This week’s question was twofold…why don’t we use treats AND why don’t we think treat training works.  Do not get me wrong, treats do work BUT only under conditioned response situations.  What does that mean?  Allow me to explain.

If your dog’s obedience is not reliable in ALL types of situations with ALL types of distractions, that would mean your dog is performing a conditioned response.  If you take that same dog into a high distraction situation/environment and have ANYTHING of motivational value distract that same dog, it would NOT be obedient any longer. 

I have actually done this to treat trainers early in my career…the treat trainer would bring a dog that was considered amazing at obedience in front of me. My one and only goal would be to get that dog to listen to me over them…all it would take for me to get that dogs attention is a piece of chicken or liver sausage. 

I now have something the dog views as a higher value/motivation, something more valuable than the same old treats the treat trainer has in their 1980 fanny pack. 

Guess what, their dog now gives me obedience and attention.

Then they would try the same with my leadership based obedience dog (my German Shepherd Achilles at the time) and he wouldn’t even look in their direction.  That is the difference between a dog that views you as its pack leader and a dog that is performing tricks due to a conditioned response.  No different than zoo or circus animals do.

This is exactly why treats do not work.  This is also why treat trainers struggle so badly with dogs in a high distraction environment and rarely deal with a dog that has true aggression issues.

Tired of conditioned response obedience?  Ready for unconditional obedience from your dog? 

Contact your local Always Faithful Dog Trainer today!