The fade-out strategy sounds good in theory, but dogs aren't always so easily fooled by a downgrade to kibble. If the initial training relies too heavily on high-value treats, you risk creating a dependency where the behavior only occurs when the premium reward is expected. Anxiety often needs to be addressed through environmental management and confidence building, not just tastier incentives. Using kibble from the start can work if you focus on making the training session itself engaging enough to compete with distractions.