Training with treats or toys What really is better

I often get asked the question "Do you use dog treats or toys to train your dogs?"  Well the simple answer is YES I DO!  I feel that many people may not understand what is driving the dog to do what you are asking.  Dogs truly live in the moment and they will respond to whatever is the easiest thing for them to do.  They can respond to our laughter, a great smell coming from kitchen, someone raising a newspaper over them, and even an invader in your home.  How they respond is a matter of  "is this the best thing for me."  The whole purpose of dog training is to teach them how to respond to these situations  So you are asking "Well that is nice and all but how do I train my dog to sit," or some other behavior?  Well I believe that food is the easiest motivator at first.  You can use the fact that the dog can smell food better than any toy,  to guide it to where you want it to be.  Now in my experience,  most foods do not create a dog that is going crazy jumping all over the place,  but there are exceptions.  With that said, placing a treat in front of the dogs nose and say lifting it up slightly will help to begin to teach a young puppy to sit.   You could even teach the dog to spin in different directions by guiding it with the food around in a circle.  Now to be fair to the dogs, please give your dog the reward each time he has done something correctly especially when you are teaching him.

So what place do toys have in training?  Well, once again depending on your dog, a toy can be used to build speed in your dog.  This is done by playing a came with the dog that involves a toy.  You will notice that the dog will do whatever it can to get the ball from you or to have you throw it.  You could even have a tug toy that each time the dog does what is correct it gets to play tug with you.

There are several methods for utilizing these motivators to get the results you want from your dog.  Get creative with the different games you play with your dog.  I have often realized in the training of my own dogs that the only thing in the way of them learning how to do something is...ME. "

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