About rewards for training: Rewards, from the dog's point of view, must be desirable and something they are willing to work for. Food has a lot of power as a reward. For rewards it's best if the food is soft (easy to swallow), and really small, no bigger than a small pea. Why? Because we are going to be rewarding a LOT, and larger rewards slow the training session down (too much time spent chewing) and fill up the dog too fast. We want to have a list of 3- 5 different kinds of rewards, ranging from low-value (your dog is slightly excited about it), to medium value, to really high value (your dog goes crazy for it). For my dog his kibble is the low-value reward, garbanzo beans or small pieces of cut up apple are next, then small commercial dog treats we buy at the pet supply store (medium value), then peanut butter or little pieces of cheese (high value). When should you use each value level? We'll cover that next time.
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