Dog Only Listens With Treats? Use This 5 Step Process To Build Better Behaviors #306
Shaped by Dog with Susan Garrett
DogsThat
4.8 • 679 Ratings
🗓️ 23 May 2025
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Visit us at shapedbydog.com
Do you feel your dog only listens when you have treats? Or maybe you’ve been told dogs should work because you said so. No one needs to choose between insisting on their dog's compliance without rewards or getting stuck as a treat-dispensing machine, so I’m sharing my 5 step process to help you build better behaviors. This process is the solution for our dogs to listen anywhere, anytime, with joy and clarity!
In this episode, you’ll hear:
• Debunking the myth that “your dog should work because you said so”.
• How to use your relationship bank with your dog effectively.
• A real-life example with my dogs, treats, and my husband, John.
• The 5 Step Process to build better behaviors and use food to your training advantage.
• How to transfer value from food into other reinforcers like toys, games, and activities.
• The power of surprise reinforcement deposits - dog bed example.
• What to do when your dog becomes a bit of a “demand-ica.”
• A training example with a target stick and my dog, This! on eroding great behavior.
• An invitation to join Home School the Dog or Recallers.
To know more about our online programs:
Write to us at [email protected] with the subject line: I want to know more about rewarding
Learn How To Play ItsYerChoice:
ItsYerChoice Summit - https://recallers.com/iycsummit-join/
Crate Games
Get Crate Games Online - https://get.crategames.com/
Hand Target and More Functional Games
Get the Hand Target Game and more foundational training games in our free Connected Dog Season of Nuance Video Series running for a limited time - https://learn.doggyflix.com/interactive/
Resources:
1. Podcast Episode 272: 10 Engaging Chase Games To Increase Your Picky Eater Dog’s Food Drive - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/272/
2. Podcast Episode 151: How Location Specific Reinforcement Markers Will Improve Your Dog Training! - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/151/
3. Podcast Episode 172: How To Teach Your Dog Anything With My Training Plan - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/172/
4. Podcast Episode 89: Why Dogs Should Not Tug: The Truth Revealed - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/89/
5. Podcast Episode 68: 3 Easy Tricks Every Dog Should Know - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/68/
6. YouTube Video: Understanding Your Dog's Reinforcement Zone (RZ) with Susan Garrett - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaUAScgaFAg
7. Podcast Episode 266: Hot Zone And Stays – How One Dog Training Nuance Can Fix Anxiety And Duration - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/266/
8. Episode 126: How Dog Training Goes Better When You Begin With The End In Mind (Backchaining) - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/126/
9. YouTube Playlist: Sit, Down, Stand, Stay! Dog Training Duration with Susan Garrett - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLphRRSxcMHy2cY7Fg3MLUaobkSdnVx0jt&si=DNIYIVzhai67AfYf
10. YouTube Playlist: Target Training for Dogs with Susan Garrett - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLphRRSxcMHy3ylCyQ2bJQSCwo_ERiVHj3&si=FSv06pl_2ffxfEDN
11. Podcast Episode 289: Stop Just Watching Dog Training Videos: Mastering Active Learning Instead! - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/289/
12. Watch this Episode of Shaped by Dog on YouTube - https://youtu.be/0MIAwmx1450
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Today, we're going to debunk the old myth that your dog should work because you said so. |
| 0:06.7 | That reinforcement after a certain stage really isn't necessary. |
| 0:28.7 | Hi, I'm Susan Garrett. Welcome to shape by dog. Now, many people buy into this myth because they kind of see it themselves. They'll say, Susan, my dog only works when they see the treats. |
| 0:34.5 | And that isn't because of the innate wiring of the dog's brain. It really is because |
| 0:40.1 | of a flawed use of that reinforcement. And so in today's episode, I'm going to share with you |
| 0:45.8 | how you can evolve your dog's reinforcement strategy. And then your dog isn't going to be in a place |
| 0:53.4 | where maybe a kid is when they know their parents |
| 0:57.3 | are coming home with ice cream, so they suddenly will clean the room. They connect the behavior |
| 1:02.4 | only when they can see or sense the reinforcement. Otherwise, like, it's no big deal. I don't |
| 1:08.1 | need to do that. Or putting on your seatbelt when you see a police |
| 1:11.7 | officer. You've connected the consequence with a behavior, so you do the behavior only when the |
| 1:18.2 | consequence is obvious. We need to evolve your reinforcement strategy so you don't get that. |
| 1:24.4 | But I get it. There's still some traditional dog trainers that will tell you |
| 1:28.6 | that using food in your training is a bribe or a crutch and the dog won't work without it. And |
| 1:35.4 | that's true if the focus of the training is attached just to that food. So think about you yourself. |
| 1:43.3 | You get up, you go to work every couple of weeks, |
| 1:45.3 | you get a paycheck. What if after like working at the same place for 10 years, they say, |
| 1:49.7 | congratulations, you've graduated, you've got your 10-year anniversary, you really know how to do this |
| 1:54.5 | job. Now we don't have to pay you anymore because we expect loyalty because we've trained |
| 2:00.5 | you so well. You're not staying around, |
| 2:02.6 | right? Or if you planted this beautiful garden and you fertilize the garden and just when it was |
| 2:08.2 | starting to bloom and give you some harvest, you said, well, that's it. I put in my work now. |
... |
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