Interview with a Professional Dog Trainer

Dog Training Questions Answered

Farm Hounds teamed up with professional dog trainer, Alli Bennett, to help answer some important questions on dog behavior and training. Farm Hounds has excellent treat options when it comes to training treats. Our pasture-raised beef organs are high-value and nutritionally dense. Your dog will be sure to work hard for a bite of beef heart, beef kidney, beef liver, or beef tongue! Our Treats line is another great option for training because they are pre-scored to break easily into small pieces. This allows you to give several small treats during a training session without overloading your dog’s belly! Read our Q & A with Alli below:

Tell Us About Yourself!

Q. How long have you been a professional dog trainer?

A. I’ve been professionally training since 2014.

Q. Do you have any dogs? 

A. Yes! I have 3 dogs; two 9-year-old mutts and a very sassy 3-year-old Cairn Terrier.

Q. Do you have a particular method or philosophy by which you train dogs? 

A. I prefer to look at each dog I work with as an individual and develop the best training plan from there. There is no cookie cutter way to train every dog. It’s always most ideal to start with positive reinforcement but I think it’s important for dog trainers to keep a large toolbox. Just like people, dogs also learn best by various methods. 

Q. How important is it for the dog owner to understand what you’re doing and to be involved? 

A. I try to put a lot of emphasis on breaking things down not only for the dog but for the owner as well. Them knowing why we are doing what we are doing is crucial to helping them reinforce and stay consistent!

“I prefer to look at each dog I work with as an individual and develop the best training plan from there.”

Let’s Talk Treats! 

Q. How important is it to use treats when training? 

A. Treats are such a valuable and necessary tool for training. Think of treats as the ultimate form of currency for most dogs. When we are asking our dogs to do things like sit and stay or come because it’s time to go, we’re asking them to work for us and no one likes to work for free. 😉

Q. Does the quality of the treat play a role in successful training?

A. Absolutely! 100%! Dogs can often get overstimulated easily, we all talk about that “puppy ADD” and most owners know it well. A higher value treat will not only be higher “payment” for your dog for following through or paying attention to you in these higher distracting environments but they also keep your dog motivated to do even more. If I am working on a new trick or doing sports with my dogs I very often switch from the typical training treats to something higher value to increase their motivation.

Q. What were your first impressions using Farm Hounds products to train dogs?

A. I love how breakable the treats are without crumbling. I’m forever looking for freeze-dried or dehydrated treats that don’t turn to dust! I typically find freeze-dried or dehydrated treats are very high value and tasty for dogs and less mess for me.

Q. Which Farm Hounds bag is your favorite?

A. For training my go to is always the beef kidney. Whenever I have puppies working on crate training I love the duck gizzards as a high-value reward to give a puppy 5 minutes or so to work on in the crate.

“Treats are such a valuable and necessary tool for training. Think of treats as the ultimate form of currency for most dogs.”

Farm Hounds treats and dog training go hand in hand. Whether you’re training your puppy or dog for the first time, or teaching your dog new tricks, grab a bag of Farm Hounds and have some fun!