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Your Dog Decides What's Rewarding

September 2, 2025

Your Dog Decides What's Rewarding

Your dog truly decides what is rewarding in training, so it requires careful observation by you to find out what they really like.

If your dog is food motivated, by what type of food? How is it given – straight to their mouth or do you toss it for them to chase? If your dog is toy motivated, by what sort of toy and how do you make it rewarding for them – by running with it, tugging on it, letting them carry it?

This may change. It can depend on the situation, the individual dog and any feedback you and your dog are getting.

It requires us to be observant and flexible to suit our dogs.

If a reward is valuable enough to our dogs, they will keep trying hard to repeat those behaviours associated with it.

And the answer to the big question – “when can I stop using rewards for my dog?”

NEVER.

While we may reduce the frequency, amount and type of reward and some behaviour may become rewarding in itself, if you stop rewarding behaviour altogether, you run the risk of that behaviour not/not often being repeated. Think what you would do if your boss stopped paying you at work. 😉

Observe, be flexible and above all, have fun with your dog. Happy training!

By Anne Hardacrd

#dogtraining

rewards

reinforcement

increasing behaviour

Brisbane, Ipswich and surrounding suburbs