Dog Training Tip: How dogs learn. Dogs learn by the consequences of their actions. A dog soon learns that hanging around the dining table can have positive consequences (table scraps) from humans who occasionally feed them reinforcing the behaviour. Dogs are all about resources and will repeat any behaviour that is rewarding to them, so if you feed the dog table scraps, even if only sporadically, you are effectively training that behaviour. A dog that never receives food from the table never begs because it is fruitless and a waste of energy. The lesson learned here is to reward behaviors you like and make sure behaviors you don’t want arent rewarded. Most people are very good at rewarding behaviours they like, but miserable at NOT rewarding behaviour they disapprove of. Let me give you an example of rewarding a negative behaviour. How many times have you seen people get excited and hug and pet their dog when they arrive home from work reinforcing the dog jumping up on them during the greeting. I would much prefer that the dog is given affection and attention for sitting or standing than jumping up on people, so reinforce that behaviour and withhold your attention and affection when your dog jumps up. The whole premise of Positive Reinforcement Dog Training is built on the simple principle of rewarding positive behaviours promoting the likelihood that the behaviour will reoccur and more importantly NOT rewarding behaviour that we want to extinguish. Always teach, never punish Tom, The Puppy Professor
Posted on: Mon, 12 May 2014 11:00:21 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015