Food is one of the most powerful motivators in animal training. Considering that most of the behaviors we want our dogs to do are not intrinsically reinforcing to them, we need to provide motivation. This is similar to you requiring payment to go to work. No matter how much you love your job and respect your boss, you will not work 40 hours every week for free (or even for praise). Potent consequences are what change behavior. Besides, you have to feed your dog every day anyway. You could give it all to them for free in a bowl, or you can reserve part, or all, of their daily caloric intake so they can earn it through training!
The type of treat you use matters! Low-value treats can work at home, however, in high-distraction environments or with more expensive behaviors you need to use the good stuff.
The best training treats are small and easy for your dog to eat so you can train quickly.
What matters most is what your dog likes, so audition different options and make note of what your dog prefers!
Yes! If you want to train without punishment, food is essential. Praise and affection alone are rarely enough to motivate a dog to learn new behaviors. Another advantage of food is that you can use it to guide the dog into position. Food therefore has two roles: as a target ("lure") and as a reward.
Yes, behavior is dependent on consequences, so maintaining established behaviors with concealed intermittent rewards is a must. However, you will not have to use them as frequently as you do for a new behavior. Over time, you can expect more behaviors for fewer treats. You can also incorporate other forms of reinforcement into training such as toys, smells, access to locations, dogs, or people.
All animals are food motivated because they need to eat to survive. However, it is common for dogs to be disinterested in treats during training for a variety of reasons such as: