When can I stop using Treats?

I usually work with people when they are wanting their dog to learn how to do something, either a specific skill or a different behavioural response.  To teach our dogs what to do, we commonly use food or treats.  Once our dogs understand the skill, and can perform it in a variety of environments around different distractions, we can start to reduce the use of treats.  Here are some things to consider.

Can your dog perform the desired skill consistently, to the level you want?
If not, your dog hasn't fully learned the new skill, and their performance is unlikely to improve if you stop rewarding their efforts.  First, we need to get the behaviour reliably.

Can your dog perform the desired skill consistently, in the face of distractions?
Ideally we teach the skill in a low distraction setting, and then once the dog can respond consistently, introduce distractions strategically so that the dog can succeed in the face of the distraction, growing their confidence and ability to respond even when other things are going on.
Some distractions to consider:

• Treats, in a covered container, in an uncovered container
• Toys, sitting somewhere, you holding it, you tossing it, you squeaking it, you dropping it on the ground
• Other people talking, walking, sitting down & standing up

Can your dog perform the desired skill consistently, in new and different locations?
If the skill is something you want your dog to be able to do regardless of where you are, then we need to generalize it to different places, so that your dog gets a chance to practice that.  You don't want to not reward your dog when they first perform the skill in new places, or they may decide that it isn't worth it to respond to you in public.

Can your dog perform the desired skill when you don't have food on you?
Assuming your dog can perform the skill without treats in your hand (if not, we need to work on that first) leave the treats on a counter or table, within reach.  Give your dog the cue, and see if they respond.  If they do, great!  Go get a treat and reward them.  If they don't - we may have uncovered a potential issue.  Often when people have treats in their pocket or pouch, they will reach for them without thinking about it in anticipation of rewarding their dog.  Their dog, however, absolutely notices these motions, and they may become a relevant part of the cue for their dog.  If this is the case for your dog, go back to some older, easier cues your dog is more likely to do with the treats not on your body, ask for one those, then reward, working back up to the newer skill as your dog realizes that they may still earn a reward without seeing a promise of it up front.

What other things does your dog enjoy?  Can some of them be used as rewards?
Realistically, dogs only respond to our cues for one of the following reasons:

• Habit
• They truly enjoy the activity or work with you
• They perceive they may receive a reward of some kind for their effort
• They perceive they may be punished in some fashion if they don't

While the first one or two options, are the reason most people want their dog to respond, for many dogs they are actually the most challenging to achieve.  But not impossible.

Sometimes, dogs will perform behaviours out of habit, because they haven't practiced much of the alternative, the skill (i.e. "sit") has previously been well rewarded, and is likely still rewarded in some fashion on a very long interval.  For example, my dogs rarely get a treat for responding to the cue to sit in real life.  They do in their fitness sessions, or in sports training if I'm working something more complex like position changes at a distance.  But they are now adults, with a long history of responding to sit and the ability to respond to it in more complex settings.  For many dogs, it often also gets tied into rewards that we don't typically consider rewards - like access to the backyard or the ball.

"Just because", or because the dog truly enjoys the activity itself depends a lot on the individual dog.  Your odds of achieving this go up a lot if you have a dog with a breed heritage of being selected to work with people (ie. herding dogs, retrievers, some working dogs) and down if you have a dog with a breed heritage of being selected to work independently of people (i.e. hounds, livestock guardian dogs and many terriers) but as always, every dog is an individual!  I find it also varies depending on the activity.  The more your dog finds the activity fun, or the stronger their association with you requesting they do something leading to interactions they enjoy, the more likely they are to perform without a tangible, physical reward.  

"A reward of some kind"
I worded it this way, because it is easier to reduce our use of treats if there are other things that our dogs enjoy that we can give them access to for responding to our cues.  Treats are often easiest to use when teaching new skills because we can perform many repetitions quickly with no time lost to play, and most dogs will put some effort into figuring things out for a treat.  But if you consider your dog's interests, you may find many more things that can function as a reward. ie.

• Playing fetch
• Personal play/interaction with you
• Getting to go in the car, or outside
• Swimming
• Petting or attention
• Sniffing or exploring

Varying the rewards you use helps you need to reward less often with treats

Reducing Treats
When looking to stop using treats to maintain your dog's skills, it is best not to just stop rewarding then suddenly.  Instead, reward them on varying intervals, so that your dog remains hopeful that they may receive a reward this time.  This works best if your dog can already respond without you making treat getting motions, and if you sometimes tell your dog they've earned a treat and then go get one.

Do You Need To?
If the skill you want is very important to you, consider if it is worth potentially having it degrade.  Come might be a skill you want to keep a strong reward history for, especially if you have a dog that doesn't naturally remain close.

It is interesting to note that for the sport of competitive obedience, where dogs have to perform a routine of exercises lasting up to 10 minutes in a ring in a strange place without any food or toy rewards and minimal praise from their person, that the vast majority of the dogs are not expected to do this just because, but instead, have their working time gradually increased, and receive a reward out of the ring after they are finished.  And getting to this point can be a challenge, as dogs that compete regularly quickly figure out that there will never be any food or toys in the ring, so a lot of thought and preparation often goes into getting those consistent performances.