What motivates you to work hard throughout the day? Perhaps you put in 110 percent at work to get that massive promotion and pay increase one day. Or maybe you work with a partner and find joy in creating something with a loved one. Regardless of your specific preferences, motivators are powerful tools that keep humans productive and ambitious.
When it comes to man’s best friend, motivators are much simpler to define. Our furry friends usually find motivation in attention, affection, and, most importantly, treats! In fact, certain types of treats are more effective at maintaining your dog’s attention during training sessions. By selecting the ideal treats for your pup, you can guarantee faster-learned behaviors and more focus!
In the dog training world, treats fall into three categories: high-, medium-, and low-value treats. Depending on the training situation, each treat type is ideal for reinforcing or rewarding specific behaviors and actions. Read on to learn more about each different type of treat to better prepare you and your dog for effective training!
High-Value Treats
High-value treats refer to any food items that your dog absolutely loves but doesn’t often receive. Typically, these include frozen or wet treats high in calories and quite pungent—the ideal snack for any dog! Chunks of chicken, tripe, liverwurst, and xylitol-free peanut butter are all great examples of high-value treats.
You should reserve these treats for very specific moments in the training process, such as introducing a new behavior or refocusing in a distracting environment (class settings, outdoor settings, etc.). High-value treats are also great to reward your pup’s hard work when wrapping up an intense training session!
Medium-Value Treats
Medium-value treats are often dried or semi-moist and contain flavors or ingredients your dog doesn’t typically receive in their diet. These treats also contain fewer calories than high-value ones, so you can use them more liberally during training.
We use medium-value treats to reward already-learned behaviors or to regain attention in a mildly distracting environment. Medium-value treats are also great for rewarding good behaviors throughout the day. For example, you can give these to a puppy when they don’t make an accident inside or when they refrain from jumping on you. For whatever behaviors you are working on at the moment, medium-value treats are the perfect prize!
Low-Value Treats
Despite what the name might imply, low-value treats are not bad or less desirable. Rather, this term simply indicates treats that are so small in size and calories that you can give many of them to your dog at one time. Typically dry and crunchy, these treats are ideal for use in enrichment toys and activities or as an attention-grabber in low-distraction environments. Furthermore, you can use low-value treats to reward a poorly completed behavior, which keeps your dog engaged without reinforcing the wrong manners!
Not sure which types of treats are most effective for training your dog? At Let’s Train Your Dog, our team has decades of experience and helps you determine the ideal options for your pooch during their dog manners training sessions. Contact us today to learn more about the best high-, medium-, and low-value treats!