There are many ways to reward your dog for having good manners. Really, we are only limited by our own imagination. I like singing to my dog Simon in the morning and then giving him his breakfast in boxes and toys. He used to drag his body out of bed and now he comes running when he hears his special song! Below are some more ideas on how to use rewards to train your dog.
FOOD & TREATS: Since your dog has to eat anyway, why not use his food for training? Here are some handy tips:
- Mix your dog’s kibble in with some treats so the food picks up their flavor. Use high value items such as chicken, hotdogs or steak.
- Use a variety of treats such as kibble, cheerios, cheese, pasta or chicken to keep it exciting.
- Rate the treats either low, medium or high value and use the low-value treats at home. Save the high value treats for when you are in dog training class or out in public.
- Occasionally, have your dog work for his ENTIRE dinner.
PLAY AS A REWARD: Be sure to keep training fun by using games as part of your daily interactions as well as training.
- Did you know you could use Tug of War as a reward for COME HERE?
- Make a list of toys & games Roverina loves and use them every day to keep her life interesting.
- Vary your type of play so she doesn’t anticipate what will happen next.
- Play the Sit-Stay-OK! game: Cue dog to Sit-Stay. Now, walk around the room. After a while, say in a high pitched happy voice: “OK!” and run around. Now, repeat. For some reason, dogs love this!
ENVIRONMENTAL REINFORCERS: These are rewards your dog is probably getting for free when you are out and about. They range from sniffing & peeing to jumping on an 80 year old woman at the park! (Some of these my be undesirable.) Here are a few ideas:
- Have Wacky walk nicely on leash from the car to the dog park entrance. (Fact: this IS possible!)
- Have Spot Sit-Stay before you release him to sniff the Sycamore tree.
- Tell Bulldozer to Behave before bounding over to his best dog friend to say hi.
- Can you think of more?