A man and a woman recently came by for a puppy course. They came even before their new puppy arrived, which is something I always recommend. This way you can start well prepared during those crucial first days with your puppy. Those early days matter most: how you handle unwanted behavior, house training, the first night, and so on.
The couple was enthusiastic and clearly looking forward to the course. They already had some experience with dogs, but this time they wanted to do things even better.
Doubt About Training With Food
During the introduction, the topic of training with food came up. The woman immediately said, “I really don’t want that. I don’t like it at all.”
She thought it was terrible if a dog only did something for food. In her view, a dog could also be rewarded in other ways, for example with praise from the handler. So she clearly had an aversion to training with food.
I explained that food training is an important part of our system and that we strongly support it. I then asked if she still wanted to continue with the course. Fortunately, she did.
Why Training With Food Is So Effective
I explained how we train our puppies and what the major benefits are of working with food.
Food is not a goal in itself, but a tool to teach many things in a short time, always positively and based on motivation.
The puppy of course works for the food, but together with the handler. This quickly builds the foundation for many exercises and creates a strong bond between dog and handler.
“Not in the bowl, but in the pocket.”
That’s a phrase I often use to explain that you use the dog’s daily food during training, not as an extra treat but as a tool for learning.
When I explained that training with food often only lasts for a short period, she started to better understand how our system works.
Eventually the dog learns to work with and for the handler. I also pointed out that all the dogs shown on our website were trained with food.
A Practical Example With Jacky
After the session the couple left motivated. The man was fully convinced about training with food; the woman not entirely yet, but she was willing to give it a try.
As you can imagine, I am a strong supporter of training with food. Again today I saw how well and how quickly it works.
With our puppy Jacky, four months old, I practiced an exercise in the forest that we had first taught using food. This time we did it without food. Jacky knew exactly what to do.
Everything was taught in a short time using small pieces of food, with lots of repetition, short reward moments and on low drives. That is one of the big advantages of food training.
The search and barking exercise was first taught with food, now rewarded with a ball.
Training with food is the foundation of our system because it helps dogs learn calmly and with motivation.
It creates clarity, allows many repetitions in a short time and builds a strong working relationship between dog and handler.
Want to learn more about our food training system?
Check 👉 our online courses where we explain step by step how to apply this with your own dog.
