27/12/2023
Each dog, different preferences!
It's not about our preferences, it's about our dog's ones!
Anything your dog perceives as valuable and increases the likelihood of a behavior to be repeated in the future can be considered a reinforcer.
Toys, attention, playing, running, going for a walk, water, food, sniffing, anything can be a reinforcer.
We can select and offer what we think is better but this is not about our preferences, it is about our dog's preferences. It is about what will help our dogs learn in each situation and in each stage of the training and behavior modification strategy.
If our dog offers the behavior we would like to see more often and we provide something he/she doesn't like, that's NOT a reinforcer because our dog doesn't perceive that as valuable enough.
We are often asked to train dogs without using food.
It is a misunderstanding to think that giving food to reinforce our dog's behavior isn't good, but the reality is that if your dog is happy and motivated to cooperate and engage with you and he/she wants food as a reinforcer, that's completely okay!
There are much more things to discuss about in here but reinforcing your dog with food is not a problem.
When you give meals, some "treats", chewing bones, etc. Don't you think that's adding value to your relationship? Then, why can't we provide food to guide and help our dogs to manage and get better in situations that they aren't comfortable with? It's all about our dog's welfare and success.
As we mentioned above, there are so many ways to reinforce behavior and each dog, each case and each situation is different but we need to choose what's better for our dogs, not just for us 🐾😃