Help! My dog won’t eat treats when we’re training!

One of the most common struggles people have when training with treats is what to do when their dog won’t eat them. While some dogs are super treat-motivated, others are much less bothered or won’t take treats in certain situations. If your dog isn’t a super hungry labrador who will gobble down literally anything you put in front of them, you might wonder whether training with treats is ever going to work for you and your dog.

The main reason food is the most common reward in dog training is because every dog is food-motivated. Dogs need to eat to live so food is inherently rewarding. But your dog’s personality, the food you offer them and the environment they’re in will affect how tempting that food is. Some dogs are less motivated by food because they’re ill so it’s always worth checking with your vet if you’re concerned. But as long as your dog is healthy, there are easy changes that will make treats more rewarding and increase the effectiveness of your training.

Make sure your dog’s calm enough to learn

One of the benefits of training with treats is that you can easily judge how your dog is feeling. Dogs will stop eating if they’re super stressed or excited. If your dog is so stressed or excited they won’t eat, they’re not going to be in the best place to learn anything. So if your dog won’t take treats or spits them out that’s a good sign it’s time to stop training. Sometimes the problem is that the environment is too distracting or scary for your dog. In those situations, you’ll need to move away from the distraction or just take your dog back home. There’s just no point even trying to do any training when your dog’s too anxious or excited to focus.

Your dog might also stop eating if you make their training too hard. If your dog doesn’t understand what you're asking them to do or you expect them to do too much to get their reward they’re probably gonna get frustrated. Some dogs completely check out on training and stop trying at all when they get confused and frustrated. You can try to tempt them with treats to focus on you but they’ll just ignore them. Other dogs get very snappy taking treats when they get frustrated during training - so this is another sign it’s time to take a break and make their training easier in future.

Check your dog actually likes their treats

Every dog has their own preferences over what food they like. And sometimes when a dog doesn’t seem treat-motivated, they just don’t really like the treats available. So it’s worth trying switching up what treats you give your dog. Most dogs prefer meaty treats like chicken or hot dogs or cheese. But every dog is different. Your dog might hate chicken but love bits of crunchy carrot. Try offering your dog lots of different treats to see what they prefer. It’s worth having a few different treat options available when you’re training or out on a walk, even the tastiest treats can become boring quickly. If your dog doesn’t know what treat they’re gonna get they’ll be much more motivated and willing to learn.

Adding a variety of food to a muffin tin and letting your dog choose is a great way to find out your dog’s favourite treats

If your dog loves their kibble you might be wondering whether you can just use their food in training. And if it’s their absolute favourite food you can - although I’d still recommend you vary your dog’s rewards to keep it interesting. But honestly, even if your dog really enjoys their kibble, it’s probably not going to be their favourite. So you're going to struggle to use it as an effective reward around distractions like people, dogs and squirrels. If you’re worried about your dog eating too many treats you can make their kibble more exciting by mixing it with some chicken, cheese or sausages and leaving it in the fridge overnight so it’ll smell much more tempting. Or just cut your treats smaller…

Some people will tell you that training your dog when they’re hungry and only feeding your dog through training will increase their food-motivation. Unfortunately that’s likely to make your training less effective, not more. Just like people, hungry dogs don’t learn well. And if you’re asking a hungry dog to train for food they’re just going to get frustrated and will try anything to get the food instead of thinking about what you want. I usually recommend feeding your dog a small meal around an hour before training. Then they’re not super hungry, but they’re also not so full they don’t want to eat anything.

Try turning treats into a game

Most people think giving their dog a treat means holding that treat right in front of their dog’s mouth and letting them eat it. And honestly that’s super boring and it’s no surprise most dogs aren’t that bothered by treats if that’s all they get. Most distractions are exciting because your dog finds chasing and sniffing super fun. You can use that to your advantage to make their treats way more exciting. Just throwing a treat for your dog to chase, catch or sniff and find is going to turn that treat into a game and make it way more rewarding.

This is especially useful if your dog is on a restricted diet either temporarily or permanently. When your dog’s only allowed to eat one specific kibble or has a limited number of treat options you can’t vary their rewards or use higher-value treats for training. But you can make the same kibble they eat for every meal way more exciting by playing games with it. And you can switch up the games you play so your dog still doesn't know exactly what reward they’re getting.

Food isn’t the only way to reward your dog

Treats are often the most useful reward to use for training: they’re easy to carry and rewarding with a treat is really quick. But they’re not the only reward you can use. Playing fetch or tug is an amazing reward. Especially for recall when often a single treat doesn’t cut it compared to playing with dogs and chasing squirrels. You can reward your dog with a stroke or a scratch but not all dogs are super keen on fuss as a reward. And some dogs will accept fuss for something they can do easily in a quiet environment but don’t consider it a reward when learning something new or around lots of distractions.

You can even use anything that can distract your dog as a reward. Instead of giving your dog a treat or playing with them, release them to sniff a lamppost, play with a dog or splash in a river. It’s not a great idea to only use the environment as a reward because if your dog’s reward never comes from you it can be difficult to get their focus on you. But if your dog’s reward for coming back is sometimes chasing a treat, sometimes a game of tug and sometimes being allowed to go back and continue what they’re doing they’re going to be super motivated.

Need more support with your dog’s training?

You can get personalised support to teach your dog all the skills they’ll need for your life together and how to reward them for their training with the Your Adaptable Companion 1-2-1 dog training programme.

Written by Juniper Indigo, dog trainer in Tiverton and Exeter