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Healthy Dog Food and Puppy Food from Purina
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Healthy Start Puppy Program

About Treat & Food Rewards    

Many people use food as a reward in training because it can be a powerful tool, but it can also cause problems. Most treats are not appropriate to use as a food reward during a training session because they can result in overfeeding. Feed too many treats or too much food and you could be on your way to having an overweight dog. If treats are too rich, your dog can even develop an upset stomach.
 
A healthy way to use food as rewards is to measure out your dog's daily allowance of kibble in the morning and dip into that for training rewards. This way you can give your dog a food reward for a job well done while not worrying about overfeeding or causing digestive upset.

When training, you want to work away from giving a food reward every time. At some point, you will want your dog to "sit" but you won't have any food. Gradually start replacing the food reward with praise. Once your dog has learned a command, give the reward every other time, then every third time.

Make sure your praise is lavish every time your dog does the desired behavior, with or without a food reward. Pretty soon, your dog will work for praise - and the occasional snack.



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