Despite seeming unusual, there are dogs that do not like snacks. Some pups even turn up their noses when their owners offer this type of food.
The fact that your dog doesn’t like treats can make training more difficult. After all, treats can go a long way in motivating your pup to execute a command or learn a new skill. But is it impossible to train a dog that doesn’t like treats? Absolutely not! You just need to try other alternatives as a reward to see what best motivates your dog.
In order to help you with this task, we will explain below how to train a dog that doesn’t like treats. We hope you enjoy!
How to train a dog that doesn’t like treats?
Here are some useful tips for training a dog that doesn’t like treats:
Make your Dog Work for His Meals
The first step in training a dog that doesn’t like treats is to stop offering him any scraps from the table or food with low nutritional value. The less food he receives throughout the day, the hungrier he will be for his meal times.
Make your dog work for his meals. Instead of offering food in an affordable way, such as in the bowl, spread the grains out on puzzle toys so your dog works to find each one. Or you could have your pup perform obedience commands during breakfast time and dinner time. And slowly feed him his breakfast or dinner as a reward for successfully completing each command.
In addition, you can also use the rest of his daily portion as positive reinforcement to reward good behavior throughout the day.
Read more: How to train a dog to roll over?
Consider the Smell
Have you ever noticed that your dog is often attracted to smelly things? This may seem strange to us humans, but it’s completely normal for animals.
With that in mind, you can try offering your dog treats that are different from the traditional ones. Try treats that have a stronger smell, such as dried liver or tripe.
Experiment with different types of treats until you find one that your dog likes best. Some dogs, for example, prefer soft treats, while others prefer harder treats.
Remember that no type of treat should be offered in excess to dogs. This type of food should never make up more than 10% of your pup’s daily caloric intake.
Read more: How to introduce dog to new baby?
Find out what motivates your dog
If your dog is not motivated by food, don’t worry. You can discover other things through observation that can motivate him.
Treats can be great motivators. But just like humans, dogs can be motivated by other things. For example, your dog may be more incentivized by receiving affection, praise, or play time with a specific toy from you.
It takes building trust with a lot of care and patience to really figure out what can make your dog “work”. It is important to remember that treats can help a lot in the training process. However, as the dog progresses, it is important that he starts executing commands for conditioning, and not just to receive external rewards. The idea is that little by little you can eliminate most of the food reinforcement.
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