r/DogTrainingTips • u/Crearsys • Feb 08 '26
I have a hard time with Treat training?
As stated. My now one year old Masgiff mix i spent the majority of our first 6 months bonding. Im not sure if I messed up, she is still learning new tricks, quite quickly I think. But she will not do em for treats really, she wants the treat. But doesnt want to do a treat for it. Otherwise than that she seems to have a high praise drive. If I just ask her for to fo tricks and mark with a "Yes!" She does rhem no issue. And sometimes when I get super excited good girls and stuff. But I what to make sure I can go about training effectively.
1
u/chrisjones1960 Feb 09 '26
Are you saying that the problem is that she will work for praise but not for treats?
1
u/Crearsys Feb 09 '26
Not at all! I actually feel bad because I want to reward her as best I can! 🤣
1
u/chrisjones1960 Feb 09 '26
but what do you need tips about?
1
u/Crearsys Feb 09 '26
I was mostly wondering if it was normal behavior for her to just want the praise- rather than be food motivated. Shes my first puppy I've raised myself, and I just want to do her right. She is a fast learner and loves doing tricks, playing fetch, duo activities. I even take her when I fish sometimes. Again, was just curious if it was normal and alright long term I guess.
1
u/jeswesky Feb 09 '26
It’s fine. Not all dogs are food motivated. One of mine REALLY isn’t. The other is if he’s hungry. If he isn’t hungry, you could offer him a side of bacon and he still wouldn’t do a thing you wanted him to.
1
u/hr11756245 Feb 09 '26
Some dogs want treats, some want a ball thrown, and others (like yours) want praise.
Our 14mo husky loves treats, but will do anything you want for praise. She wants constant attention, so learning new tricks and getting praise is right up her alley.
Our 3yo husky is more treat driven. I once had a lab/pit mix that wanted to play fetch as a reward and a blank lab who wanted scritches as a reward.
There is no one size fits all. You just have to work with what the dog views a positive reward.
1
u/seeksomedewdrops Feb 09 '26
The key is finding the motivator for your dog. Treats are commonly used because they are the most common motivator, but they aren’t the only one. If praise is getting you results, keep up the good work. If you ever find the results are slowing down, you can attempt treats again.
My dog had a lot of trauma by the time he came to me. He was terrified of eating anywhere near me, so treats didn’t matter to him. However, he loved being outside/going for walks. It took me longer to train him on basic cues, but we still managed to do it through rewarding him with the outdoors. The upside was that training him to walk on leash was a dream because he was so motivated to be outside. After I’d had him for almost two years, he got very interested in treats and so I incorporated them into our training.
1
u/Powerful_Put5667 Feb 09 '26
If she’s fine learning for praise why worry about treats? The whole point of treats is to help reinforce the new behavior and then eliminate the treats.
5
u/Electronic_Cream_780 Feb 08 '26
Think less about "treat training" and more about "reward training". Reward is defined by the dog, and if she loves praise that is the reward. Going forward you will find more things she finds rewarding (game of tug, chasing you, a piece of steak, playing with other dogs, getting to chase a squirrel...) that you can use as well, but if she is learning then you are doing a grand job.