Desirable:
- juicy
- tasty
- favorite
- special
- yummy
- bite-size
Not a good choice:
- dry food, kibble
- dry pieces (may cough on them), i.e. old cookies
- too spicy, salty (will be thirsty soon)
- ordinary
- too big pieces (takes lot of time to chew on and will be satiated soon)
- too small pieces (cannot feel there is something in his mouth)
- too small amount
- liquidish
- you suppose he likes it because it was extremely expensive, but actually he doesn’t
How do we know what kind of treat does he really like? By testing (surprise!). Try many different kinds of treats: sausage, cheese, ham, boiled eggs, apple cubes, fried liver, chicken breast. Pet-store treats may do but choose the soft ones. You may even try some wild ideas: bananas, cucumber, fish. But there are some items on black list: raisins, chocolate, grapes, avocado, macadamia nuts, anything that contails xilit. These might be toxic or even lethal.
You may need a treat-pouch to keep these tasty bits in, by putting a yogurt cup into you made it easily washable. It is far more comfortable to work with than a plastic bag in your pocket (takes a lot of time to find it in your pocket, then another seconds to find its opening, then to take out the necessary amount of treats – who can wait so long? Your dog surely can’t, he has already forgotten what does he get the treats for.)
Now we have everything for proper rewarding – use it well. Reward every command executed, one piece for coming to you, another for sitting down, and another for looking to your eye. What happens if an obedient behavior does not get a reinforcement but a new command? Frankly: would you work for more and more tasks instead of payment? Not for long.
And remember: these treat are high in calories, after a day spent with hard work (and lots of treats given) less dinner is sufficient.
