“When can I stop rewarding?” – Probably the most common question clients ask once introduced to positive reinforcement training. As soon as I hear it what I know they really want to know is “when can I stop using treats?”

Let’s break this down a little bit:

1. You will never really stop rewarding your dog for their good behavior. Your rewards will gradually shift and the rate of reward delivery may decrease- but rewards never really go away.
2. There are more types of rewards than food rewards- however food is easy, quick, and effective!
3. Most people fade high value rewards too quickly and without planning or purpose

There is a very common saying in dog training: “you wouldn’t keep working without a paycheck would you? So pay up!” meaning that you should pay your dog for their good behavior with treats the same way you get paid for your good work with money. This actually a much better analogy than most people realize. As an adult you likely get paid on a fairly regular basis with the expectation that you work fairly steadily in between, but occasionally you may just receive a bonus for extra work (overtime) or exceptional work. As a child you likely received more payment of some sort much more often and for less effort (think of a sticker chart for small tasks or Hershey kisses in kindergarten).

You can sort of think of your dog the same way- pay them often and regularly for small basic tasks early on throughout their learning phases like using a sticker chart until they are ready to work longer periods for regular steady pay. Then you can occasionally whip out a bonus for any over time or exceptional work. For example- the first 100 or so times my dog sits when asked at the front door I pay up with tiny food reward, but after a while I come to expect the sits and she begins to expect to sit when asked and we fall in to a routine pattern.

Notice I said “100 or so” not “10 or so”- you spent a year in kindergarten getting stickers not a week, and realistically you probably got stickers through 2^nd or 3^rd grade. Then one day she might do something exceptional- like walk up to a different door in a new place and sit in which case I pay up with a bonus treat! I may have faded out the food rewards for sitting at home at the door (she is still rewarded by the door opening for her) but this is something new and she deserves a little something special for offering a good behavior.

In general, use food rewards longer than you think necessary and the worse you will do is strengthening the behavior even more. However, I do understand that many people immediately want to know about the end goal- not needing to carry around treats. I’ll be honest, I never know when my dog will surprise me by doing something awesome and I always want to be ready to let her really know that I know it was awesome so I always have some sort of food item hidden somewhere when my dog is out and about with me. But really, I get it.

Once you and your dog have a good rhythm and relationship and you no longer really have a doubt that they are about to do what you are about to ask- that’s when you start lowering your reward rate. Not any sooner. If you are not sure if your dog will sit the first time you say the word or give the hand signal you better still be rewarding every signal one and you should probably work on some drills and generalization. Once you can honestly say you and your dog have it down, that you are really both in sync- than you start taking the treats out of the mix. That’s when they become a really special “only-when-you-do-something-awesome” or “because-I-feel-like-it” (let’s be honest sometimes we give our dogs treats just because we want to and that’s good for their soul and motivation too!). But remember- you’re still rewarding! Your still giving pets, toys, play, access to the outdoors, etc… your just making treats the extra special reward.

Happy Training!

Tamar Paltin

Head Trainer- Perfect Pooch

BA, CPDT-KA, AKC CGC Evaluator