Why You Should Not Use Food For Dog Training

This title is a little misleading. You should never use food in dog training if you are going to be using it as a bribe.

There is much misconception about using food to train dogs. Dog trainers who do not advocate the use of using food do not understand why you should use food. They believe, as soon as you start using food to elicit behaviours from dogs, you are bribing the dog. That is true if you do not adopt a methodical approach to how you use the food.

If you simply give a food treat every time a dog does something, then you are bribing the dog. However, you can use food in a way that it becomes a reinforcer for wanted behaviour. Then, using a proven routine, you can then begin phasing out the food, until such time as food is no longer required to get the behaviour you seek.

When I teach people how to use food to train their dogs, I explain to them the concepts of primary and secondary reinforcers. Now this is not gobbledgook or fallacy. This style of training is based upon operant conditioning techniques.

The use of operant conditioning involves conditioning a dog to perform a behaviour then get rewarded for the behaviour. A good operant conditioning program involves getting our dog to perform the behaviour consistently every time we guide the dog using food to do what we want. This is known as a continuous schedule of reinforcement.

Then we being using a ratio of reinforcement. We would only reward the for every 2 times the behaviour is performed, then perhaps 3, 4 etc etc. What actually happens is the behaviour is then strengthened as the dog works out, it has to perform the behaviour more times until it is rewarded.

Then we can move onto a variable schedule of re-inforcement. This is where we can mix up the ratios of when the behaviour is rewarded, so every 2 times. Then we use every 5 times.

Then, we move on to a random ratio, whereby we can reward, the 2nd, then the 5th, then the 10, then the 11th, then the 12, then the 17th. You get the idea.

What happens is the dog does not know when it will be reinforced for the behaviour. Using this method, we can only reward only the best, sharpest or outstanding behaviour. This teaches our dog that only perfect behaviour will be rewarded and they work even harder to get the reward.

Once we are continuously getting this, a reward at the cessation of the exercise is all the dog will be working for. We can then eliminate the food altogether and use, our attention, a favourite toy or other thing the dog loves as a reward for completing our exercise.

Now, I have trained dogs using compulsion and food reinforcement for years. After knowing how to use both methods, I will always go for the food reinforcement every single time. I get better, faster and more reliable results. It is also, really really fun for both me and the dog and that goes a long way to making my training effective and long lasting.

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