Dog Food Rewards: Essential Training Tips for Every Owner

Dog food rewards are a favourite tool for many owners because they make training simple, positive, and effective. A tasty treat can quickly encourage good behaviour, but there’s more to it than just giving snacks. Every dog has their own likes, dislikes, and ways of learning.

Understanding these differences helps you choose rewards that truly motivate your pup. When used thoughtfully, food rewards become more than training tools — they help improve your communication. They build trust, strengthen your bond, and make every training session an opportunity to connect with your furry friend.

Why Dog Food Rewards Work in Training

Food rewards are powerful because they tap into the way dogs naturally learn. Training is most effective when it uses positive reinforcement — rewarding a behaviour you want to see again. For dogs, food is one of the strongest motivators since it fulfils a basic need and feels instantly rewarding.

By immediately reinforcing a successful behaviour with food, your dog quickly learns to associate the action with a positive outcome. Over time, this clear cause-and-effect helps your dog understand what’s expected and makes learning both fun and rewarding.

Choosing the Right Treats for Training

The treats you choose can make or break a training session. To your dog, not every snack is equally exciting — some treats feel like winning the lottery, while others are more like everyday pocket change. Understanding these differences helps you keep your dog motivated, focused, and eager to learn.

High, Mid, and Low-Value Treats

Think of treats as a hierarchy:

• High-value treats: Irresistible and special, usually soft and smelly.

• Examples: small pieces of chicken, cheese, liver, hot dog slices, or steak.

• Best for: teaching brand-new skills, tackling tricky behaviours, or training in distracting environments (like the park).

• Mid-value treats: Tasty but not overly rich, great for everyday reinforcement.

• Examples: dog-safe jerky strips, air-dried food, or high-quality training treats.

• Best for: rewarding behaviours your dog already knows in familiar settings.

• Low-value treats: Familiar snacks your dog enjoys but won’t go over the moon for.

• Examples: kibble, dry biscuits, or low-calorie training bites.

• Best for: casual practice at home or rewarding calm behaviour throughout the day.

Rotating between these levels keeps training fresh. Save the “big guns” (high-value) for moments when you really need your dog’s attention or when your dog does an incredible job performing a behaviour. You can even use a training planner, like APAWLO’s Back to Basics: Dog Training Planner, to track which treats motivate your pup most and see how their progress improves over time.

Texture, Size, and Ease of Eating

The way a treat is made also matters.

Training flows best when rewards are quick and easy to eat. Soft, small in size, moist treats are ideal because they can be swallowed in seconds, keeping your dog focused on you instead of chewing.

Large, crumbly, or chewy snacks can distract your pup or break their rhythm. Instead, aim for small, bite-sized pieces that correlate to your dog’s size — enough to be rewarding, but not overly filling. This allows you to reward frequently without risking overfeeding or losing focus to satiation.

Making Food Rewards More Effective

Food rewards are more than tasty snacks — they’re a way to motivate your dog and help you connect. How you use them can shape whether training feels frustrating or fun. With small tweaks in variety, timing, and delivery, you can make every reward count.

Vary the Rewards

Imagine eating the same meal every day — it would get boring quickly. Dogs can feel the same way during training. Novelty is powerful for keeping them engaged; switching up flavours, textures, and treat sizes sparks curiosity and motivation.

Creating a “trail mix” of safe, natural treats adds excitement. Your dog never knows what’s coming next, which keeps sessions fresh. Variety keeps their attention on you, not the distractions around them.

Time It Right

Timing makes all the difference. To build strong associations, rewards should follow the behaviour within one or two seconds. A delayed treat can leave your dog unsure of what earned it.

Marker words like ‘yes’ or a clicker are valuable here — they bridge the gap by telling your dog the exact moment they got it right, even if the treat comes a second later. Quick, clear feedback builds confidence and helps improve your dog's rate of learning.

Use the Jackpot Effect

Sometimes a bigger surprise creates a lasting impact. Offering a handful of treats or a special bite feels like a jackpot to your dog. This boost of excitement makes training memorable.

The most effective way to deliver a jackpot is by offering several treats in quick succession, one after another. This extends the reward event, making the celebration last longer and feel more exciting than a single large piece or handful that can be inhaled in one bite.

Use jackpot rewards when your dog achieves something particularly challenging. Nailing a tricky behaviour or ignoring a major distraction deserves extra celebration! These big moments deepen motivation and create enthusiasm.

Mix in Other Motivators

Food isn’t the only way to say “well done”. Many dogs thrive on praise, play, or favourite toys. Mixing rewards keeps training balanced and engaging.

In the first phase of learning — when a dog is being introduced to a brand-new behaviour — it’s best to stick with food rewards. Food is clear, consistent, and helps keep arousal levels down, so learning stays focused. Once the behaviour is established, you can begin layering in other rewards like play or toys to build fluency and keep training balanced and engaging. 

Adjust Feeding Schedules

A hungrier dog is often more focused on earning rewards. If your dog seems uninterested in treats, try training before mealtimes. You can then follow the session with your dog’s meal — using natural hunger to your advantage without withholding food.

Support Overweight Dogs

Training should support health, not harm it. For overweight dogs, use their regular meals as training rewards through handfeeding. Pre-portion the day’s food in advance and use it during training sessions, giving any leftovers at the end of the day.

You can also mix in lower-calorie snacks, like chopped veggies, to switch things up and add novelty without adding extra calories. This keeps portions controlled while still keeping your dog lean, happy, and ready to learn. 

For practical guidance on managing weight, see RSPCA Australia’s advice on preventing pet obesity.

Handle Low Food Drive

Not every dog is motivated by food, and that’s okay!

Strong-smelling options like chicken, sardines, or cheese often work better than bland treats. You can also build motivation through contrafreeloading — the idea that many animals prefer to work for food rather than eat it for free. Instead of serving meals in a bowl, handfeed your dog during training or scatter food so they have to search and earn it.

Turning food into a game can also activate play and prey drive. Try tossing treats to chase or rolling them along the ground so rewards feel interactive. Many trainers add a special marker word like “get it” to signal the start of this chase, making it part of the reward system.

Experiment with different textures, flavours, and delivery styles. By making food interactive and engaging, even dogs with lower food drive often develop stronger motivation to work for rewards.

How Food Rewards Strengthen Your Bond

When paired with clear markers, food rewards act as powerful reinforcers that not only shape behaviour but also support a stronger bond. Training goes beyond obedience, focusing on building skills, confidence, and a strong working partnership.

Conclusion

Dog food rewards are far more than simple treats — they’re a powerful way to communicate, guide, and connect with your dog. When used thoughtfully, they transform training from routine practice into meaningful moments of learning and trust.

By tailoring rewards to your dog’s needs and using them with care, you create clear communication, lasting motivation, and genuine joy in every session. Training becomes less about commands and more about collaboration, where progress feels rewarding for both ends of the lead. In the end, food rewards build not just skills but a stronger, happier bond with your companion.

 

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use my dog’s regular kibble as training treats?
Yes, kibble can work as a low-value dog food reward, especially for casual practice at home. For harder tasks, or as you advance through the phases of training, mix in higher-value treats to keep your dog motivated.

How many treats are too many during training?
A good rule is to keep training treats small and adjust regular meals so the extra calories don’t add up. Dog food rewards should support learning and overall health.

Are human foods safe to use as training rewards?
Some are — like plain chicken or small pieces of carrot — but avoid anything toxic to dogs (e.g., chocolate, grapes, onions). When unsure, stick to dog food rewards made for training.

Do puppies and adult dogs need different training treats?
Puppies benefit from very small, soft food rewards that are easy to chew and swallow, while adult dogs can handle a wider range. Always choose training treats that suit your dog’s age and size.