If your puppy won’t listen unless you’ve got a treat in hand, you’re in the right place.
I’m diving into one of the most common concerns I hear from dog owners: the frustration of feeling stuck in endless treat training puppy mode. You’ll learn why your pup might ignore you unless food is in sight – and what to do about it.
We’ll cover what happens when your dog becomes “treat dependent,” how to get treats out of your hand without losing progress, and how to make dog training more reliable, even when you’re empty-handed.
You’ll also get a simple 14-day step-by-step plan to start making the transition to dog training without treats – in a way that works and keeps things fun for both of you.
By the end of this episode, you’ll feel way more confident about reward training for dogs, understand how your puppy’s brain works, and finally know how to ditch the treats without losing their attention.
Here’s what we’ll explore in this episode:
- Why your puppy won’t listen unless there’s food around – and what it really means about your training process
- How to use the “slot machine” method to make treat training puppy more effective
- When it’s safe to start dog training without treats – and when doing it too soon could cause your training to backfire
- Why reward training for dogs is about so much more than food – and how to use toys, play, and praise as powerful motivators
- My 14-day plan for reward training for dogs that takes you from treat-every-time to real-life rewards that last
Knowing how to shift from treat training puppy mode to solid, reliable behaviors is a game changer. If your puppy wont listen, don’t worry. I’ve helped hundreds of dog owners work through this, and with the right strategy, you can too.
Listen now and grab your 14-day treat fading plan to start transforming your dog training without treats journey today.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
[00:00:00] Staci Lemke: Imagine if every time you loaded the dishwasher, someone handed you a cupcake. At first you’d be thrilled. Yay, cupcake for me. But if that happened forever, you’d start expecting it. And if one day the cupcakes suddenly stopped, you’d probably think, uh, excuse me, where’s my cupcake? That’s exactly how your puppy feels when treats are always part of training and then suddenly they disappear.
[00:00:25] Staci Lemke: If we never teach them that. There are other types of rewards. They get cupcake dependent and cupcake dependency while cute is well, not very practical, when you don’t have a cupcake in your pocket. Welcome once again to The Well-Mannered Mutt Podcast. Today we’re tackling one of the most common concerns puppy parents bring up.
[00:00:45] Staci Lemke: My puppy won’t listen unless I have food in my hand. If you’ve ever worried about your puppy getting fat from training treats or wondered if they’ll only behave when you’re holding a cookie. This episode is for you. Welcome to the Well-Mannered Mutt Podcast. I’m Staci Lemke, certified professional dog trainer, registered veterinary technician, and proud owner of Manners for Mutts Dog Training.
[00:01:08] Staci Lemke: With over 20 years of experience, I’ve helped countless dog owners just like you, build stronger, happier relationships with their furry friends. From private lessons to online courses, I’m here to help make life with your dog easier and more rewarding. I believe in training that is kind, fun, and scientifically proven.
[00:01:29] Staci Lemke: Positive reinforcement is at the core of everything I do because it’s the most effective way to teach your dog while strengthening your bond. Whether you’re tackling basic training, solving behavior challenges, or just looking for tips to keep your pup thriving, you are in the right place. So let’s dive into today’s episode and take the first step toward having the well-mannered mutt you’ve always dreamed of.
[00:01:53] Staci Lemke: In this episode, I’ll be discussing training your puppy so that they’ll listen even when you don’t have a treat in your hand. I’ll cover some common misconceptions about using food during training, why treats are just a starting point for training. How to get them out of your hand early fun Alternatives to food rewards, and why the slot machine effect works just as well for dogs as it does for humans.
[00:02:18] Staci Lemke: Wow, that’s a lot. And stick around until the end. I will give you a 14 day step-by-step plan to help you phase out treats without losing progress. First, let’s address some of the common concerns about using food for training. The first is my puppy will get fat, and this one comes up a lot. The truth is, when you’re using small pea-sized treats and balancing them with your dog’s daily food allowance, weight gain doesn’t have to be a problem.
[00:02:47] Staci Lemke: You can even use part of your puppy’s kibble for training. I don’t want my puppy to be dependent on food. This is where we need to shift perspective. Treats aren’t forever. They’re a teaching tool. Once the behavior is learned, you don’t need to pay them every single time. The goal is to move towards real life rewards and variable reinforcement.
[00:03:08] Staci Lemke: My puppy won’t listen unless there’s food present, and this one is the biggie. If your puppy only listens when food is in your hand, it means the training process has skipped a step. The puppy thinks the treat itself is part of the cue. That’s why the very first step in treat training is getting the treat out of your hand, so the dog is listening to you and not the cookie.
[00:03:31] Staci Lemke: The last one, training with treats is bribery. Well, here’s the difference. A bribe is something that is shown before the behavior, like waiving money at someone to do something. A reward comes after the behavior to reinforce it. In training, we reward. We don’t bribe. As I stated earlier, treats are just the starting point.
[00:03:55] Staci Lemke: Treats are fantastic for teaching new skills. They’re quick, they’re motivating, and they give a puppy an instant. Yes, you did that right? And most dogs will work for food, but the goal isn’t to have you carry a treat pouch around for the next 15 years. The goal is to help your puppy learn that doing the behavior itself pays off in many ways, and food is only one of them.
[00:04:18] Staci Lemke: Think of treats like training wheels on a bike. They’re incredibly helpful when you’re starting out, but they’re not meant to stay on forever. The very first step toward having a dog who listens without food present isn’t to stop giving treats altogether. It’s to stop showing them the treat first. When a treat is in your hand before your puppy does anything, the treat becomes part of the cue.
[00:04:41] Staci Lemke: Not just your words or your hand signals, your puppy learns. Cookie in sight means do the thing. And this is actually one of the most common complaints I hear about training with food is my dog won’t do it unless they see the treat. Here’s the thing, it’s not because treats don’t work, it’s because the treat was used as a signal instead of as a reward after the behavior.
[00:05:04] Staci Lemke: Instead, you’re going to use the treat in your hand only when first luring a brand new behavior. As soon as your puppy catches on, you’re gonna give the cue with an empty hand, no food in your hand. Once the puppy does the behavior you’re gonna deliver the treat from your pocket, a treat pouch, or even from a container on a nearby counter after they do the behavior.
[00:05:27] Staci Lemke: This shifts their thinking from, I perform because I see the cookie to I perform because I’ve learned that this cue means a reward is coming. So how do we know when it’s time to start giving fewer treats? That’s a great question. You wanna wait until your puppy is performing the behavior confidently and reliably.
[00:05:48] Staci Lemke: I think about 80 to 90% success rate in a calm, non-distracting environment. That means if you ask for a sit, your puppy sits easily eight or nine times out of 10. If your puppy is steady and focused, that’s your green light to start fading treats, but watch for mistakes. If your puppy starts slipping up and success falls below 75%, that’s a sign that you’re fading the treats too fast.
[00:06:14] Staci Lemke: Also, look for signs that your puppy is getting frustrated, so checking out, wandering off, or sometimes barking at you. If that happens, slow down. Give a few treats for a bit until your puppy regains their confidence and then try again. The key is to keep training fun and positive, not frustrating for you or your puppy.
[00:06:33] Staci Lemke: It might seem tempting to just quit giving treats all at once. After all, fewer treats means less fuss and fewer calories, right? But stopping cold Turkey can backfire. Here’s why. When you teach a puppy with treats, the behavior, so sit, for example, becomes linked to getting a reward. If you suddenly stop rewarding altogether, what we call going cold Turkey, the puppy quickly realizes, hmm.
[00:06:59] Staci Lemke: This isn’t worth my effort anymore. At first, you might see what’s called an extinction burst, which means that the puppy tries harder, maybe sits faster or repeatedly, almost like pushing the button on a vending machine. That didn’t work when you put in money and you didn’t get a snack. But if nothing good ever comes of it, they’ll stop trying because the behavior doesn’t seem valuable anymore.
[00:07:22] Staci Lemke: The bottom line behavior that isn’t reinforced fades away. Instead, fading treats gradually lets your puppy adjust and learn that rewards come and many forms, not just food. It keeps training positive and fun, which is way more effective than an abrupt stop. So once your puppy understands the behavior, how do you start giving fewer treats without losing the behavior altogether?
[00:07:48] Staci Lemke: That’s where the slot machine principle comes in, is your cute and cuddly puppy suddenly misbehaving that same puppy that wanted nothing more than to be with you 24 7 now doesn’t even seem to know that you exist. Your dog is not a puppy anymore. He’s now an adolescent. If you’re missing out on the true joy of sharing your life with a dog because of your puppy’s new naughty behaviors, then check out my online course Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence.
[00:08:18] Staci Lemke: This course will help you understand the changes your dog is going through, and will give you a simple step-by-step training strategy. You’ll get all the tools you need to eliminate unwanted behaviors and create the well-mannered dog of your dreams. Simply go to manners for mutts.com. Back slash adolescence to sign up today.
[00:08:41] Staci Lemke: Why do people keep putting coins into slot machines? Because every once in a while they win. Not every time, but just often enough that that next poll might be the one that unpredictability keeps people coming back from. More dogs work the same way. If they know they might get a treat or a game or praise or affection, they’ll keep responding because they never know which reward is coming next.
[00:09:06] Staci Lemke: Think of it like this. Your brain loves surprises. It’s not just the prize itself. That’s exciting. It’s the chance you might get it. Scientists call this a variable ratio reinforcement schedule, but here’s the easy version. If you win a prize every time you play the slot machine, you’ll get bored. But if you might win maybe this time, maybe next time you keep playing because your brain is saying, Ooh, maybe now our dog’s brains work the same way when they don’t know exactly when the reward is coming, they stay engaged and keep trying just in case this time is the winning round.
[00:09:44] Staci Lemke: That’s why fading treats the right way, makes your puppy work even harder, not less. Sometimes a treat comes, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s always worth trying for. So let’s talk about some other kinds of reinforcements besides treats or food. And this can be anything that your puppy loves. So here’s some ideas for you, a favorite toy or ball, a quick game of tug or fetch.
[00:10:09] Staci Lemke: Happy, excited, praise from you, chest or ear scratches. Freedom to sniff a bush on a walk, getting to greet a friend being released to run off leash in a safe space. Some of these are great examples of real life, everyday rewards. Your puppy values just as much as toys or treats. The key is knowing what your pup’s personal currency is.
[00:10:32] Staci Lemke: Some will choose a squeaky toy over a piece of chicken. Others will pick a sniff over a game of tug. You have to match the reward to what your dog values. Life doesn’t hand out treats every time your dog does something right, but life does hand out other rewards by mixing food, toys, praise, and other life rewards.
[00:10:53] Staci Lemke: From the start, you create a dog who works for you, not just the cookie. You’ll avoid that. Do you have a treat? No. Well then nevermind moment. Instead, you’ll have a dog who thinks, well, I’ll do it, because something good always happens. So to wrap it up, treats are for teaching, not bribing. Get them out of your hand early.
[00:11:14] Staci Lemke: Use the slot machine principle to fade them out and then mix in other kinds of real life rewards. Now, as promised, here is your 14 day food weaning plan that you can start using today, and I’m going to add a link in the show notes so that you can download a printed copy of this for yourself. So on days one to three, this is our prep stage.
[00:11:36] Staci Lemke: We’re gonna keep rewarding every correct response with a treat, but the treat is no longer in your hand when you give the cue, use empty hand signals and the treat comes from out of sight afterwards. Days four through six. The first time you start fading, treat three out of every four correct responses.
[00:11:56] Staci Lemke: The other one gets a praise petting or a quick game with a toy. Whatever your dog likes, days seven through nine. Mix it up. Treat about half the time. The other half. Use toys, sniff breaks, door opening, tossed ball again. Whatever your dog finds. Rewarding days, 10 to 12. The fun gamble. Treats only one out of every three responses.
[00:12:20] Staci Lemke: Sometimes you give a jackpot and a jackpot is when you give your puppy a big, exciting reward all at once. Instead of just one treat, you might give three treats in a row or follow the treat up with a fun game or extra praise. Jack Potting makes training super motivating because it surprises your puppy and feels way more exciting than a single treat.
[00:12:41] Staci Lemke: Using jackpots occasionally, especially when you’re fading. Treats helps keep your puppies enthusiasm high even when they’re not getting a treat every single time. In days 13 and 14, you’ve entered maintenance mode you wanna treat now about 20 to 25% of the time. Most rewards are praise, play or other real life rewards.
[00:13:02] Staci Lemke: Keep jackpots sprinkled in to maintain excitement. One last pro tip. If your puppy’s reliability drops, go back to more frequent treats for a few days, then fade Again, it’s not a race. It’s about keeping training fun. Make sure you check out the show notes so that you can download your own copy of the training plan.
[00:13:22] Staci Lemke: And if you found this podcast helpful, please be sure to subscribe so you’ll never miss an episode. We’ll see you next time. Thank you for joining me today and taking the time to help your dog become a more well-mannered mutt. If you’ve got questions about today’s episode or an idea for a topic you’d love to hear about, let’s connect.
[00:13:41] Staci Lemke: You can find me on Facebook and Instagram at Manners for Mutts. Also, be sure to visit manners for mutts.com for links, resources, and more. If this episode helped you and your pup, I’d be thrilled if you left a review on Apple Podcasts. Your feedback helps me create even more content to support you and your furry friend.
[00:14:03] Staci Lemke: Talk to you next time.
