24/09/2025
A food-motivated dog is a gift!
It makes it so much easier to reinforce the right behaviour, give praise, and teach new things.
If your dog can’t think about anything else when they see a treat, try hiding it behind your back, for example, so they don’t focus only on the food.
Sometimes, though, dogs simply don’t want to eat treats.
Usually that means they’re either not hungry or they’re too nervous or scared.
The second reason is more complex and deserves a separate discussion.
But for dogs who just aren’t hungry, I have a few tips from my own experience.
Juno, for example, was never super food-motivated, so here’s what helped us:
1️⃣ Use super high-value treats — something extra special that they get only during training.
2️⃣ Skip feeding right before training.
If we train in the morning, we simply skip the usual breakfast.
3️⃣ Slightly reduce the evening portion the night before a morning training session.
Trust me — this is totally okay!
Your fluffy teammates will still get enough food during the training itself.
