How to Learn to Praise Your Dog

Owners often ask how to properly praise a dog, how to build dog reinforcement chains when training. Indeed, for the formation of a skill, it is very important to praise the dog correctly and on time. How to learn to praise a dog correctly and in time, using words, a treat or a toy and a clicker?

Photo: google

In what order should you praise your dog?

It is very important to remember the correct chain of praise:

1. At first – correct behavior marker. This is only a marker: not praise, not reinforcement, but only a signal for the dog, which says that at the moment he is doing something right. It can be the word “Yes” or “Yes”, or it can be a clicker signal.
2. Praise.
3. Delicacy.

So the correct sequence looks like this:Click (or Marker) – Praise – Yum».

Why is it important to praise your dog at the right time?

A big mistake is to praise and give your dog a treat at the same time.

The thing is, praise is a conditional reinforcer. Initially, praise, that is, the words “Well done!”, “Good!” mean nothing to the puppy, they are neutral. We “charge” them with pleasant emotions by offering the dog a chain: “Well done! – a piece”.

In essence, this is classical conditioning. Remember Pavlov’s dog? A light bulb would come on that anticipated food, and when the light bulb came on, the dog would salivate. Essentially, we are doing the same.

For 2 – 3 days of constant repetitions, the puppy understands that “Good!”, “Well done!”, “Bravo!” or “Great!” – a harbinger of the fact that now there will be something tasty or very fun. And our puppy is starting to love praise.

Photo: google If you say the praise at the moment when you feed the dog, he does not pay attention to the praise – he pays attention to the food and does not remember that “Good!” and “Well done!” – it’s something very nice.

If you praise the dog after he has received a piece, then he does not care at all about your praise. She has already received all the coolest things, and your “Good!” and “Well done!” no longer mean anything to her.

It is precisely in time that the “given out” praise looks like this: Marker – Verbal praise – Unconditional reinforcement (what meets the puppy’s biological needs: food, play, search, etc.) Thus, we fill the verbal praise with something very pleasant.

And then it’s your choice how you will reinforce the dog. You can remember Premack’s principle: in order to get something pleasant, for example, to play with other dogs, you need to follow your command.

Also watch the video: How to praise a dog? Praise Timing