petspedia

dog training rewards

In your dog’s upbringing, make use of the principles of and punishment. We give a reward when the dog does something that we would like to see repeated. The essence of reward is that it gives the dog a good feeling- Because it gets that good feeling from a certain action or exercise, it will enjoy repeating it. In rewarding, two things are important:

• The dog must understand that It is being rewarded;
• The dog must understand why it is being rewarded.

This would seem to be a natural conclusion, but in practice it does not seem to be so obvious. How often is a dog rewarded with only a mumbled "Good boy" and a nonchalant pat on the head? Or a morsel is thrown at it without a word being wasted?

You can tell from the dog’s reaction whether this is experienced as a reward. Its entire body and expression should radiate joy. You can achieve this by rewarding your dog lavishly with a high voice and a sincere hug. When it does something good, it is the best dog in the world and you must let it know this too!

Many people find this difficult, especially when other people are around. Don’t be shy about this, because with a clear reward your dog will learn faster.

The moment of rewarding must be well-timed. You do not reward before your dog has obeyed a command and neither do you do it afterward. If, for example, you want your dog to lie down, do not reward it at the moment it starts to obey, but only when it is actually lying down.