How To Train Your Dog Without Treats | Forms Of Reinforcement In Training

When it comes to training your dog, positive reinforcement is considered the best method by professionals. But what does reinforcement mean? To most only one thing comes to mind…treats.

Now let’s settle one thing. There is nothing wrong with using treats to train your dog. In fact, using treats makes training much easier and almost always yields faster results. However, food is not a requirement for a well trained dog. Reinforcement is what’s required to train your dog properly.

The quarrel most owners have with using treats is that they feel they are bribing the dog to do what they want. This is a logical concern. After all, many owners have faced the “he’ll only do it for a treat” issue. And these owners are not wrong! Food can easily move from a reinforcer to a contingency, or bribe, when food is not properly phased out of training.

In animal training, food is a tool. And just like any other tool trainers utilize, food must be phased out at the earliest opportunity. Even as quickly as the third repetition. Luckily, this is easy to achieve by simply asking for more of the behavior before feeding a treat. 

For example, when teaching your dog to come when called, you will feed every time your dog responds correctly in the beginning. Then, you will feed for only the best 3 responses out of every 5, then every 10, and so on. Pretty simple! However, for those who want more of a challenge, struggle to phase food out of their training, or have dogs that are not highly motivated by food, there are alternative forms of reinforcement.

Treats Are Not Required For Effective Training

While we use treats because food (being a primary reinforcer) is inherently valuable and accelerates the training process, it is not required for effective training. There are alternatives to reinforce your dog, such as play or praise, as well as other factors important in training your dog without treats such as consistency and the Premack principle. Find what motivates your dog specifically because no two are the same.

Play As a Reinforcer

Play is one of the best alternatives to food as a reinforcer for your dog. Most dogs love to play and will do just about anything for it. So it can be just as powerful of a reinforcer as food. Even when military and police dogs are trained to bite the bad guy, they are rewarded with play when they return to the handler!

Contrary to popular belief, however, not all dogs are inherently familiar with how to play. Some games you play with your dog come natural like chase and tug. Structured games like frisbee or fetch, on the other hand, must be taught in order to be reinforcing.

So how do you use play to train your dog? Simple. The same way you would train with food!

You can lure your dog into a place or position with a toy, you can reward wanted behavior with a toy via shaping or all or none reward training, you can even classically condition your dog with a toy to build positive associations. (learn more about animal training techniques). The possibilities are endless.

Praise As a Reinforcer

In addition to play, praise functions as another great option for training your dog without treats. One of the advantages to using praise as a reinforcer is that the satiation threshold for attention is way higher than for food so you can get a lot more out of your dog in one training session.

Think about how we use praise when teaching children. In school, teachers don’t reward their students with candy when they solve a problem, they reward them with praise by telling them what a good job they did. Think of praise and attention for your dog as the equivalent of a high five for children.

Praise should be used this same way with your dog. When they do something you like, prompted or unprompted, let them know with praise and attention. Keep your praise authentic. You are actually proud of your dog when they behave after all so let them know.

Your tone of voice is another important aspect when using praise. If your dog is behaving calmly then praise them with a calm, soothing tone. If they behave while excited then praise them with a lively tone. Basically, if your dog doesn’t react to your tone then it needs to change.

In many cases, praise can be even more reinforcing than food. So use authentic praise and attention to let your dog know when they do something right. Otherwise, how will they ever know what you want from them.

Consistency

The biggest secret to training your dog without food is consistency. This is how dogs learn the fastest. Everyone involved in the life of your dog must be giving them consistent feedback on their behavior.

Without consistent feedback, your dog will not understand the rules and will only get more confused. For example, let’s say a newly married couple gets a new dog. The husband loves hanging out with the dog on the couch and allows the new dog up with him while home alone, but the wife hates the dog being on the furniture and scolds the dog for getting on the couch when the husband is away. So what happens when both the husband and the wife are home?

This issue can (and in this case did) result in a dog that growls and bites at the wife. If the dog is never taught what it is supposed to do and not supposed to do, all it learns is that the wife is mean; having no clue that being on the couch is even a factor in this situation at all.

Consistency is one of the most important elements in training your dog no matter how you do it. But this element becomes crucial when training your dog without treats.

Premack Principle

The last method to train your dog without treats is called the Premack Principle. The Premack Principle simply states that high-probability behaviors can be used to reinforce low-probability behaviors. An example might be a child that is more likely to play than read can be rewarded for reading with access to play; in turn, increasing the probability of reading in the future.

In dogs, this principle is best implemented using ‘life rewards’. At any given point in time your dog is wanting something. While yes, this could be their dinner, it could also be sleep, toys, attention, access to a specific area, access to a person, access to another dog, a squirrel in the yard, and the list goes on and on. Using these ‘life rewards’ to your benefit is the key to having a well trained dog without using treats.

To demonstrate use of the Premack Principle let’s evaluate a dog excited to leave for a walk as an example. You, as the owner, are getting your dog’s leash ready for your walk, and in that moment your dog wants nothing more than to bust out the door and run down the street. Leash or no leash. So going through the door is the life reward you can use to train your dog to wait at the door. To do so, you will open the door only when the dog is waiting patiently and not moving forward to leave. If your dog breaks, the door closes. After only a few repetitions the dog will learn what gets them closer to what they want (to leave) and what gets them further.

If you, as the owner, have enough motivation to go through the door that you are willing to engage in the behavioral chain of reaching for the handle, turning it, and pulling the door open, then your dog will have enough motivation to wait patiently while that process happens.

Use the premack principle by thinking one step ahead. “What does my dog want in this moment?” and “how can I use this to my advantage in training?”

To Conclude…

Training your dog without treats is not only possible but can even be advantageous as it eliminates the risk of both owner and dog becoming reliant on food. While there is nothing wrong with using treats for training inherently, they must be properly phased out for effective training. Training your dog without treats takes extra patience and consistency, it can be done utilizing play, praise, and the Premack principle. In the end, all lead to a well trained dog…treat-free.