Praise your pooch

Image: Riley

Praise is the most important tool you have to train your dog, and is also the hardest thing for people to remember to use during a training session. 

One of the most significant motivators for dogs is praise, but what is praise? Praise is not a pat on the head or a droning monotone good. Dogs are too smart for those approaches. Verbal praise should be heartfelt and sung out in high pitched, happy tones at the exact moment the dog has succeeded at the task or command. The more exuberant you are with your properly timed verbal praise, the faster your dog will learn. 

Another form of praise that can be more powerful than verbal praise is physical praise. (The pat on the head does not fit here either.) The best form of physical praise is whatever your dog likes best. For a puppy that just learned to lay down on command may want a belly rub. Since he is successful with the down, by all means rub his little belly. After he has learned to perform the command consistently, you can gradually make him work harder for his praise. Other forms of physical praise that most dogs like are stroking under the chin, stroking the ears and patting the chest. 

If you only remember one thing from dog training, let it be to verbally and physically praise your dog! 

Email me anytime, follow me on Twitter, tell me your story, and please subscribe to my Examiner - Dogs column! 

Positive Basics

No matter what you are training, dogs, cats, horses, spouses, children, the basics are the same. To change behavior, change both how you interact and the timing of the interaction. Misbehaving should not illicit games, food, being let outside because this rewards the behavior you are seeking to change. Pay attention to good behavior and take that time to play, talk and treat or feed your pet then. Animals learn quickly what behavior gets rewarded, and will try to seek your approval.

Training today concentrates more on positive reinforcement which means you add something rewarding or pleasant to your pet's environment to increase the likelihood of getting a desired behavior. The other side of positive reinforcement is extinction, the removal of all positive reinforcement to decrease or extinguish the unwanted behaviors. (You may have seen this theory in school, think of Pavlov's Dogs, and your Psychology classes.)

Start thinking of punishment in a new light, consider it more like discipline and less like beating a red-headed stepchild. With all animal behavior issues there are three basic behavior modifications: reinforce the behavior you want to see when it happens; removing positive reinforcement and attention for the behavior you don't want to see when it happens; catching the animal in the act and startling them into quitting and then redirecting them to something more appropriate.

The positive approach to training seeks to teach animals without abusing them. As with any training method there are some guidelines to correction.

1. Do not punish/discipline/correct the dog after the fact. If you come home from work and pooch has eaten the dry wall, you have missed your chance. You need to see pooch committing the crime to correct the behavior.
2. Do not use pain or corporal punishment. If you inflict pain on your dog, you may create an aggressive dog that is more of a problem than the issues you were having.
3. Do not punish the dog by isolating them in the yard or stuffed into their crate / kennel / carrier away from interaction.
4. Do not jerk on a training collar (sometimes called a choke chain) to correct your dog. Training collars used incorrectly can cause permanent damage to you pet's windpipe, neck and spine. Learn how to use your collars correctly to avoid these issues. Using positive training methods teaches your pet your rules so they don't have an opportunity to invent their own rules.

Need help training your dog? Contact me.

Praise

Hogan - By Riley

Praise is the most important tool you have to train your dog, and is also the most difficult thing for people to remember to use during a training session.

One of the most significant motivates for dogs is praise, but what is praise? Praise is not a pat on the head or a droning monotone good. Dogs are too smart for those approaches. Verbal praise should be heartfelt and belted out in high pitched, happy tones at the exact moment the dog has succeeded at the task or command. The more exuberant you can be with your properly timed verbal praise, the faster your dog will learn.

Another form of praise that can be more powerful than verbal praise is physical praise. (The pat on the head does not fit here either.) The best form of physical praise is whatever your dog likes best. For a puppy that just learned to lay down on command may want a belly rub. Since he is successful with the down, by all means rub his little belly. After he has learned to perform the command consistently, you can gradually make him work harder for his praise. Other forms of physical praise that most dogs like are stroking under the chin, stroking the ears and patting the chest.

If you only remember one thing from dog training, let it be to verbally and physically praise your dog!