Is Using Food During Training Bribery?

As clients learn about our training methods, we sometimes get people who question the use of food as a reward. They want the dog to perform correctly without the motivation of food – isn’t that true good behavior? With that perspective, we can understand why they think that using food during training is bribery. However, we must insist that food is necessary, and here is why.

It does not matter if you are an animal or a human; you need positive motivation when you learn new behavior. You need a signal that you did it right. As humans, we depend on things like grades, income, and more to indicate a job well done. We care about these things. Animals are no different, except that grades and money mean nothing to them. However, food does. Most of them love food, and it is a great way to clearly communicate approval.

We do not only use food as rewards at Sit Means Sit. Petting, toys, happy encouragement, and more all feature prominently at our dog school. Our biggest mission is to make sure your dog understands what is going on.

To conclude, true bribery would be to give your dog a treat to make him do things he already knows. We do not do this. Instead, we use food during the learning process, and you can, too.

Contact Sit Means Sit in Madison for more information. We are the premier dog training school in the Wisconsin, and we look forward to meeting you and your dog!