5 reasons training your dog with treats isn't working

“I tried training my dog with treats, but it didn’t work.”

You’ve decided to ditch outdated punishment-based dog training and try positive reinforcement instead - good for you! The problem is, when you tried training your dog with treats, you didn’t get the results you were hoping for. Before you get discouraged, take heart - your treat training might just need a few simple tweaks.

Let’s dive into five potential reasons your treat training isn’t working:

1. Your dog is over threshold
This is a big one! If your dog is either too upset or too amped up to consume the food you’re trying to give him, then something about your training setup needs to change. If you’re working on fear-based reactivity, it could mean your dog is too close to the trigger - he’s got “bigger fish to fry” and isn’t interested in eating right now. Same deal if your dog is frustrated by his leash and wants to get closer to something - he’s more interested in that than your food.

It may seem obvious, but for the treat training to work, your dog needs to consume the treat. Try giving your dog more space from his triggers, changing your walking route, and walking at quieter times of day - anything to prevent him from going over threshold on walks.

2. Your treats are too low-value/you’re being stingy
Say you’re teaching your dog to perform a recall (coming when called). Recall is considered a “big ticket” behaviour, because it’s usually asking a lot of your dog - he has to stop doing something he wants to do, like playing with his pals at the dog park, and come to you.

If he does a solid recall and his payment is a single dry biscuit, he may not come so willingly next time (unless dry biscuits are his favourite treat)! Big-ticket behaviours need big payoffs, and they need to be something special that the dog doesn’t get all the time. Think cheese, chicken, or dried sardines - and lay them on thick, with lots of praise!

3. You’re not doing the procedure correctly
This is one reason why working with an educated force-free trainer can be beneficial: They’ll be able to coach you on your technique. You may have found a great training procedure, but if things like your timing and treat delivery are off, it won’t work as well as it could. A good trainer will be your cheerleader as well as your coach - they’ll reinforce the pieces you’re doing right, as well as help you fine-tune the things that need work.

4. You’re not feeding the treat every time
Remember, for the training to work, the dog needs to consume the treat! If you’re trying to teach your dog a new behaviour, it’s especially important to pay him every single time he does it. Don’t even think about skipping treats until he’s more fluent - and stopping treats altogether means the behaviour will eventually stop too.

Same goes if you’re trying to change the way your dog feels about something he doesn’t like. It’s super important to always follow the thing he doesn’t like (say, being touched on his body) with a treat. You’ll get the strongest possible conditioning if you preserve this pairing, in that order.

If you’re constantly forgetting to bring treats with you on walks, make it easier for yourself by prepping the week’s treats ahead of time and keeping the treat pouch with your dog’s harness and leash.

5. You gave up on using treats after a few tries
Did you give treat training enough of a chance? We’ve all seen those dog training reality shows where the dog is “fixed” in a single episode, but things don’t work that way in real life! Instant results are rare in dog training - you’ll have to keep doing procedures consistently and for a while before you see some changes. But when you do start seeing them, wow - the feeling is magical!

Before you throw in the towel because it all sounds too hard, here’s the good news: If it’s a behaviour challenge you’re struggling with, like reactivity or window barking, your trainer can help you with management solutions to stop or greatly reduce the problem behaviour while training is taking place.

Need help from a professional? If you’re in Toronto’s west end, check out my day training services. We can also work together virtually.