My Favorite Foods for Behavior Modification
When we’re working through challenging behavior, food is one of the most valuable tools we can use. A dog has to eat, right?!
I don’t love relying on traditional training treats. Behavior modification involves a lot of reinforcement, especially when we’re practicing counterconditioning, teaching new behaviors, or helping a dog build better emotional responses to something they find difficult.
That’s why I often recommend using nutritionally balanced foods as training reinforcers.
My favorites are:
🥩 Earth Animal Wisdom Air-Dried Dog Food
Earth Animal Wisdom air-dried food is one of my go-to options for clients who want something that is easy to portion, highly palatable, and nutritionally complete.
Because it can be used as part of your dog’s regular diet, you can incorporate it into training without turning every successful repetition into an additional source of calories.
For my smooth Collie, Harvest Moon, the turkey recipe is low enough fat and easily digestible enough that his GI system tolerates it well enough to use regularly.
🥩 Redbarn Air-Dried Dog Food
Redbarn's air-dried food is another option I frequently recommend.
Like other nutritionally balanced training foods, it gives us the ability to use food strategically throughout behavior modification while still keeping an eye on your dog's overall nutritional intake.
The pieces are small enough that you don’t need to break them up, even for small dogs!
🥫 Pâté-Style Canned Food in Squeeze Tubes
For dogs who love wet food or may have dietary restrictions, pâté-style canned food in a reusable squeeze tube can be an incredibly useful training tool since many kibbles have a wet food alternative.
This is especially helpful for dogs who aren't particularly interested in crunchy treats or who need something that can be delivered quickly and repeatedly.
Did you also know that licking is physiologically calming for dogs? This is extra beneficial when it comes to changing how a dog feels in certain contexts.
A squeeze tube also allows us to control the amount of food delivered, which can be particularly useful during counterconditioning exercises where we may be reinforcing frequently.
Just make sure the canned food you choose is complete and balanced for your dog's life stage rather than being intended solely as a supplemental or intermittent food.
Why I Prefer Balanced Foods for Behavior Modification
Behavior modification isn't about handing a dog treats when they do something right.
Depending on the dog and the behavior we're addressing, our plan may include:
Environmental management and careful setup
Safety protocols
Consultation with your veterinarian
Increasing appropriate physical exercise
Meeting mental enrichment needs
Teaching new skills and alternative behaviors
Counterconditioning and desensitization
Reinforcing behaviors we want to see more often
Helping the dog develop new emotional associations with challenging situations
That can mean a lot of food reinforcement.
If we're suddenly adding handfuls of high-calorie treats to a dog's diet every day, it's easy for those calories to add up while our wallet shrinks. Some dogs may gain unnecessary weight, while others may experience gastrointestinal upset when their diet changes frequently.
Using a nutritionally balanced food as part of the reinforcement plan gives us another option: we can train frequently without treating training as completely separate from the dog's overall nutrition.
Training Food Is Still Food
One of the most important things to remember is that reinforcement doesn't have to come in the form of a special "treat."
Your dog's regular food can be reinforcement.
For some dogs, part of their breakfast or dinner can become a training opportunity. For others, we may use a particularly palatable food during difficult exercises and adjust their meals accordingly.
The right choice depends on the individual dog, their preferences, and their veterinarian’s recommendations.
And of course, nutrition is individual. If your dog has allergies, medical conditions, dietary restrictions, or a history of gastrointestinal problems, talk with your veterinarian before making changes to their diet.
we aren’t bribing, we’re reinforcing.
When we choose food thoughtfully, we can use one of our dog's most powerful motivators while supporting the larger behavior-modification plan without unnecessarily compromising their nutrition along the way.
