And how to reward your dog
We use rewards to train dogs for one simple reason: a reward will strengthen behaviour and make it more likely your dog does that behaviour in the future. But a reward is only a reward if your dog likes it. So how do you find out what the best reward for your dog is?
Well, you’ll need to do a little detective work. Here are some steps to follow:
1. Create a list
Create a list of all the things your dog likes. This can include different types of treats as well as activities like playing in puddles, chasing or tugging a toy. Remember that any of the following can act as rewards for dogs, but not all dogs like everything:
🐾 Food
🐾 Play
🐾 Social opportunities with people and other dogs
🐾 Breed-specific activities like herding or retrieving
🐾 Sensory stimulation like sniffing
🐾 A chance to explore new things
Breed traits may come into it, too. So take a look at what your dog was bred to do (herding, retrieving, hunting via digging or sniffing) and see if there’s anything to add that you haven’t thought of.
Side note: it’s common to pat dogs on the head as a reward. But many dogs don’t enjoy being touched in this way so think hard about whether they look happy or excited when you stroke them (and where) or whether they’re just tolerating it. If it’s the latter, it doesn’t work as a reward!
2. Figure out their food preferences
Most dogs find food rewarding at least some of the time. Plus, food is easy for everyone to use. But figuring out what food your dog likes best can be tricky.
Some notoriously high-value food rewards for dogs include:
🐾 Cooked, deli or freeze dried meat
🐾 Cheese (pieces or squeezy)
🐾 Hot dogs or sausages
🐾 Peanut butter (minus the xylitol)
But to truly know your dog’s favourite food, you need to do a preference test. So grab six different dog-safe foods: things you know your dog likes, things they might like, some of the typical high-value dog rewards if they’re not already included, and some surprise options (like fruit and veg).
Grab a muffin tin and put small pieces of each option in different sections. Try to use the same amount of each food. If you can, try to keep your dog occupied in another room while you’re doing this.
Then place the tin on the floor and let your dog into the room. Film them so you can watch it back or have a notebook ready so you can write down which food they went to first and the order in which they ate the other foods. Also note if there was any food they didn’t touch.
Repeat the test a few times – on different days and at different times of day and by changing where in the muffin tin you place each food – to see if your dog chooses the same food each time.
3. Make a best reward hierarchy
So you have your list of potential rewards and your dog’s food preferences. It’s time to create a best reward hierarchy using this pyramid template.
The top will be their highest value options – this might be the food they tend to eat first each time and/or seem really excited about as well as their favourite things to do, such as chasing a ball. The food they go for second or third each time can be the medium-value choice as well as activities they like, such as sniffing a bush.
Anything that they can take or leave likely has more of a lower value to your dog, so can go at the bottom. If they didn’t touch a type of food during your food test, then leave it off the pyramid. It likely has no value to your dog.
Here’s a food-based pyramid I made for my dog Winston to give you an idea:
4. Test time
Test your hierarchy out to see if you’ve narrowed down the best rewards for your dog. Give your dog various rewards and see how they respond. Are they super excited by your high-value choices? Are they uninterested in anything? Use their behaviour to see if your hierarchy’s right or if it needs some tweaking.
Remember when you’re asking your dog to do something more difficult, the higher value the reward needs to be. That means saving the lower value stuff for the easy tasks. But lower value rewards can be made more exciting – for example, by tossing kibble for them to chase or sprinkling it on the floor for them to sniff. So if they want to be more active, make their rewards more active.
Don’t forget to keep testing every now and then. After all, preferences change!
