In some households, parents provide rewards to their kids for completing chores or excelling in school. This is a type of positive reinforcement. It motivates a child to perform desirable behavior. In dogs, this same technique works but with tasty pet treats. The dog is motivated to achieve such acts due to correlating the behavior with receiving a reward. However, for positive reinforcement to work properly, there are a few guidelines to follow. Here is a basic breakdown of how and when to implement this process.
Avoid Rewarding Bad Behavior with Pet Treats
One common mistake dog owners make is rewarding negative behavior. For instance, if your dog is constantly barking and you let the dog outside with a pet treat for the barking is driving you crazy, then the dog correlates it as a reward. Instead, ignore your dog when it is barking. Once the barking stops, reward your dog. After repeating this technique a few times, your dog realizes silence is rewarded and that is the desirable action. Therefore, your dog will continue to exhibit such positive behavior.
Learn How Often to Give Treats
When you start out using positive reinforcement, reward your canine three out of the four times the act is executed. This way it keeps your dog motivated to continue with the training. As a result, the desirable behavior starts to stick. Then after the lesson is instilled in your dog, ease off the dog treats. Give the pet treats as a reward every other time. Continue to provide praise, but the actual food reward should be reduced.
Positive reinforcement works! And the best way to accomplish this type of dog training is to utilize grain-free pet treats.