Motivating our agility dogs to maximum performance sometimes requires us to shell out the groceries! Training dogs with treats is a proven training and accepted method and I still use treats occasionally myself.
One of the primary features of the dog toys in this food motivation category is that we get more options and control for the ‘payoffs’, and we get more mileage out of our treats.
Grocery Control
Food Motivation dog toys allow your dog to smell, taste and feel the yummie treats inside the toy without actually getting the treat, yet. They can play tug with the toy ‘fighting’ for their goodies, which will raise their excitement and stimulation level. And they can chase the thrown toy, or catch it in the air, but they’re only going to get the morsels inside when you decide the time is right. This allows you to use food to your best advantage, and to reward when and where you decide.
Where’s The Beef?
You can use any contents with these super tough food pouches, from favorite dog treats to cooked or raw people foods. A personal favorite of mine is steak scraps. I taught my submissive Border Collie to ‘take’ using the Soft Tug N Treat and steak scraps. You can use hamburger, chicken, salmon skin or cheese whatever floats your dog’s boat. Personally I go for fragrant foods, I think the smellier the better.
Not Just For Food
These dog toys can also be used to teach dogs to track animal scents, drug detection and cadaver work. Any scent object can be placed in the Velcro pouch and carried or dragged to your target location by the convenient handle. It is possible to attach a line or leash to the handle of this toy to make dragging the toy easier.
To reduce the amount of handler scent on the toy we suggest you get a helper to load the toy then loop a leash through the handle of the toy to transport it or drag it. Once you’re at your target location, simply release one end of the loop and drop the dog toy to the ground.
Side note: both the name and the design of the Tug N Treat toy has been copied by another company. We guarantee our products against defects in materials and workmanship.