There is a moment, somewhere around the fourth month of a dog's life with you, when the treat pouch becomes furniture. You reach for it before you reach for the leash. You reach for it before you say the dog's name. And somewhere between the sit, the stay, and the small pocket of cheddar — the two of you stop having a conversation.
We asked Dr. Maren Holloway, a certified applied animal behaviorist based in Providence, what she wishes more first-time pet parents understood about training. Her answer was not what we expected.
The problem with the pouch
"Food is a wonderful teacher," she told us. "But it's a terrible interpreter." When every good behavior is met with a treat, the dog stops asking why they're doing the thing. They only ask what's in it for me. Over time, the relationship becomes transactional — and the moment the pouch is empty, so is the recall.
What to reach for instead
Dr. Holloway suggests a three-part rotation: food for new behaviors, play for confident ones, and calm praise for the ones the dog already owns. "A scratch behind the ear, said in the right tone, is currency too. Most people forget that."
Read the room, not the recipe
The best training moments, she says, rarely happen in a training session. They happen on the walk home, at the door, in the quiet second before the leash comes off. "Real change happens between the treats. That's where the dog learns who you are."