February is dog training education month, and we’re focusing on positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement training methods ensure that your dog is getting effective training in a comfortable and fun learning environment. With the correct type of training, your dog can go from being a good dog to the best dog ever! For dog training education month, we’re looking at the benefits of positive reinforcement.
What is Positive Reinforcement?
Positive reinforcement is a training method that uses rewards or praise to complete or demonstrate the desired behavior. Positive reinforcement is used every day for kids and adults alike. For example, you may reward your child with TV time for finishing their homework or some dessert after eating all their vegetables. You may even be training yourself with positive reinforcement when you treat yourself to a nice dinner after a hard work week. The same idea is used to train our dogs. A treat, petting, or verbal praise can reinforce a specific behavior until it becomes a learned habit.
Long Term Benefits
Positive training methods create fun and safe spaces for your dog to feel comfortable learning new behaviors and tricks. Creating a safe training space ensures your dog will enjoy training with you and even view this time as playtime with you. Positive reinforcement allows you to create a bond with your dog and have them trust you with the cues you tell them. Every time they perform a trick or cue, it will remind them of their fun with you while learning it. A trusting and friendly partnership between you and your dog will ensure your dog remembers the training you taught them for a lifetime.
Builds Confidence in Your Dog
For training to be successful, you need to build confidence in your dog and trust in yourself in training your dog. Positive reinforcement can help your dog develop their confidence as well as yours. Creating a comfortable environment with rewards and praise, your dog will gain confidence in themselves. They will also want to continue to impress you. In turn, you will also gain confidence as a trainer, as you reward your dog and praise them at the right time in their training.
Creates a Comfortable Supportive Training Atmosphere
One of the most significant factors that motivates and helps us continue working on a goal is our atmosphere. An encouraging and friendly environment always has us looking forward to the next time we work and train to reach our goals. The same goes for our pups. Creating an environment they look forward to makes your dogs more likely to excel and have better training performance. The support and encouragement you give your dog matters for a successful training outcome.
Fun and Educational for the Whole Family
We know that dogs are a lot of responsibility. Training is part of that responsibility. Once you know the training cues you would like to teach, be sure to teach your kids or others that you live with to help with training. Keeping training cues and rewards consistent will help in the success of training your dog. Also, with more people training your dog, the more fun they are likely to have. They will get excited every time a training opportunity comes around.
Positivity, support and the proper rewards go a long way in training. The benefits of positive reinforcement on your dog are plentiful. The lasting effects of positive reinforcement cannot only improve your dog’s confidence and overall mood, but it can also leave them with a good lasting impression of training. At East Paws, we love our dogs to learn and live their life to the fullest. Be sure to check out our services and follow us on Facebook!
