The No 1 Secret of Positive Dog Training

Positive dog training, clicker training, positive reinforcement dog training..etc..they are all really talking about the same thing. Words like command aren't used so much as cue and marker. The idea behind this method of puppy training is to reward when your puppy does the correct behavior and correct or ignore them when they do an unwanted behavior.

Lets take an example of training your puppy to sit. Sit is one of the first commands/behaviors most people teach in puppy obedience training. First the reward, food is a great motivator for dogs so we'll use food for a reward. Instead of giving them the cue/command to sit, we lure them into a sit by holding the food close to their nose and raising it up and back until they sit. When they sit you use your marker, be it a clicker or a word like "good" or "yes", and give them the reward. You have not given the cue/command yet. Now repeat repeat repeat. It won't be long before your puppy is sitting on their own in anticipation of the reward. What has just happened is secret to positive dog training.

The secret is to train your puppy to offer good behaviors to you rather than you commanding them to do a behavior, like in our example of sitting. Your puppy will start looking for chances to be rewarded. When they are eager to try a behavior that gets them something good, like their reward, your puppy training will become fun for both of you and they will learn faster.

Dogs can be motivated by other things also besides food. Some like to chase a ball, or go for a ride in a car. The reason food is used often by dog trainers is that they can be given their reward and it's gone in a second or two. Now they can focus on the next thing in your puppy training schedule. A toy or something like that as a reward takes time and it will be harder to get the dog back on task.

Whatever you use as a marker, it can be a clicker, a clap, a word, etc.. get your puppy used to hearing it and immediately getting a reward. In the beginning they don't have to do any particular behavior, what you want them to learn is that the marker means good stuff is coming. It won't take long before their eyes light up at the sound of your marker.

The timing of the marker is critical. Whatever behavior they do that you are working towards, you have to mark and reward immediately so that they associate whatever they did with the reward. Once they have learned the behavior, every time they do it start using a word, the cue, in our example it would be "sit" and soon they will learn to associate the cue with the behavior.