Do you fall into the trap of Correction Training?

It is normal for people to fall into a pattern of training their dogs through correction training.  This is tiresome, negative, often loud & raucous and most definitely not a very calm relaxed household.

All of your energy is spent through saying “get down”, “leave it” or “quiet”.  You are always on the back foot and your dog is not learning what he can do, only what he can not do.

If you were to concentrate on giving your dog a tiny treat every time he was Quiet, Laying calmly on his mat, Sitting without having to be told,  and Standing with all four paws on the floor, you will be reinforcing all of the behaviours you want to continue.

This means that these desirable behaviours will be repeated again and again, because your pup will associate them with a yummy treat.  Eventually these positive calmer and more socially acceptable behaviours will replace the old habitual “naughty” ones your pup was doing in the past. 

You will not have to treat with food every time once these are new learned behaviours.  If you don’t give your dog a lot of pats and vocal praise for free, he will then see this contact with you as valuable and will accept these as reward enough when he is doing the right thing.

Attention for our dogs can be 

• Verbal – growling or praising our dog
• Physical – patting, scratching bellies or pushing down
• Eye contact – even looking at your dog is a reinforcer

EVERY time we give our dogs attention, we are reinforcing TWO things.

1. Their state of mind (are they calm, excited, anxious etc)

2. The behaviour they are doing the moment you give the attention.

So it is far more useful and effective to use your time in a positive way.  Catch your dog doing ANYTHING at all that you like and offer him a reward of some description. 

This is going to guide your dog into doing the behaviours you like rather than you constantly, and inadvertently, reinforcing all of the behaviours you don’t want to continue. 

Have fun with your dog and hope to see you at a training class to stimulate your dog and create an even closer bond, we look forward to showing you how clever your dog can be.