Choosing your Rewards

Rewards are a vital component of our mantrailing training, they help the dog understand what it is we are asking the dog to do, as well as building the motivation to do it. We want the dog to believe that finding the trail layer is the best thing ever, so we need the reward to be something the dog highly values.

There are a variety of ways in which we can reward our dogs, such as food, toy play, verbal praise, physical praise and some dogs may even require something a little more nuanced, such as social sniffing after the trail or being allowed into water.

Not all dogs will place the same amount of value in the same reward, some dogs may be really motivated by toy play whereas others may be really into their food, some dogs may want specific things within the broader categories.

As well as the type of reward, we can increase the value of the reward by how big the reward is or how long it lasts. How easy it is to increase the value reward depends on the type of the rewards, one way can be to use multiple rewards such as food and toy play.

Food Rewards

Using food to reward the dogs is by far the most popular option for mantrailing, as many dogs are highly motivated by food. The type of food being used can be very important, remember we want the dogs to love mantrailing so it needs to be something the dog really wants.

First of all we can write off using whatever food the dog has as part of their day to day meals, more of the same old same isn't going to be the most motivating of rewards, so we are looking for something novel or that the dog rarely has.

Dried kibbles and most of the store bought treats are often of little value to dogs, although some dogs really like some of the top end brands such as Platinum. Other dried foods such as dried liver or dried sprats can also be a good option as dogs often love these. Dried food are quick, easy and clean to put into containers, but they're also quick and easy to eat so it's difficult to make the rewards last a long time, which makes them less ideal than longer lasting rewards.

Wet dog foods are also another option, we are ideally looking for good quality food and remember it needs to be novel, brands such as Forthglade and Naturo for example. There are dog food products known as “toppers” which can make great rewards as they are often very high value. Wet foods can be a little messy to use but their consistency means we can smear them on the inside of the food containers, this prolongs the reward, increasing its value which usually makes it a better choice than dry food.

Raw foods are another option as long as its not your dogs normal food, these again can be smeared on the inside of the food containers. When using raw its important to remember hygiene is very important and like wet foods these can be messy.

Making sure the pots are thourghly cleaned is important work

Human Foods

Foods such as sausage, cooked meats, cheese, tinned fish, pâte, can be of huge value to dogs and serve as a fantastic reward. many of these will have similar pro’s and cons to wet or dried dog foods although some have some added advantages.

Food such as ham for example can work well as it tends to stick to the sides of containers, stopping it all disappearing quickly.

Peanut butter, cheese and pâte spreads are also really good options as rewards as they can be smeared on the insides of the tubs to make the reward last longer. Squeezy cheese is another option, this is particularly useful for dogs who wear muzzles as it can be easily fed through the muzzle.

Squeezy cheese being enjoyed through the muzzle

Toy Rewards

Toy rewards are a fantastic way to reward our dogs for mantrailing, toys are fun, exciting, and its very easy to make the reward last a long time as many who use toy rewards will do so all the way back to the car.

Toy rewards can come in a variety of forms, balls, tugs, chasers, pullers, frisbees and pretty much anything the dog can play with.

Knowing what our dog really enjoys will determine the type of toy, dogs that love that chase part of play will probably prefer chasers, balls and frisbees. Dogs that like to tug and rag toys are likely to prefer tugs and pullers. Some dogs just like to parade around with the toys in their mouth so anything suitable can be used.

Some dogs may like a combination of play styles such as chase and tug, toys such as pullers, chasers, soft frisbees and balls on a rope are really good for this.

There are a huge variety of toys available out there, our dogs love some of these tug-e-nuff chasers and tugs as well as these Pullers

Verbal Praise

Everyone loves to hear how amazing they are and have their efforts celebrated so why shouldn't our dogs enjoy the same? Of course dogs don't speak human languages so they presumably have no idea what we are actually saying but they can find the happy and excited tones in our voice rewarding.

How this is delivered depends on the individual dog, some will love it when the handler, trail layer and anyone else nearby fully commit and throw a big verbal praise party telling the dog how awesome they are in the most animated and excitable way possible. Other dogs, especially some of our more sensitive soles, may prefer something more low key with the praise being delivered a little more gently.

Verbal praise usually isn't enough on its own to form the full reward but it's a great way to start the reward quickly while the trail layer opens pots or gets out a toy. We can also use it to lengthen the duration of the reward by continuing to give verbal praise as the dog enjoys whatever else they have and all the way back to the car.

Tactile praise/fuss/physical praise

This one really isn't for every dog, especially when coming from someone they don't know, but some dogs absolutely love that human contact. This could be anything from a gentle little scritch behind the ear to a big body rub down or anything in between. Like the verbal praise rewards for many dogs this won't be sufficient reward in isolation and is usually best done in addition with other types of reward. The great thing about this type of reward, especially for the dogs that really love it, is that it's easy to make big, even involving all of the people on the trail.

Conclusion

Having the right rewards is vital in building in motivation for our dogs and as in most cases there is no one size fits all approach. The majority of dogs receive a combination of rewards, sometimes its just food and verbal praise but some may receive food, toys, verbal praise and tactile praise. It can take some time to find what motivates some dogs but every dog has its price!