skateboard as he advances on the training plan will require big motivation. That skateboard will have some movement to it, which is a challenge and can be scary to many dogs. That’s when steak or other top-level training food should be used. A dog’s paws hit the board, click and feed with that steak. That food is so good, the dog will want to stay on board for more, but we want to practice mounting the skaeboard, so what do we do? Guess what? That’s when kibble enters the dog training session.
To get the dog off the board, toss a piece of kibble. (We don’t want to waste our steak for the dismount!) The dog will fetch the kibble morsel, while the trainer resets the skateboard for the next skateboard mountin trial…with steak.
Having a variety of training food available when training a dog is an important component of reward-based training. So keep it on hand and plan which training foods to use ahead of your training time.
Find out how much fun it is to train with food and games. Become a client of Outsmarting Dogs! We never use pain to train. We outsmart dogs instead!
Helen Verte Schwarzmann
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Certified in Training and Counseling
Certified Pet Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed
Certified Trick Dog Instructor
AKC Canine Good Citizen/CGC and STAR Puppy Trainer and Evaluator
Your Board-and-Train Dog Trainer for Fort Myers, Lee county, Naples, Collier county, and southwest Florida
