CONSISTENCY IS KEY WHEN TRAINING YOUR BEST FRIEND

CONSISTENCY IS KEY WHEN TRAINING YOUR BEST FRIEND

When it comes to our canine Best Friend’s, it’s important to understand how they learn and respond to different situations. Here’s an explanation:

🐾 Positive Reinforcement

If you give your Best Friend something they enjoy (a treat, praise, or attention) immediately after they do a behaviour you like, they are more likely to repeat that behaviour in the future.
If you give anything your Best Friend perceives as a reward anything there is a very very high chance your Best Friend will repeat the behaviour that happened immediately before their reward!
This is because they associate the behaviour with the reward, and they want to keep getting rewarded.

🐾 Unintentional Reinforcement

Giving conflicting information to your Best Friend is one of the most unintentional reinforcements for unwanted behaviours.
Even if you say “No” or “Shhh” to your Best Friend when they do something you don’t want them to do, they may still see it as a reward if you give them any attention or reaction.
What you as a human perceives as a *negative eg. saying SHHHH or NO, if your Best Friend ‘feels’ rewarded the behaviour you have said NO to in their eyes is being rewarded and will be repeated.
Dogs often perceive any interaction, even negative ones, as a form of attention, which can reinforce the unwanted behaviour.

🐾 The Essence

Be mindful of how you respond to your Best Friend’s behaviours, both good and bad.
If you want to encourage a behaviour, reward it with something your canine Best Friend loves (treats, praise, playtime, eye contact, touch or voice).
If you want to discourage a behaviour, ignore it completely and don’t give any attention or reaction.
With patience, knowledge, the right timing and approach you can reinforce behaviours you want and discourage the ones you don’t.
Consistency is key when training your Best Friend.

‘I love sharing my knowledge in the song and dance of dog behaviour and training, bringing humans and canines closer together’ ~Tamara Di Santo