Rewards

I wanted to remind everyone that service dogs deserve to get treats. I had an interaction where my dog alerted me to a spike in my heart rate and as two people passed, commented on how my dog is not a legitimate service dog because I gave her a treat.

When my dog does something extrodinary or even just what I expect her to be doing, I give her treats. This isn’t to say she gets one every time she sits or does an alert because I expect her to do those things regardless, but she deserves praise and treats to be reminded that what she’s doing is what I want her to do.

The usage of tools and treats does not determine whether a service dog is real or not, only if it is public access trained, task trained, and basic obedience trained. That being said, you should not have to rely on tools or treats to get your dog to work as they should be motivated and enjoying their job.

The main reason I wanted to talk about this is to not judge a service dog team and to not make assumptions.