How to Reward a Dog
Rewarding them-
Anytime you teach your dog a new trick, or if it behaves well give your dog a treat
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Dog Reward or Dog bribe?
The difference between a bribe and a reward is important. A bribe is when you offer your dog something so that he will do what you want, whereas a reward is something you give him only after doing what you want.
Offering your dog a snack so that he will get out of the garden is a bribe which if there are no options or you are pressed for time can be acceptable.
With the reward nothing is offered until after the correct action happens. When you reward your dog it helps to ensure that he will repeat the behavior. For example: you call your dog to come to you and he comes, so you reward him and let him go to play once more. By rewarding him in this way he is more likely to come the next time you call him. He is receiving two rewards here, the snack for obeying and then being allowed to go back and play more. Obviously this is more desirable and fun for the dog; than being bribed to come, then put on a leash and stuck in the car to go home.
The difference between a bribe and a reward is important. A bribe is when you offer your dog something so that he will do what you want, whereas a reward is something you give him only after doing what you want.
Offering your dog a snack so that he will get out of the garden is a bribe which if there are no options or you are pressed for time can be acceptable.
With the reward nothing is offered until after the correct action happens. When you reward your dog it helps to ensure that he will repeat the behavior. For example: you call your dog to come to you and he comes, so you reward him and let him go to play once more. By rewarding him in this way he is more likely to come the next time you call him. He is receiving two rewards here, the snack for obeying and then being allowed to go back and play more. Obviously this is more desirable and fun for the dog; than being bribed to come, then put on a leash and stuck in the car to go home.
http://www.seefido.com/html/dog_reward_or_bribe_.htm
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Rewards and Motivators for Your Dog
Rewards that one dog finds motivating, another dog may find boring—or even unpleasant. Teaching when your dog feels motivated is easier on both you and the dog.
Learning spread over time is the most stable learning, and we’re all more likely to fit training into our schedules if it’s enjoyable. If you are ready to show your dog the proper response when a real-life situation comes along, that is often the best learning of all. Part of being ready is having ways to reward the dog.
Developing rewards that motivate your dog to learn can be considered the most important part of training. A dog starts forming beliefs about you, about humans in general, about situations, and about doing things with you from the very first experiences. It is extremely important to make a dog’s experiences positive, so the dog will always be willing to try again. We all get it wrong sometimes, but if we can keep that willingness to try again, we’ll have another chance to get it right.
Eye Contact
Some jobs dogs perform would be compromised if the dog kept eye contact with the handler. The handler may wish to teach the dog an eye contact cue for situations of close control, but would not want to make eye contact the “default” or “check in” mode that people often want with sport dogs and companion dogs. Typically a professional trainer or instructor conducts these types of training, using tried-and-true methods for the particular work. If you are in doubt as to whether eye contact training would be a problem for work you plan to have your dog do, check with the training organization before teaching it.
For most of us, teaching the dog to give eye contact on cue means you will be able to instantly get the dog’s attention no matter what is happening. This allows you to teach your dog anything with minimal leash pressure. Many dogs’ lives have been saved by this approach.
Eye contact training works beautifully with rewards. Don’t show the reward in advance. Keep it out of sight. With the dog either on loose leash (hanging down, not taut between you and the dog) or off-leash in a safe, confined area such as your house or yard, say the dog’s name and move quickly away. You can start this little exercise as early as puppies can eat and walk, or at any other time in a dog’s life. It’s not difficult to teach.
You might have to make sure the pup or dog knows you have a treat the first few times, but after that, keep it out of sight. This is important because of the way dogs experience the world. If the treat is NOT in sight some time, and the dog is used to seeing it, the situation is different enough to thoroughly confuse many dogs. They appear to think it’s not the same cue because the food is not there. This is probably the same phenomenon that causes a dog to not recognize a cue when you have only done it in one location. When you start to vary the location, it takes a dog some experience to understand that the cue is still the same, no matter where you do it.
You want the dog to still do as you ask, even when you don’t HAVE a treat. So it’s important to teach this with the treat not in sight.
The sequence is to say the dog’s name, give a word for what direction you want the dog to move if there is a specific one (such as “heel” or “come”), step AWAY from the dog quickly, PRAISE the dog for moving with you, and—aligning the reward between your eyes and the dog’s eyes so that the dog is making eye contact with you when receiving the reward--give the reward.
Each time you do this sequence; repeat it three to five times, never just once. When you do a reward sequence only once, the dog will learn to take the reward and then instantly turn attention away from you. The purpose of eye contact is to have a dog sustain attention on you until you release the attention. That way you can use eye contact to walk your dog past a distraction, such as a dog your dog fears, and hold your dog’s attention the entire time.
The eye contact exercise done this way (there are lots of variations) calls for a reward you can deliver with precise timing as well as with the dog’s eyes on your face. This can help you learn more about effective use of food. Many of the people who object to the use of food in training don’t actually know how to do it. There is a great deal of skill involved. The eye contact exercise can get you started.
For a dog you don’t know well, food is a logical reward, since all dogs eat. Some dogs don’t get turned on by food, and sometimes you have a reason for not wanting to use food. Once you’ve built up the value of a specific toy in your dog’s opinion—by having fun together with that toy—you can use a toy for eye contact reward.
Food used in eye contact training needs to be tiny treats that will not interrupt the flow of the work. Besides, we want healthy dogs, and the wrong treats or overfeeding can cause illness. The best option is the dog’s regular dog food, or some other food that comes in tiny pieces and can be your dog’s regular treat food. Dogs don’t need incredible treats for training, since the training itself is fun—or should be. The treats just help them understand what you want, and feel a sense of satisfaction for earning rewards.
It is not necessary to get your dog extra hungry for treat training. In fact, dogs who get overeager for treats may do better if fed shortly before training. It helps some dogs if you feed three or four small meals a day, instead of the normal two, so that they always have room for some treats. This also makes it easy to nip and tuck the meal amounts throughout the day to adjust for the treats, and wind up with the right total amount to keep your dog healthy. Dogs pay much more attention to how often they get to eat than to the quantity of food they eat.
The eye contact exercise with movement seems to activate a “hunting” instinct in dogs, which can make them interested in food when they might otherwise turn up their noses. Doing the exercise, they seem to “work up” an appetite.
To use a toy for the reward, align it with your face as you do with the treat, and give or toss it to the dog’s mouth. Make it a game of catch. This is much easier to do briskly and with good control if you attach a light rope to the toy.
Your dog can’t catch, you say? Do you recall how you learned to catch? Someone went outside with you and you tossed a ball back and forth, right? You learned how to watch the ball and coordinate your eye and hands to catch it. This is a physical skill your brain needs practice to develop in your body.
It’s just the same with dogs. If your dog doesn’t know how to catch, you have fun times ahead teaching it. That’s one way you build up a reward system for a dog. Start with retrieving [See Retrieving in Play] to make the object itself exciting for the dog, and to teach the dog to give things back without a struggle.
When you use a toy instead of treats for the eye contact reward, stick to the same three to five repetitions, and “recharge” the toy’s value to your dog frequently by giving the dog a break to fetch and/or chew it.
Putting the praise ahead of the reward in this exercise as well as any other time you reward your dog endows the praise with positive meaning to the dog. “She praised me. That means good things! Maybe I’ll get a reward! Or maybe next time? Praise is good; I’m definitely on the right track with what I’m doing here!” might be how a dog would think who has been conditioned to praise. That is, if dogs thought in terms of words. More likely what a dog would experience is that praise equals approval and possible payoff.
You could condition a dog that praise meant payoff EVERY time, but there is a problem with doing that. A dog who expects a reward every single time will stop trying for a reward rather quickly when no reward comes for several repetitions of doing that behavior on cue. Dogs are very adaptable, and to a dog with this experience, it appears that the rules have changed and the behavior no longer pays off.
A dog who has been conditioned that the repetition of doing the behavior on cue which will bring a reward is unpredictable will persist in trying for the reward. Thus the dog will keep working much longer when there are no rewards. You just have to keep giving reward often enough to make it worth the dog’s effort to try for it. This is how humans get addicted on gambling: they get rewarded now and then, at unpredictable intervals. So they keep risking their money.
You can praise a dog with your body language and even with just your eyes. Any movement that you associate with things the dog likes will become like the verbal praise: associated with good things. It’s good to have these other ways of praising your dog because there are times you want to praise without sound. And there are times you need to praise when a dog cannot hear, such as when an older dog goes deaf.
If you want your dog to automatically “check in” frequently with eye contact whenever you are together, then acknowledge that eye contact each time you notice the dog doing it. “Eye praise” comes in handy. Blinking both eyes like a cat is an easy one that dogs quickly learn. Or praise with your body language or voice. And sometimes give a treat or game or other reward the dog likes. Make it always worthwhile for the dog to look at you, and it will become a habit. Keep the leash loose, too. A loose leash is important for other reasons, too, but in the case of eye contact it means the dog can’t feel you through leash tension, so needs to check in with eyes.
Building Bridges
Some things you can use as rewards are not as conveniently given to a dog at the exact right moment as treats. In order to communicate with the dog that a particular behavior is the one you want, often it is necessary to have a way to say “That! Right there! Yes! That’s IT!”
If you have taught the Eye Contact exercise and habitually used verbal praise right before giving the reward, voila, you now have your way to say “That’s it!” The same holds true for eye or body language gestures you’ve associated with good things, turning them into praise signals. You can teach a more mechanical marker if you wish, such as a clicker.
So when your dog does something you like—whether or not you first asked the dog to do it—you will get more of that behavior in the future by rewarding for it. But perhaps you don’t have a reward in reach or the nature of the behavior is such that a reward can’t be delivered quickly. The connection has to be made in the dog’s mind between the EXACT action and the reward, or else you could accidentally teach your dog something entirely different.
When your dog does that great thing and you say “Good boy!” or whatever you want to use for praise in a pleased tone of voice, then if you are also going to give a reward, you may want to add words for that reward. Walking to the kitchen with your dog while talking about the food reward you’re about to give will make the whole thing just that much more fun for the dog. Talking about the coming reward is even more helpful if it’s going to be a walk or something else that takes more time to prepare. That way the dog can connect the action and the reward.
Whenever possible, put the reward for a task into the task itself. You don’t want your dog to experience that training is simply to be endured so we can have something nice. Then, whoopee! Meanwhile, sigh, this is so boring. No! You want your dog to love learning! So find as many opportunities as possible to put the reward into the task. Sometimes just stop a task halfway, give a treat, and then either go back to it or end it for the day. Keep the dog guessing a little as to just when something extra nice will happen.
Petting
People tend to thump dogs on the top of the head and call it petting. Some hail and hearty dogs may like this type of touch, but many just put up with it because they want human attention. Try petting your dog in other ways to see what your dog likes best and to develop your own touch communication and rewards.
Lots of dogs enjoy gentle scratching behind the ear, neck massages, and touches to the chest. Some enjoy gentle strokes under the chin and many enjoy being softly stroked with your hand approaching from the side of the dog’s face to the cheek area. Avoid putting a hand over an unfamiliar dog’s face for petting, because that keeps the dog from seeing your facial expressions and many dogs find it threatening.
If you develop a sophisticated ability to communicate by touch with dogs, and if you keep your dog conditioned to your touch with daily contact, touch can play a huge role in training and reward. Do not assume, though, that a dog new to you will enjoy touch as a reward. The instinctive response to touch is defensive. A positive response to touch is learned. All the time you put into developing your dog’s positive response to touch has tremendous benefits for just about every part of your life with your dog, so you will want to do this. [Read Touch and How It Affects Your Dog]
Some dogs also consider a “kiss” or chance to lick your face to be rewarding. Allowing the dog to do it at times doesn’t mean you have to allow it all the time. When you don’t want the dog to lick you, just gently but firmly hold the dog’s head back. Say “No licking” or something of the sort. You can teach a word cue for when you are giving permission to lick, so the dog knows which is which.
Retrieving
Retrieving is an example of a trained behavior that becomes a reward. Retrieving seems to express a deep instinct in a dog’s mind and give special satisfaction when the dog expresses it. Dogs really come together as working or companion dogs simply from learning to retrieve.
Perhaps it’s not that “simple,” since the act of retrieving has multiple parts. The dog either spots the object to be fetched or learns to believe you when you say it’s there. The dog runs out to it, possibly taking direction from you. The dog picks it up and carries it back to you, waits for you to be ready to securely grasp it so it won’t be dropped, and then releases it to your hand. This is a magnificent task for a dog to perform for a person when you look at it closely. What amazing creatures dogs are. We truly do not fully understand all the great things inside them.
Retrieving is best taught over a substantial period of time so that it will be a stable behavior that the dog can enjoy instead of feeling stress from it. Start when you get your puppy or dog, and do a little every day, always stopping when your dog still wants more. There are many different methods for teaching the retrieve. Make sure you have a clear picture of exactly what a retrieve is, and find a method that suits both you and particularly your dog. If the dog will be a working dog, the working retrieve will be professionally trained, so check with the training organization to make sure any retrieving in play you teach your dog will not interfere with the formal program later.
Retrieving is used in many different ways to reward behaviors. It makes the toy more rewarding to the dog in eye contact work. It helps teach dogs to come to you when you call because they want to give you the toy and have you throw it again. It channels critter-chasing drives into an acceptable outlet. You can call the dog from chasing the critter that is probably going to get away to the ball that is a sure thing!
Around the house, you can use retrieving in an especially convenient way for reward if there are some retrieving objects safe to leave in the dog’s reach. When the dog does something you want to reward, you can say “Good boy! Get your ball!” and then reward the dog with three to five fetches of the ball.
Good Times
Just before you plan to take your dog for a walk, a ride in the car, or give a meal are all good times to get in a little training. If the dog knows the good time is coming, the dog may eagerly work to satisfy you with the training to get on to the fun. Use your praise at the right moment so the dog will know exactly what you wanted. If the dog doesn’t know in advance that you’re going together for a walk or a ride in the car, a surprise reward also has special powers.
These exciting times are good for helping your dog learn composure. One example is having your dog sit and quietly let you put the collar on and walk politely with you out the door. At any point the dog becomes wild, stop the progress toward the fun event and wait for the dog to regain composure. Give a soft cue word if the dog seems to be too excited to remember what you want! And then just wait. If you take one step forward and the dog goes nuts, stop and wait again. In this case, each step from you can be the reward the dog is working for at that particular moment!
Some dogs just love to run, and people often make the mistake of playing games of chasing the dog. This gets a lot of dogs hit by cars. Instead of chasing your dog, let your dog chase you (but not grab or jump on you), or the two of you race toward a goal. You can build speed on the retrieve by tossing the object and then racing your dog to it.
If the situation is such that you can make noise without disturbing neighbors (such as inside your detached house with the windows shut!), you might use a howling session as a reward. Dogs seem to view howling as a social occasion, with different meaning than barking. Howling together can be exhilarating.
If you have one, two or three dogs, you may also be able to do a reward of tossing a few dozen tiny pieces of dry dog food at once onto the kitchen floor and letting the dogs get them. A smooth floor like most kitchen floors lets the dogs get the tiny treats without licking up and swallowing fibers from the carpet or potentially harmful substances from the ground outdoors. Don’t do this, though, if your dogs might fight over the pieces! In such a case, give treats from your hand, having the dogs take turns and saying the name of the dog as you give each treat. Don’t toss these treats to the dogs, because a dog could miss and wind up fighting another dog over it. Give each treat directly from your hand. Even for dogs who do get along well, large treats on the floor are too risky. Only try the floor jackpot with tiny treats and highly compatible dogs.
It’s good to learn how to give your dogs treats at the same time, so that when one dog does something good, the others all get rewards, too. This helps them develop an attitude of wanting to see the other dog get it right. When you keep dogs together in a group, you do not want intense competition between them. Another word for that is “fighting”! You want them to feel there’s plenty to go around, and that one dog’s good fortune means good fortune for them all.
Creative Rewards
Anything a particular dog finds rewarding that is acceptable to you can be used as a reward for teaching. When dogs are used for breeding, training-minded breeders occasionally have the male do some training and use allowing him to mate the waiting female as a reward. Dogs used for suspect apprehension by police and military handlers are sometimes rewarded by a chance to bite the padded human acting as agitator.
Think about the type of behavior you’re rewarding and the physical state best for your dog to be in to do that behavior. If you’re rewarding a stay, use praise, petting and possibly treats given during the stay to make it stronger. A calm release from the exercise is best because at times it’s dangerous for a dog to “explode” out of a stay.
When rewarding a dog for a high-energy task, an exciting reward helps build the dog’s energy during that task and for the next time you do it as well. One example around the house is the dog in your fenced back yard barking.
You may wish to use a different word than “Come” for the backyard, since the real meaning is not “Run to me this instant,” but rather, “Eliminate if you need to, and then hustle on in here.” The word “in” works well. Rewarding frequently for times the dog comes in quickly will help get the dog to come promptly into the house on this cue.
Watch your dog and think as you do things together, always looking for ways to use what the dog likes as rewards. Whatever the dog wants right then is probably the strongest reward for that moment. Be ready!
Date Published: 7/31/2006 10:46:00 AM
Rewards that one dog finds motivating, another dog may find boring—or even unpleasant. Teaching when your dog feels motivated is easier on both you and the dog.
Learning spread over time is the most stable learning, and we’re all more likely to fit training into our schedules if it’s enjoyable. If you are ready to show your dog the proper response when a real-life situation comes along, that is often the best learning of all. Part of being ready is having ways to reward the dog.
Developing rewards that motivate your dog to learn can be considered the most important part of training. A dog starts forming beliefs about you, about humans in general, about situations, and about doing things with you from the very first experiences. It is extremely important to make a dog’s experiences positive, so the dog will always be willing to try again. We all get it wrong sometimes, but if we can keep that willingness to try again, we’ll have another chance to get it right.
Eye Contact
Some jobs dogs perform would be compromised if the dog kept eye contact with the handler. The handler may wish to teach the dog an eye contact cue for situations of close control, but would not want to make eye contact the “default” or “check in” mode that people often want with sport dogs and companion dogs. Typically a professional trainer or instructor conducts these types of training, using tried-and-true methods for the particular work. If you are in doubt as to whether eye contact training would be a problem for work you plan to have your dog do, check with the training organization before teaching it.
For most of us, teaching the dog to give eye contact on cue means you will be able to instantly get the dog’s attention no matter what is happening. This allows you to teach your dog anything with minimal leash pressure. Many dogs’ lives have been saved by this approach.
Eye contact training works beautifully with rewards. Don’t show the reward in advance. Keep it out of sight. With the dog either on loose leash (hanging down, not taut between you and the dog) or off-leash in a safe, confined area such as your house or yard, say the dog’s name and move quickly away. You can start this little exercise as early as puppies can eat and walk, or at any other time in a dog’s life. It’s not difficult to teach.
You might have to make sure the pup or dog knows you have a treat the first few times, but after that, keep it out of sight. This is important because of the way dogs experience the world. If the treat is NOT in sight some time, and the dog is used to seeing it, the situation is different enough to thoroughly confuse many dogs. They appear to think it’s not the same cue because the food is not there. This is probably the same phenomenon that causes a dog to not recognize a cue when you have only done it in one location. When you start to vary the location, it takes a dog some experience to understand that the cue is still the same, no matter where you do it.
You want the dog to still do as you ask, even when you don’t HAVE a treat. So it’s important to teach this with the treat not in sight.
The sequence is to say the dog’s name, give a word for what direction you want the dog to move if there is a specific one (such as “heel” or “come”), step AWAY from the dog quickly, PRAISE the dog for moving with you, and—aligning the reward between your eyes and the dog’s eyes so that the dog is making eye contact with you when receiving the reward--give the reward.
Each time you do this sequence; repeat it three to five times, never just once. When you do a reward sequence only once, the dog will learn to take the reward and then instantly turn attention away from you. The purpose of eye contact is to have a dog sustain attention on you until you release the attention. That way you can use eye contact to walk your dog past a distraction, such as a dog your dog fears, and hold your dog’s attention the entire time.
The eye contact exercise done this way (there are lots of variations) calls for a reward you can deliver with precise timing as well as with the dog’s eyes on your face. This can help you learn more about effective use of food. Many of the people who object to the use of food in training don’t actually know how to do it. There is a great deal of skill involved. The eye contact exercise can get you started.
For a dog you don’t know well, food is a logical reward, since all dogs eat. Some dogs don’t get turned on by food, and sometimes you have a reason for not wanting to use food. Once you’ve built up the value of a specific toy in your dog’s opinion—by having fun together with that toy—you can use a toy for eye contact reward.
Food used in eye contact training needs to be tiny treats that will not interrupt the flow of the work. Besides, we want healthy dogs, and the wrong treats or overfeeding can cause illness. The best option is the dog’s regular dog food, or some other food that comes in tiny pieces and can be your dog’s regular treat food. Dogs don’t need incredible treats for training, since the training itself is fun—or should be. The treats just help them understand what you want, and feel a sense of satisfaction for earning rewards.
It is not necessary to get your dog extra hungry for treat training. In fact, dogs who get overeager for treats may do better if fed shortly before training. It helps some dogs if you feed three or four small meals a day, instead of the normal two, so that they always have room for some treats. This also makes it easy to nip and tuck the meal amounts throughout the day to adjust for the treats, and wind up with the right total amount to keep your dog healthy. Dogs pay much more attention to how often they get to eat than to the quantity of food they eat.
The eye contact exercise with movement seems to activate a “hunting” instinct in dogs, which can make them interested in food when they might otherwise turn up their noses. Doing the exercise, they seem to “work up” an appetite.
To use a toy for the reward, align it with your face as you do with the treat, and give or toss it to the dog’s mouth. Make it a game of catch. This is much easier to do briskly and with good control if you attach a light rope to the toy.
Your dog can’t catch, you say? Do you recall how you learned to catch? Someone went outside with you and you tossed a ball back and forth, right? You learned how to watch the ball and coordinate your eye and hands to catch it. This is a physical skill your brain needs practice to develop in your body.
It’s just the same with dogs. If your dog doesn’t know how to catch, you have fun times ahead teaching it. That’s one way you build up a reward system for a dog. Start with retrieving [See Retrieving in Play] to make the object itself exciting for the dog, and to teach the dog to give things back without a struggle.
When you use a toy instead of treats for the eye contact reward, stick to the same three to five repetitions, and “recharge” the toy’s value to your dog frequently by giving the dog a break to fetch and/or chew it.
Putting the praise ahead of the reward in this exercise as well as any other time you reward your dog endows the praise with positive meaning to the dog. “She praised me. That means good things! Maybe I’ll get a reward! Or maybe next time? Praise is good; I’m definitely on the right track with what I’m doing here!” might be how a dog would think who has been conditioned to praise. That is, if dogs thought in terms of words. More likely what a dog would experience is that praise equals approval and possible payoff.
You could condition a dog that praise meant payoff EVERY time, but there is a problem with doing that. A dog who expects a reward every single time will stop trying for a reward rather quickly when no reward comes for several repetitions of doing that behavior on cue. Dogs are very adaptable, and to a dog with this experience, it appears that the rules have changed and the behavior no longer pays off.
A dog who has been conditioned that the repetition of doing the behavior on cue which will bring a reward is unpredictable will persist in trying for the reward. Thus the dog will keep working much longer when there are no rewards. You just have to keep giving reward often enough to make it worth the dog’s effort to try for it. This is how humans get addicted on gambling: they get rewarded now and then, at unpredictable intervals. So they keep risking their money.
You can praise a dog with your body language and even with just your eyes. Any movement that you associate with things the dog likes will become like the verbal praise: associated with good things. It’s good to have these other ways of praising your dog because there are times you want to praise without sound. And there are times you need to praise when a dog cannot hear, such as when an older dog goes deaf.
If you want your dog to automatically “check in” frequently with eye contact whenever you are together, then acknowledge that eye contact each time you notice the dog doing it. “Eye praise” comes in handy. Blinking both eyes like a cat is an easy one that dogs quickly learn. Or praise with your body language or voice. And sometimes give a treat or game or other reward the dog likes. Make it always worthwhile for the dog to look at you, and it will become a habit. Keep the leash loose, too. A loose leash is important for other reasons, too, but in the case of eye contact it means the dog can’t feel you through leash tension, so needs to check in with eyes.
Building Bridges
Some things you can use as rewards are not as conveniently given to a dog at the exact right moment as treats. In order to communicate with the dog that a particular behavior is the one you want, often it is necessary to have a way to say “That! Right there! Yes! That’s IT!”
If you have taught the Eye Contact exercise and habitually used verbal praise right before giving the reward, voila, you now have your way to say “That’s it!” The same holds true for eye or body language gestures you’ve associated with good things, turning them into praise signals. You can teach a more mechanical marker if you wish, such as a clicker.
So when your dog does something you like—whether or not you first asked the dog to do it—you will get more of that behavior in the future by rewarding for it. But perhaps you don’t have a reward in reach or the nature of the behavior is such that a reward can’t be delivered quickly. The connection has to be made in the dog’s mind between the EXACT action and the reward, or else you could accidentally teach your dog something entirely different.
When your dog does that great thing and you say “Good boy!” or whatever you want to use for praise in a pleased tone of voice, then if you are also going to give a reward, you may want to add words for that reward. Walking to the kitchen with your dog while talking about the food reward you’re about to give will make the whole thing just that much more fun for the dog. Talking about the coming reward is even more helpful if it’s going to be a walk or something else that takes more time to prepare. That way the dog can connect the action and the reward.
Whenever possible, put the reward for a task into the task itself. You don’t want your dog to experience that training is simply to be endured so we can have something nice. Then, whoopee! Meanwhile, sigh, this is so boring. No! You want your dog to love learning! So find as many opportunities as possible to put the reward into the task. Sometimes just stop a task halfway, give a treat, and then either go back to it or end it for the day. Keep the dog guessing a little as to just when something extra nice will happen.
Petting
People tend to thump dogs on the top of the head and call it petting. Some hail and hearty dogs may like this type of touch, but many just put up with it because they want human attention. Try petting your dog in other ways to see what your dog likes best and to develop your own touch communication and rewards.
Lots of dogs enjoy gentle scratching behind the ear, neck massages, and touches to the chest. Some enjoy gentle strokes under the chin and many enjoy being softly stroked with your hand approaching from the side of the dog’s face to the cheek area. Avoid putting a hand over an unfamiliar dog’s face for petting, because that keeps the dog from seeing your facial expressions and many dogs find it threatening.
If you develop a sophisticated ability to communicate by touch with dogs, and if you keep your dog conditioned to your touch with daily contact, touch can play a huge role in training and reward. Do not assume, though, that a dog new to you will enjoy touch as a reward. The instinctive response to touch is defensive. A positive response to touch is learned. All the time you put into developing your dog’s positive response to touch has tremendous benefits for just about every part of your life with your dog, so you will want to do this. [Read Touch and How It Affects Your Dog]
Some dogs also consider a “kiss” or chance to lick your face to be rewarding. Allowing the dog to do it at times doesn’t mean you have to allow it all the time. When you don’t want the dog to lick you, just gently but firmly hold the dog’s head back. Say “No licking” or something of the sort. You can teach a word cue for when you are giving permission to lick, so the dog knows which is which.
Retrieving
Retrieving is an example of a trained behavior that becomes a reward. Retrieving seems to express a deep instinct in a dog’s mind and give special satisfaction when the dog expresses it. Dogs really come together as working or companion dogs simply from learning to retrieve.
Perhaps it’s not that “simple,” since the act of retrieving has multiple parts. The dog either spots the object to be fetched or learns to believe you when you say it’s there. The dog runs out to it, possibly taking direction from you. The dog picks it up and carries it back to you, waits for you to be ready to securely grasp it so it won’t be dropped, and then releases it to your hand. This is a magnificent task for a dog to perform for a person when you look at it closely. What amazing creatures dogs are. We truly do not fully understand all the great things inside them.
Retrieving is best taught over a substantial period of time so that it will be a stable behavior that the dog can enjoy instead of feeling stress from it. Start when you get your puppy or dog, and do a little every day, always stopping when your dog still wants more. There are many different methods for teaching the retrieve. Make sure you have a clear picture of exactly what a retrieve is, and find a method that suits both you and particularly your dog. If the dog will be a working dog, the working retrieve will be professionally trained, so check with the training organization to make sure any retrieving in play you teach your dog will not interfere with the formal program later.
Retrieving is used in many different ways to reward behaviors. It makes the toy more rewarding to the dog in eye contact work. It helps teach dogs to come to you when you call because they want to give you the toy and have you throw it again. It channels critter-chasing drives into an acceptable outlet. You can call the dog from chasing the critter that is probably going to get away to the ball that is a sure thing!
Around the house, you can use retrieving in an especially convenient way for reward if there are some retrieving objects safe to leave in the dog’s reach. When the dog does something you want to reward, you can say “Good boy! Get your ball!” and then reward the dog with three to five fetches of the ball.
Good Times
Just before you plan to take your dog for a walk, a ride in the car, or give a meal are all good times to get in a little training. If the dog knows the good time is coming, the dog may eagerly work to satisfy you with the training to get on to the fun. Use your praise at the right moment so the dog will know exactly what you wanted. If the dog doesn’t know in advance that you’re going together for a walk or a ride in the car, a surprise reward also has special powers.
These exciting times are good for helping your dog learn composure. One example is having your dog sit and quietly let you put the collar on and walk politely with you out the door. At any point the dog becomes wild, stop the progress toward the fun event and wait for the dog to regain composure. Give a soft cue word if the dog seems to be too excited to remember what you want! And then just wait. If you take one step forward and the dog goes nuts, stop and wait again. In this case, each step from you can be the reward the dog is working for at that particular moment!
Some dogs just love to run, and people often make the mistake of playing games of chasing the dog. This gets a lot of dogs hit by cars. Instead of chasing your dog, let your dog chase you (but not grab or jump on you), or the two of you race toward a goal. You can build speed on the retrieve by tossing the object and then racing your dog to it.
If the situation is such that you can make noise without disturbing neighbors (such as inside your detached house with the windows shut!), you might use a howling session as a reward. Dogs seem to view howling as a social occasion, with different meaning than barking. Howling together can be exhilarating.
If you have one, two or three dogs, you may also be able to do a reward of tossing a few dozen tiny pieces of dry dog food at once onto the kitchen floor and letting the dogs get them. A smooth floor like most kitchen floors lets the dogs get the tiny treats without licking up and swallowing fibers from the carpet or potentially harmful substances from the ground outdoors. Don’t do this, though, if your dogs might fight over the pieces! In such a case, give treats from your hand, having the dogs take turns and saying the name of the dog as you give each treat. Don’t toss these treats to the dogs, because a dog could miss and wind up fighting another dog over it. Give each treat directly from your hand. Even for dogs who do get along well, large treats on the floor are too risky. Only try the floor jackpot with tiny treats and highly compatible dogs.
It’s good to learn how to give your dogs treats at the same time, so that when one dog does something good, the others all get rewards, too. This helps them develop an attitude of wanting to see the other dog get it right. When you keep dogs together in a group, you do not want intense competition between them. Another word for that is “fighting”! You want them to feel there’s plenty to go around, and that one dog’s good fortune means good fortune for them all.
Creative Rewards
Anything a particular dog finds rewarding that is acceptable to you can be used as a reward for teaching. When dogs are used for breeding, training-minded breeders occasionally have the male do some training and use allowing him to mate the waiting female as a reward. Dogs used for suspect apprehension by police and military handlers are sometimes rewarded by a chance to bite the padded human acting as agitator.
Think about the type of behavior you’re rewarding and the physical state best for your dog to be in to do that behavior. If you’re rewarding a stay, use praise, petting and possibly treats given during the stay to make it stronger. A calm release from the exercise is best because at times it’s dangerous for a dog to “explode” out of a stay.
When rewarding a dog for a high-energy task, an exciting reward helps build the dog’s energy during that task and for the next time you do it as well. One example around the house is the dog in your fenced back yard barking.
You may wish to use a different word than “Come” for the backyard, since the real meaning is not “Run to me this instant,” but rather, “Eliminate if you need to, and then hustle on in here.” The word “in” works well. Rewarding frequently for times the dog comes in quickly will help get the dog to come promptly into the house on this cue.
Watch your dog and think as you do things together, always looking for ways to use what the dog likes as rewards. Whatever the dog wants right then is probably the strongest reward for that moment. Be ready!
Date Published: 7/31/2006 10:46:00 AM
Copyright 2008 by Kathy Diamond Davis. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&C=2&A=2364&S=0
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The Other Ways To Reward And Keep Your Dog Motivated Other Than Food And How To Keep Your Dog To Stay Focus
Keeping the attention of a dog while training is not always easy. Dogs can be easily distracted, and it is important to not allow the training sessions to be sabotaged by boredom. Making training fun for the dog and the human alike is vital to creating a happy, well adjusted and well trained dog.
Providing random positive stimuli during the day is a great way to keep the interest of the dog. Doing things the dog enjoys, like walking in the park, riding in the car, and playing with other dogs, is a great way to keep the dog’s attention and reward him for small successes.
For instance, in order to reward the dog for coming to you, for instance, ask the dog to come to you, without giving any clues about a walk, a car ride, or other treats. After the dog has come to you and obediently sat down, attach the leash and start the reward. This can be either the aforementioned walk in the park, ride in the car, or anything else the dog likes to do.
Providing some kind of reward, whether a treat, a special outing, or just a scratch behind the ears, every time the dog does something you want, is a great way to keep your dog motivated. If the dog knows something great is going to happen every time he obeys your command, he will be motivated to please you every time.
Distraction training
When training any dog, it is important to not let distractions disrupt the training. The dog must be taught to ignore distractions, such as other people, other dogs, other animals and loud noises, and focus on what is being taught These types of distractions can even be used as rewards when training the dog to come when called.
For instance, if your dog enjoys playing with other dogs, whether in a local dog park or with the neighbor’s dogs, let him play freely with those other dogs. Then go into the park or yard and call your dog. When he comes to you, provide lots of praise, treats and other rewards, then immediately allow the dog to go back to playing with his friends.
Repeat this several times and praise the dog each time he comes to you. The dog will quickly learn that coming to you means good things (treats and praise) and not bad ones (being taken away from the park).
If the dog does not master this particular type of training right away, try not to get discouraged. So called distraction training is one of the most difficult things to teach. Dogs are naturally social animals, and breaking away from the pack is one of the most difficult things you can ask your dog to do. Most dogs will be understandably reluctant to leave their canine companions, but it is important to persist.
Training the dog to come to you may require some creativity on your part at first. For instance, waving a favorite toy, or a lure, is a great way to get your dog’s attention and put the focus back on you. If your dog has been clicker trained, a quick click can be a good motivator as well.
Once the dog begins to get the hang of coming when called, you can begin to reduce and eliminate the visual cues and focus on getting the dog to respond to your voice alone. It is important that the dog respond to voice commands alone, since you will not always have the availability of a toy or other lure.
Keeping the attention of a dog while training is not always easy. Dogs can be easily distracted, and it is important to not allow the training sessions to be sabotaged by boredom. Making training fun for the dog and the human alike is vital to creating a happy, well adjusted and well trained dog.
Providing random positive stimuli during the day is a great way to keep the interest of the dog. Doing things the dog enjoys, like walking in the park, riding in the car, and playing with other dogs, is a great way to keep the dog’s attention and reward him for small successes.
For instance, in order to reward the dog for coming to you, for instance, ask the dog to come to you, without giving any clues about a walk, a car ride, or other treats. After the dog has come to you and obediently sat down, attach the leash and start the reward. This can be either the aforementioned walk in the park, ride in the car, or anything else the dog likes to do.
Providing some kind of reward, whether a treat, a special outing, or just a scratch behind the ears, every time the dog does something you want, is a great way to keep your dog motivated. If the dog knows something great is going to happen every time he obeys your command, he will be motivated to please you every time.
Distraction training
When training any dog, it is important to not let distractions disrupt the training. The dog must be taught to ignore distractions, such as other people, other dogs, other animals and loud noises, and focus on what is being taught These types of distractions can even be used as rewards when training the dog to come when called.
For instance, if your dog enjoys playing with other dogs, whether in a local dog park or with the neighbor’s dogs, let him play freely with those other dogs. Then go into the park or yard and call your dog. When he comes to you, provide lots of praise, treats and other rewards, then immediately allow the dog to go back to playing with his friends.
Repeat this several times and praise the dog each time he comes to you. The dog will quickly learn that coming to you means good things (treats and praise) and not bad ones (being taken away from the park).
If the dog does not master this particular type of training right away, try not to get discouraged. So called distraction training is one of the most difficult things to teach. Dogs are naturally social animals, and breaking away from the pack is one of the most difficult things you can ask your dog to do. Most dogs will be understandably reluctant to leave their canine companions, but it is important to persist.
Training the dog to come to you may require some creativity on your part at first. For instance, waving a favorite toy, or a lure, is a great way to get your dog’s attention and put the focus back on you. If your dog has been clicker trained, a quick click can be a good motivator as well.
Once the dog begins to get the hang of coming when called, you can begin to reduce and eliminate the visual cues and focus on getting the dog to respond to your voice alone. It is important that the dog respond to voice commands alone, since you will not always have the availability of a toy or other lure.
http://www.absolute-dog-training.com/motivating-your-dog-and-staying-focus.html
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Whether you have trained your dog a fair amount or will be new to the idea of dog training totally, youll probably be somewhat familiar with the use of food as a reward for your dog when training him. Its not because its fair that he gets something in exchange for performing. Giving food as a reward basically reinforces his association with the fact that doing a task correctly means good things for him like a treat. He will not only attempt to stay focused again next time when practicing that command, but will also make sure hes attentive in the future for other commands. However, the negative part of rewarding your dog for doing a certain task correctly will be that he will likely expect it every time. He also might just want a treat and not listen to your commands. Therefore, a really good tip when dog training with the implementation of a reward treat will be slowly removing treats as a reward over time. The fact remains, dogs dont really need a food treat as a reward to learn. However, since dogs really do like food, giving food as a reward to the dog becomes an easy way to keep his attention. But lets get back to slowly removing the food as a reward. Basically, you want to start increasing the number of commands that you give him before you extend a treat as a reward. Even from the start, its probably better not to give him a reward after every right response your dog gives to each command. Yes, as a puppy that might be the best way. Eventually, you should did to the point where you do not reward your dog with a treat until he responds correctly to your commands three to five times or so. In other words, you might tell him to sit three times before you give him a treat on the last time. Further down the road you will simply give him food rewards after every five commands correctly answered....and so on. It should be noted that you should never reward your dog by him taking action after you say a command more than once. For example, dont reward him if he finally sits down after you say ?sit, sit ,sit?. Youll be rewarding him for responding after you saying the command three times or more. If he doesnt take action after the first time you say ?sit?, then you simply need to walk away to the other side of the room or do something else that shows you have discontinued that particular training time. You can then come back and try again. You may also help them set by gently pushing his butt down after you say ?sit? one-time assuming he does not respond on his own. Soon this tip we are giving should help your dog to respond to a command fairly quickly. Of course, youll get various benefits from this tip including saving some money but probably the most beneficial reason will be that he responds correctly because he gets pleasure from your pleasure of him doing well ( he sees this through your loving praise you give them after a well done response or training session).
On a related note, before you read any further, it is always nice to have good free information so we strive to offer that here. However, if you want to get professional advice then you might check out this link dog training reviews for good information. There is no way we can top professional dog experts guidance. We personally like this source, Sit Stay Fetch.
On a related note, before you read any further, it is always nice to have good free information so we strive to offer that here. However, if you want to get professional advice then you might check out this link dog training reviews for good information. There is no way we can top professional dog experts guidance. We personally like this source, Sit Stay Fetch.
http://www.dog-training-obedience.net/Food-as-a-Reward-in-Dog-Training.php
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Getting good behavior from your dog is best achieved through reinforcing good behavior with rewards. A reward is something that the dog likes. It can be food, play, affection, or even sniffing. By recognizing what your dog enjoys, you can take advantage of many opportunities to train good behavior.
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Getting good behavior from your dog is best achieved through reinforcing good behavior with rewards. A reward is something that the dog likes. It can be food, play, affection, or even sniffing. By recognizing what your dog enjoys, you can take advantage of many opportunities to train good behavior.;
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Instructions
Difficulty: Easy
Things You’ll Need:
Awareness
Time
Treats
Toys
Leash
Dog Chews
Step1 Most dogs love food. Be sure to ask your dog for a behavior at feeding time before he gets his dish. Either going into the crate, a basic obedience cue, or a trick. You may also use food as a reward for good behavior at other times. Sometimes you need more than a dry dog cookie to convince your dog that if he does not chase the cat it will be worth the wait. Try dry cereal, unseasoned baked chicken, cheese, jarred baby food, or canned cheese. Ask your vet if the treat you are planning to use is safe for your dog.
Step2 Many dogs would rather play than eat, use play time with your dog to get good behaviors. Ask for a sit or a stay before you throw the ball or the flying disc. Do not throw the toy for him if he is pawing or barking at you.
How to Reward a Dog
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Add to Favorites
Print Article
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Getting good behavior from your dog is best achieved through reinforcing good behavior with rewards. A reward is something that the dog likes. It can be food, play, affection, or even sniffing. By recognizing what your dog enjoys, you can take advantage of many opportunities to train good behavior.;
Flag Article
Instructions
Difficulty: Easy
Things You’ll Need:
Awareness
Time
Treats
Toys
Leash
Dog Chews
Step1 Most dogs love food. Be sure to ask your dog for a behavior at feeding time before he gets his dish. Either going into the crate, a basic obedience cue, or a trick. You may also use food as a reward for good behavior at other times. Sometimes you need more than a dry dog cookie to convince your dog that if he does not chase the cat it will be worth the wait. Try dry cereal, unseasoned baked chicken, cheese, jarred baby food, or canned cheese. Ask your vet if the treat you are planning to use is safe for your dog.
Step2 Many dogs would rather play than eat, use play time with your dog to get good behaviors. Ask for a sit or a stay before you throw the ball or the flying disc. Do not throw the toy for him if he is pawing or barking at you.
How to impress a dog | puppy training
How to impress a dog
Lots of folks claim to believe in Cesar Millans philosophies and techniques of dog communication, and yet they dont put these simple beliefs to practice. I wonder why. Their dogs would be so much happier for it.
We all yearn to be in an environment where our "native tongue" is the primary spoken word. This is natural. Communication is so important, and we humans rely heavily on speech to get our messages across.
Yet we try to force the human language and human value system onto our dogs instead of meeting them at least halfway in an effort to learn THEIR language system.
Cesar believes in "speaking dog," and so do I. From the moment I first meet a dog, I try to meet it on "dog terms" rather than people terms. I dont instantly pet the dog. I assess the dog first, and allow him to assess me. I dont show emotional weakness or make high, squeaky sounds that distress and confuse the dog. Instead, I approach from a neutral or superior position, wanting the dogs first impression of me to show strength, courage, confidence and intelligence...all characteristics of a good leader. As Cesar says, "No touch, no look, no talk" for the first couple minutes in the new dogs presence.
If you want to make a truly good and favorable impression on a new dog, try this technique. Its different from human interaction. Smiling, shaking hands, and exchanging pleasantries might work for people, but its not natural in the dog world. Your dog will have a much better first impression of you if you remain friendly but strong, and just a tad aloof.
Remember your energy should always be "calm/assertive," and your dogs energy should be "calm/submissive." This is the proper balance for a healthy leader/subordinate relationship.
How To House Train A Dog | off leash dog park
How To House Train A Dog
Play with your dog search can be a fun activity, provided that the dog knows what you are. How dog owners have left the park, throwing a Frisbee and expect their dog to run after him upside down? It follows that burrow in soft looking at them with a lost look in his eyes. Most dog owners mistakenly that their dogs know how to lead the Company. While this may be true for some dogs who love the race and bringing things back (well, I said no CU), there are still others who simply do not bother. In fact, they seem quite surprised why the owners would like them do that.
The reasons can vary, for example, there are certain breeds of dogs that simply do not have humor while others have been conditioned not to respond. However, training a dog to fetch is not really a difficult task. Everything you need to allow your dog to understand the rules of the game is consistent training and positive reinforcement. Here are the steps that will help you understand how to train a dog to retrieve.
Steps to teach a dog to fetch
Determine Cue: The first step in dog training is to determine the tail, which may be physical assistance, a word or gesture. For example, the word "fetch" can be silent. Make sure the gesture or word is not confused with another command. A syllable or a unusual move seems to work best.
Choice of venue: Choose a location that is level with a margin of safety as a fenced yard and make sure it is free from distractions. A dog park can be a bit too busy to conduct training, causing the dog to be too preoccupied with other things.
Dog Training Fetch A: One of the basic methods of training a dog to retrieve is "bait and switch" routine. You can choose two identical objects such as tennis balls or something who likes to play with the dog. Use a leash or rope to keep the dog under the control of movements. Now, hide the toy and throw each other over a short distance after showing it to your dog. Release the dog on a leash and say the cue word of your choice. The dog will run after the toy and pick it up. Then he begins to return first toy, produce the hidden. This may cause a fall in favor of the new toy. Now, wait until the dog back to you and put the leash before launching the new toy. Check out our new toy and say the word cue again, while releasing the animal to give chase. Although the hunting dog new toy, take the first. Repeat this process several times using the command. There are dogs that are not only motivated toys. You can try adding a little flavor of the game the way some food reward for their good behavior.
Another manual method is known as the "forced retrieve. This is done by launching a toy dog walking distance and give them to the point and pick it up. When dogs do this, you can reward him handsomely for it.
Praise Dog: When the dog toy extract can give you a dog treat and use lots of praise for letting the dog know that youre glad he did what you wanted to do. He finished the game before the dog is bored or tired.
Remember that when a dog training, patience is key. Believe me, every dog gets the hang of it, youll have a good time bonding with your pet. So go ahead and learn how to train a dog to get him to make the necessary additional comfort and happiness in your life.
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
How to REALLY get the Legendary Dogs in Pokemon Omega Ruby Alpha Sapphire | Canine Behavior Problems?
How to REALLY get the Legendary Dogs in Pokemon Omega Ruby Alpha Sapphire
Watch the video here! http://bit.ly/1zHuEBR
Get your dog to start behaving! Click Here To Find Out How.
via YouTube Capture
How to Fix Your Dog’s Bad Behavior before the New Year | the online dog trainer
How to Fix Your Dog’s Bad Behavior before the New Year
If You spend lot of time to with your dog for changing his bad behavior most difficult you have to join a dog training organization for quickly to change your Dog Behaviour Training Sydney. Most of people are loved with pets but some of the pets don’t like your friends, relative in this case you have occurred with your Pets.
The dog training is not an easy task for everybody so you choose for your pets a well trainer have lot of experience in this field and also good reputation in locally or online positive feedback trainer and this organization. Dog Trainer Sydney is good for your pets because this trainer also provide k9 training certified organization.
Quickly Change Dog Behaviour Training Central Coast main important step:
- Actual Age of your Dog
- This Pet is a pure bread or Mixed Bread
- Pet have any health Issue
- Eating branded quality food
- Friendly Pets
- Dog Barking your Family members
- Pet sad nature
This important topic share with your trainer for quickly change his behaviour to help this regularly join training program one more important topic the training place is very silent place or don’t have too many of crowd or traffic sound. In this place your pets don’t concerned to trainer. You can choose a training organization this part caring always.
The system is dog friendly, no harsh methods and is a humane system for training dogs.
1st STAGE: Teaching in Positive Reinforcement/ Reward base:
Before you can expect your dog to complete a command, the dog must learn exactly what the command means and what is being asked of the dog. This is achieved by giving the dog a positive motivating experience.
2nd STAGE: Training Phase:
Once your dog understands and has been taught how to do an exercise, it must then be trained over and over until it becomes a habit. Dogs learn through repetition, motivation and praise, so when the command is given the dog completes the task every time.
3rd STAGE: Proofing (Distraction phase)
Once your dog has completed the training phase and is well trained, Proofing is applied by tempting or distracting during exercises. Examples of this are: The dog must not move from the command with distraction put in place i.e.: tennis ball rolled past, another person enters the training area etc.
4th STAGE: Final Phase
Your dog is now, your best friend, happy, confident, and controlled a pleasure to have. You will be the envy of the neighbors and your friends. The problems of old are no longer. Imagine no more jumping on you, not getting dragged down the road, your dog not running away and no more nuisance barking. Imagine the smile on your face.
For more details about Dog Training Online just visit us www.dogobedience.com.au
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