When I first started using food rewards in training I was given very little advice on how to use it effectively. I learned as I went along, picking up tips here and there. After much study and practise, I discovered that food is perhaps the most useful training tool. Then, when I started running my own training classes I found that a large chunk of my time was being taken up with explaining the fundamentals of effective food use. If I’d had a food guide to give to owners, we could spend more time training and less time talking.

And so I wrote this guide. This little 9 page booklet hit the right note. A staple on required reading lists for numerous dog training organisations and courses, it quickly became the go to guide. I revised it in 2003, making only a few tweaks. Using food rewards is a science and the science hadn’t changed, so no need for big changes to the book.

When I stopped running dog training classes, I stopped publishing the guide. But now I see that it is as relevant, and required, as the day I wrote it. So here it is, in digital form.