Best Way to Reward Your Dog WITHOUT Treats
How to make good behavior intrinsically rewarding for your dog
By Jenna Romano
Ever feel like a perpetual treat-dispenser? You dream of the day when your dog will just do the good behavior without having freeze-dried beef hovering over their nose?
This one’s for you. ⤵️⤵️
We all know that Golden Retriever. The one who never took a dog training class a day in her life, yet seems to be the best behaved dog ever: hangs in the front yard off-leash, never wanders off, just so jolly to watch the world go by.
A lot of guardians look at that dog and think, "What am I doing wrong? Why do I need a pouch full of hot dogs just to get my dog to look at me?"
Let me set the record straight: That Golden Retriever’s guardians aren’t dog whisperers. They didn't unlock a secret training code you missed.
That dog is just very intrinsically motivated by the universe. Existing peacefully in the environment is naturally rewarding to her nervous system.
True, dogs like that accidentally set the bar high for the rest of us. But for dogs whose brains are more complex, anxious, or highly aroused, we have to be much more intentional about how we transition out of treats and into environmental rewards.
When thinking about the environment as a reward, there are two categories I want you to break it down into:
Extrinsic Environmental Rewards: You’re out in the woods, your dog offers focus, and you pick up a stick to throw it as their reward. You are actively grabbing an object from the environment to pay them.
Intrinsic Environmental Rewards: Your dog enjoys being in the space so much (i.e. the smells, the breeze, the sensory experience) that simply unclipping the leash and saying "Go do your thing" acts as the reward itself.
Your ultimate goal of training is not to carry a treat pouch to your grave.
It's to transition as many desired behaviors as possible into intrinsically motivated behaviors so the world itself pays your dog for being good.
Here’s How to Do That 👇🏻
I teach how to use the environment as your dog’s reward – no treats necessary – in the below video podcast.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Extrinsic vs Intrinsic: Difference betweenextrinsic rewards in the environment (like a stick in the woods) and intrinsic rewards (like oxytocin)
How to figure out what motivates your dog
Why some dogs naturally fade out treats easier than others
The truth about sniffing on walks: when it acts as calming enrichment vs when it triggers over-arousal (ft a case study about Keith)
When to let your dog forage vs when to cue “leave it” without overworking your dog’s cognitive bandwidth
How self-regulation actually works: the difference between dog reactivity vs arousal control
More Free Resources to Help with Basic Obedience
🌭Your Dog’s Treat Value Scale Worksheet Stop guessing what motivates your dog and strategically use your dog’s high, medium, and low value treats comparably to the difficulty of your training environment, behavior, and dog’s emotions. This guide walks you step by step (along with a done-for-you example) to find your dog’s treat value scale.
📝 List of 50 Enrichment Ideas to do with your dog. Easy, realistic ways to meet your dog’s mental and emotional needs — without buying a bunch of gear, adding hours to your day, or wondering if you’re “doing enough.”
📜 How to Train a Hyperactive Dog to Calm Down. Train your dog to focus while over-aroused and use PLAY as the reward. Train a hyperactive dog to stay calm and focused even while playing.
