Why I Don’t Use Treats to Train My Gundogs

Treat training is probably one of the most common approaches you'll come across in modern dog training.

Walk into almost any puppy class and you'll see owners with pockets full of treats. Search online for help with recall, heelwork or obedience and food rewards will often be one of the first suggestions.

But at Kugae Gundogs, treats aren't part of Carl's usual approach to training working gundogs.

That doesn't mean we're saying nobody should ever use them, or that trainers who use food are wrong.

Every trainer develops their own methods through experience, and different approaches suit different dogs, handlers and circumstances.

This is simply Carl's approach, developed through many years of living with, working and training gundogs.

So why doesn't he rely on treats?

What Do We Want the Dog to Work For?

One of the biggest questions Carl considers when training a gundog is:

What do I ultimately want this dog to work for?

With a working gundog, we want the dog to develop a strong relationship with its handler.

Whether we're teaching heelwork, recall, retrieving, hunting or steadiness, we want the dog paying attention to us and responding because it understands what we're asking.

For Carl, the reward isn't necessarily something that comes out of his pocket.

The interaction with the handler, praise, the opportunity to retrieve, being allowed to hunt or progressing to the next part of the exercise can all become rewards in themselves.

That's particularly important with working dogs because eventually they'll need to perform in environments where there are far more exciting things available than a piece of food.

The Working Environment Is Full of Distractions

Training a dog in the garden is one thing.

Taking that same dog into a field filled with scent, game and distractions is quite another.

A working spaniel may have the opportunity to hunt through cover.

A Labrador may see another dog retrieving.

There may be pheasants running, birds lifting, gunshot, other handlers, dogs working and countless scents competing for the dog's attention.

In those situations, the environment itself can be incredibly rewarding.

Carl's aim is to build a dog that remains connected to the handler even when those distractions appear.

That's why so much of our training at Kugae is built around developing engagement, communication and control, rather than relying on food to maintain the dog's attention.

Praise Doesn't Have to Mean Food

One thing that's sometimes misunderstood is the idea of reward.

Not using treats doesn't mean we don't reward our dogs.

We absolutely do.

A calm word of praise, physical affection, being released to retrieve or being allowed to continue hunting can all tell a dog that it has done the right thing.

The reward depends on the dog and the situation.

For a young Labrador that loves retrieving, another retrieve may be far more valuable than a biscuit.

For a spaniel desperate to get into cover, being allowed to hunt can become an extremely powerful reward.

Part of good dog training is learning what motivates the dog standing in front of you.

We Want the Dog Interested in Us

From the very beginning with our puppies, Carl puts a lot of emphasis on making himself interesting.

You'll see this regularly in our puppy training videos.

Rather than constantly asking a young puppy to perform exercises, we'll play with them, move around, encourage them to follow us and use retrieves carefully to build engagement.

We want that puppy thinking:

“What's he doing? I want to be involved.”

That relationship becomes increasingly important as the puppy grows and begins experiencing more freedom.

If we've spent those early months developing a dog that naturally wants to know where the handler is and what they're doing, we have something very valuable to build upon.

Gundog Training Is About More Than Obedience

A working gundog isn't simply performing a collection of tricks.

We're developing behaviours that eventually need to work together in a much more complicated environment.

The dog may need to hunt enthusiastically but remain within range.

It may need to stop when asked despite wanting to continue.

It may have to watch another dog retrieve and remain steady.

It may need to pick a bird and bring it directly back to the handler despite everything else happening around it.

That requires communication and understanding between dog and handler.

For Carl, building that relationship is more important than teaching the dog to look for a food reward after every correct behaviour.

Are Treats Bad for Dog Training?

No.

This isn't an article saying treats are bad, and it certainly isn't saying that everyone who uses them is doing something wrong.

There are excellent trainers who successfully use food as part of their training.

There are also pet dogs and individual situations where owners may find food extremely useful.

Dog training isn't a subject where everybody has to agree on one method.

What matters is understanding why you're using a particular training method, what you're trying to achieve and whether it's helping you progress towards the dog you ultimately want.

Carl's decision not to rely on treats comes from his own experience of training working gundogs and the type of relationship he wants to develop with them.

What About Puppies?

The same philosophy begins when our dogs are puppies.

Early puppy training at Kugae isn't about formal obedience or putting pressure on a very young dog.

It's about building a relationship.

We want puppies to enjoy being around us.

We'll encourage them to follow, introduce retrieving through play, gradually introduce the lead and start creating simple boundaries as they mature.

Most importantly, we try to keep ourselves relevant to the puppy.

If a puppy thinks we're interesting, enjoyable to be around and worth paying attention to, we're already laying foundations that will become incredibly useful later.

The Reward Can Be the Work

One of the advantages we have with many working-bred gundogs is that they naturally want to do the things we're eventually going to ask them to do.

Retrievers generally have a natural desire to retrieve.

Spaniels have been bred to hunt.

Instead of fighting against those instincts, we can learn to use them.

For example, access to a retrieve can become something the dog earns through steadiness.

A spaniel that wants to hunt can learn that staying connected to the handler allows it to continue hunting.

We're taking something the dog already finds rewarding and incorporating it into the training.

For Carl, that's far more relevant to the finished working dog than carrying food into every training session.

Don't Just Copy a Training Method

Whether you use treats or don't use treats, one of the most important things is understanding why you're doing what you're doing.

It's very easy to watch a short dog-training video online and copy one exercise without understanding everything that came before it.

The dog in the video may have months or years of foundation training behind what you're seeing.

Your dog may be at a completely different stage.

That's why Carl often talks about working with the dog you've actually got in front of you.

Some dogs mature quickly.

Others need considerably more time.

Some naturally stay close to their handler.

Others will take every inch of freedom they're given — and then ask for another field!

Good training is about reading the individual dog and adapting accordingly.

There Is More Than One Way to Train a Gundog

Dog training will always generate different opinions.

Ask ten experienced trainers how they'd approach the same problem and you may well receive ten slightly different answers.

That's not necessarily a bad thing.

Carl's approach has developed through many years of working with gundogs and learning what produces the type of dogs he wants to train.

For him, that means building a relationship where the dog wants to engage with the handler without relying on a pocket full of treats.

It isn't the only way.

It's simply the way that works for him.

Watch: Why I Don't Use Treats to Train My Dogs

If you'd like to hear Carl explain his thoughts in his own words, watch our YouTube video:

“Why I Don't Use Treats to Train My Dogs”

https://youtu.be/YBZOHXd4Lmk

Carl explains why treat training isn't part of his usual approach, what he prefers to develop instead and how his views have been shaped by years of training working gundogs.

And we'd be interested to hear your experiences too.

Do you use treats when training your gundog, or do you prefer to reward your dog in other ways?

There will always be different opinions when it comes to dog training — and a good discussion can help all of us think more carefully about why we train the way we do.

Need Help With Your Gundog?

If you're struggling with your gundog or aren't sure how to progress their training, Kugae Gundogs offers assessments, one-to-one training and residential training from our facilities in the Lincolnshire Wolds.

We work with both working gundogs and working-bred family dogs, including Labradors, Springer Spaniels and Cocker Spaniels.

The first step is understanding the dog in front of us and deciding on the most appropriate way forward.

📞 WhatsApp: 07505 014363
📧 Email: info@kugaegundogs.uk

Kugae Gundogs — practical training built around the dog, the handler and the job they're being asked to do.