Tricks with no treats?

QUESTION: My dog isn't food motivated. Will that make training him more difficult?

ANSWER:

Using food as a motivator is one way to train, but there are other ways. When I rescued my Doberman mix, Clyde, both he and I discovered that he was very good at fetching and catching the ball. Although he did like treats, I used his tennis ball as the main reward.

To begin, I encouraged a healthy obsession with the ball by always making the games energetic and fun--and by taking the ball and putting it away while Clyde was still interested. Clyde became so happy to see his tennis ball that I used it as his focal point when I worked with him to overcome his dog aggression issues.

If you do use food as a reward, here are a few tips:

• Establish a tiered treat system. Reward with gold treats for the most difficult tasks, silver treats for medium tasks, and bronze treats for the easiest tasks. Make sure to have a variety of treats at each level.
• Use the Las Vegas reward method. Keep several types of treats on hand, and on occasion, surprise your dog with a random jackpot (a jackpot is when the treats keep coming, like coins from a winning slot machine). Look at how successful Las Vegas is! The same psychology works for your dog.
• Use the dog's regular mealtime food to reward him. I do not recommend feeding your dog on a schedule, but rather using his food throughout the day as a reward. That way, listening to you is a necessity, not a choice.