Is your dog food motivated or play motivated for training?

I am just curious what tends to be the was for dogs to learn. I have three dogs and they all seem to be food motivated. It seems to work very well for them although they would keep on training just to keep on eating.

I have one dog, a Yellow Lab who is play and food motivated. If you tell him he is going to go play but work on a few things before he goes, he will pay attention big time.

Are your dogs either one or both types of training motivated? It is hard to train three with them having different styles but it is fun regardless.

 

Homer is definitely food motivated, he would do anything for a nice, fresh carrot or a piece of bread. He loves food. But he also likes compliments and he appreciates when I reward him with stroking after he did what I wanted. This is how I trained him to give paw . But I must confess he isn't too well-trained

 

Food is the only one that's ever worked for me. I'm okay using it, too, so long as it's not to the point of making them fat.

 

Yes, this is so important - I'd like to reward Homer as often as possible but I don't want him to be fat. This is why he mostly gets carrots and some other vegetables - fortunately he really loves them

 

I read that when you train a dog you need to start with food first then gradually transition to play, touch or a show of affection. We initially trained our chow using bits of cooked chicken since she totally snobbed doggie biscuits and other flavored store bought treats.. Now we only use praise plus a hug or a pat on her head.

 

I've always considered training as part of play for any of my dogs. Taking them to the park and then combining play with the training, rewarded of course with a treat when the training went ok.

 

We do not really train our dog but whenever we try to teach him something, we assure he will get a treat. So, I could say that our dog is food motivated and I think most dogs are.