How Treat Values Become a Training Game Changer

Is $50 the same as $1?
Is steak the same as kibble?
Why is treat value a game changer?

As a dog trainer, I encourage dog parents to use food to teach and motivate their dogs to learn new behaviors or reinforce behaviors they like. But not all food has the same importance (value) to your dog, nor should it. Just like us, dogs have opinions.

The value of a reward (in this case, food) can be categorized from high to low and is subjective, based entirely on the individual dog and the ease or difficulty of what you need the dog to do.

My dog Huxley’s short treat value list looks like this:

High Value: Cooked meats like steak or chicken or freeze-dried beef liver. He will do almost anything, anywhere, for these goodies. These are my go-to’s for hard things for Huxley. Especially things like vet visits or calling him away from chasing a deer. These are the Mack daddies of hard things, and I bring out the high-value treats.

Medium Value: Training treats. These are the workhorses of our learning treats, but if I’m asking him to do something extra hard for him, these won’t cut it. Training treats for Huxley go on every walk, on all outings to our usual places he knows and likes, or for training new behaviors or tricks at home. 

Low Value: Produce or high-quality kibble. I use these around the house to tell Huxley “thanks” or give him a little at-a-boy reward. Examples would be Huxley chillin' out on his bed, not barking at the doorbell, or staying out of the kitchen when I’m cooking. In general, I try to catch him doing something I like and reward him so that I might see that behavior more often.

It’s important to remember that your dog has the final say on whether it wants high-, medium-, or low-value treats.

Environments play a massive role in dog and human behaviors. Consider the differences between your quiet living room and a busy park. All the sensory differences affect behavior.

For instance, your dog can sit perfectly on cue in your living room. However, when you go to the park, it’s as if it has never heard the word "sit." This is when clients say, “He’s just being stubborn,” or, “She knows perfectly well what I want her to do; she’s so difficult.”

But let’s break it down while standing in our dog’s paw prints for a second. Parks have fantastic grass and trees with 1000 smells to investigate, sights to look at, other animals, running kids, and all the noises and environmental differences in the weather. All those things can have different emotional triggers for your dog. But your lovely, quiet living room offers a familiar environment without many new things to smell or explore. No wonder your dog can focus at home under everyday situations for your household, but the park is doggy Disneyland. So, how do you encourage behaviors in highly distracting places? You start playing with treat values.

Behaviors are simply all things your dog does. Such as sit, down, come, and all the other doggy skills. But it’s also everything else: barking at noises, doing the zoomies when excited, sniffing every bush as if it’s their job, sleeping on their bed, or giving you the death stare when they need to be let outside to potty.

The BIG Three: Treat Value + Environment + Behavior

So, when considering the BIG three—food value, environment, and behavior—we must consider how they relate. Selecting food to help your dog perform a particular behavior in a specific environment is about knowing your dog and how it feels. Believe me, your dog has an opinion, and life gets easier when you and your dog start understanding how treat values work.

Ask yourself these questions:

Behaviors:
Is the behavior easy or hard for your dog?
Is it a new behavior or one they know well?
Is the behavior emotionally charged: fear or excitement?

Environments:
Is your dog used to the environment?
Have they been to this environment often, and how do they feel about it?
Is it a busy or calm place?

Food Values:
Does your dog take and eat the treats?
Is your dog able to focus on you?
Can they respond to their name?
Can they do simple behaviors they know well?

There are many training nuances to consider, but a good general rule of thumb is that the more complex the behavior (and that’s your dog’s opinion of hard, not yours), the higher the value of the food. The easier the behavior, the lower the value you can use.

So, experiment with treat values. See what your dog loves, likes, and is okay with, then experiment with when and how you use each value.

Remember, rewarded behaviors become repeated behaviors. So, start playing with the science of values and reward lots of behaviors.

Wishing you lots of tail-wagging!

Mariah Klein KPA-CTP

The Joy of Wagging

Medford, Oregon