Let’s talk about food motivation

Wild canines transitioned to domestication by establishing an essential value in humans. Through repetition of food given by humans to wild canines, trust was built. This reaction to the reliability of humans became a tool for the wild canine to meet their basic needs for survival a.k.a. dogs learned that good behavior led to a full belly!

One way to increase a dog's desire for obedience, is to reestablish its primal desire of human essential value. By choosing to feed your dog its kibble by hand, you return to the foundation that allowed wild canines to become house pets.

Treats are one of the primary reinforcers for a dog's behavior and, like humans, each dog has a hierarchy of reward. If we always ask for obedience from a dog with the treat they find most valuable, then that high value reward loses its effectiveness.

By establishing kibble as a baseline for training, we will ensure that all other rewards that come from our hand are regarded as a higher value.