Rewards for Effective Dog Training

Often, we speak about various dog breeds in our Spotlight Breed articles and address some of their attitudes regarding training. Most dogs have a “what’s in it for me?” attitude. With this said, specific strategies should be incorporated to ensure success. One of the best recommendations is to incorporate rewards into training sessions! You may have heard of this as “positive reinforcement.” Below is a list of tips for implementing rewards while training your four-legged friend.

Rate of Reinforcement – It is common for dogs to experience distractions during training sessions. Specific environments offer various rewards such as interesting smells, seeing other dogs, or the chance of running into strangers. It would be best to incorporate the reinforcement rate enough to keep training sessions more exciting.

Remember that the wrong behaviors can be reinforced by other “rewards”that are out of your control.

A Dog’s View – Choose an exciting reward for your dog! Make it worth their while. Perhaps you are constantly giving your dog biscuits. If so, they may not be excited to complete the task. You must always understand that rewards do not have to be treats! Consider introducing your dog to a new toy. Regardless, if your dog dislikes the reward, the desire to repeat good behavior will be reduced!

Pay Attention to Timing – Do not take too long to deliver a reward to your dog. If so, your four-legged friend will be confused about what they are being rewarded for. Deliver rewards as quickly as possible!

Consider Placement of the Reward – Many people fail to recognize that placement is crucial during positive reinforcement. Please pay attention to what your dog is doing while giving them a treat.

Positive reinforcement is a training method that has been around for years. Success depends on the rate of reinforcement, a dog’s view, timing, and placement. We hope you follow our steps to yield practical positive reinforcement training sessions!