The Well-Stocked Treat Pouch

At Janice Z Dog Training, we teach dogs by rewarding the behaviors we want to see more of. That is the core of rewards-based, force-free training: dogs get a reward, usually a morsel of very delicious food, for doing the behavior we are teaching.

Often, clients say “of course my dog does it for you —you have the good treats!” Here’s the thing: your dog will do it for you, too, if you increase her paycheck. This is very often a lightbulb moment
for my clients!

Food rewards need to be super-special and given frequently. You’ll notice when we work together that I zip right along the training plan to keep the dog engaged. Most humans don’t work for free and neither do our dogs. And when a dog (or person) is asked to do something new and difficult, we both are usually way more motivated if we get a raise! So leave the kibble for mealtimes and up the treat ante: diced cheese or boiled chicken, diced treat logs, or freeze-dried liver. The verdict is in: Using food is the ultimate dog training tip.

Need a new treat pouch or ideas what to put in it? Check out this free resource on my favorite training gear. And see below for one of my favorite treats!

P.S. I often hear “Do I have to carry treats forever?”

and the answer is, yes ... but you are also carrying a leash, pickup bags, and probably your keys and phone. Good news is that you don’t need to carry a lot of different treats when your dog is well-practiced in her manners. Your treat pouch or bag can hold something that’s just a bit more special than everyday kibble ... chicken jerky for dogs is a great option as you can tear off little pieces of it as needed. Instead of rewarding every time your dog does a desired behavior on a walk, you will become her casino slot machine and reward her at random.

Reward your dog at random when she looks at you, stays close, turns back to you when she sees another dog, or ignores that discarded egg sandwich wrapper. Sometimes give her one treat for checking in, sometimes give her 4 or 5. These random treats keep your dog’s learned behaviors super-strong.

You may even notice that when you start rewarding randomly, your dog pays even more attention to you. She never knows when that slot machine will hit the jackpot!

My honest opinion — my favorite “meat rolls” to use for training

I’ve bought many brands of meat-based treat rolls or logs to use during training. My favorite, by far, is Happy Howie’s.

The benefit of using meat rolls is that they are easy to dice into tiny pieces to use when training your dog. The smaller you dice them, the thriftier the roll becomes! And dogs love them, keeping your treat pouch well-stocked and irresistible, as noted above.

Many of the other meat/treat roll brands I’ve tried crumble into a mess in my treat pouch. Not Happy Howie’s! They remain intact little cubes. I like to dice up a whole roll of them at a time and freeze them in small zipper bags. If you have a few leftovers, you can toss them in your dog’s food bowl or stuffed Kongs.

Happy Howie’s is based in Detroit, which I also love, and has an extensive FAQ
about their product quality.

Based in Medford, Mass., Janice Z Dog Training currently holds all one-on-one training sessions live and online. No need to wear a mask or worry about being 6' away from others, no need to bundle the dog into a car, tidy the house for the trainer’s visit, or get a babysitter for the kids. Visit Janice Z Dog Training for more information and sign up for her monthly newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/hrHUBr