Praise Your Dog
2008-08-20

Praise Your Dog

Necessity of praising your dog The psychology of behaviorism explores how behavior - whether human or animal - is affected by stimuli or response. It has been proven time and again that positive reinforcement is the most successful way to increase desirable behavior. We can use praise to help us do many good things including pet training. Praise is an important, often overlooked, dog training tool. Dogs respond very well to praise, it can be as effective as handing over a favorite treat. We as human beings tend to express ourselves openly and clearly through gestures and vocalization when we are displeased. Your dog likely knows it when you are unhappy with something he's done; but are you as crystal clear when he's done something you are pleased with? Don’t be ungenerous when it does something worth while praise.

Know first about praise a dog: Dogs need an emotional connection. By using praise you can teach your dog to behave the way you need them to behave, while also meeting their needs for being apart of a loving pack. When you plan to achieve this, the following things you should know first: 1) Praise is positive for you and your dog. If you change your attitude toward your dog and seek ways to turn their behavior around instead of just trying to stop it, you will enjoy your time together more. This is the same sort of principle as turning a frown upside down. 2) Don't over praise. Make your dog work for your praise. If you just throw it out every time he looks cute he won't try hard enough to succeed at training. He won't understand why he should. You've got to separate your emotional praise voice and your training praise voice if you can't help yourself. It will help if you remember that a proud dog is a happy dog. 3) Treats can be involved to start and randomly throughout, but try to rely more on petting and vocalizations. Otherwise your dog isn't bonding with you so much as waiting for you to fill out its hips. Your dog will gain weight from too many treats so if you're going to use them liberally make sure you go low-fat and give your dog more exercise. 4) Praise should often be accompanied by affection. As a puppy is learning to trust your directions, their response should be rewarded with a kind voice and physical affection. This may be as simple as a pat on the head, rubbing of ears, scratch on the neck, or thump on the side. Your dog should know your love and loyalty, and will return that love and loyalty with good behavior. 5) Use the same or similar words when giving praise. A dog can easily develop a vocabulary when the same words are given for specific actions. Simple praises can be "good dog" or "smart dog". It could be sweet endearments you only share with your dog. 6) Choose to use positive reinforcement even when you are out of patience. One of the best commands to use positive reinforcement for is calling your dog to come. 7) Your dog must value your praise. To do this, the owner needs to assume the alpha dog position in the home. If the owner does not assume the alpha dog position, praise has no power. The dog will ignore the owner's attempt to guide and reward behavior through praise.

Examples of praising your dog in daily life: In everyday life, if you have your dog full attention and praise it in properly, it will learn the lesson faster and better, play in ways you wish. Here are 5 examples of praising dogs: 1.) Use potty time. Puppies love to go outside. Since you are already rewarding him for fast response outside, with loving praise and a happy face, use the excitement to work on another lesson at the same time. For example, work on his leash breaking. Even if you have a fenced in yard he should be getting at least some of his housebreaking time on a lead. As soon as he is finished his potty and received his happy praise, say, "Wanna work?" in such an excited voice he will happily agree. Spend a few minutes with his heeling and sitting work, depending on where you are in his lessons, and give high praise. 2.) Use meal times. At no point in the day do you have your dog's attention stronger than when he is hungry. Do not tease him with his food, ever, or take too long to give him his meal, but you can make a fun game out of a few little lessons before he receives his plate. For example, since he should already be learning to sit calmly off to the side as his food is being prepared, work on a short version that will encourage success. Rather than asking him to sit/stay for the whole long time, reward him with little bites as you go. If he sits for 30 seconds, give him a bite with high praise, release him for a moment, and place him again with a fresh command, only repeating the command when the first one ended in success. Never repeat a command if he fails to obey. In this case, quietly with a stern face, place his body back where you first put it with a light nudge to stress the point that "here is where you are supposed to be." 3.) Use the happy time when you let him out of his crate. You do not want to make too large a fuss when releasing him, just open the door and let him out, but of course it makes him happy and focused on you anyway. Once he is free and you love him up, say, "Wanna work?" and do a little 2 minute lesson, like sit, or down. Since he is excited only ask for 5 or 10 seconds at most, then praise, praise, praise! You must train when it is difficult for the dog to do it or he will only behave when he wants to behave, not when he NEEDS to. 4.) Use a new toy. Just like with his food and treats, do not withhold a new toy for longer than 2 minutes or so. Get his attention with it by letting him smell and taste it a little, without releasing it to him. The moment you give him complete control over a chewy or toy is a huge reward for him, so make him earn it. Do a few lessons, like a 1 minute down/stay or any other command that you are already working on. Do not introduce new lessons when the puppy is already excited. Use calm time for that. 5.) Use his regular session time. He loves his on-lead work time with you already, so before and after each work session, work on things that aren't actually session work but, say, good doggy manners or just understanding English. For example get his ball and teach him your call words, like "Fetch" or "Get it!” whatever you choose, make sure you keep using the same words over and over so he will learn them quickly.