Reward-based training
Reward-based training, also known as positive reinforcement, means encouraging desired behaviour by adding things that our dogs like into training sessions. For example, giving them a yummy dog friendly treat or a play with their favourite toy when they’re behaving in a way that you like.
Training with rewards is all about teaching your dog that good things happen when they make a good choice. When your dog gets a reward, they will associate this with whatever they have just done, and will be more likely to do that same thing again next time. For example, if you give a treat when your dog sits and waits patiently before going through a doorway, they are more likely to do this again the next time they are in the same situation!
Why do we recommend training with rewards?
- Training with rewards is the best way to encourage your dog to behave as you would like on a day-to-day basis.
- Science tells us that reward-based training is the best way for dogs to learn
- Training with rewards is fun, and helps build a positive bond between dog and owner
- Owners that train using rewards report fewer behavioural problems in their dogs
- Reward-based training can help build confidence and encourage dogs to think for themselves
What can you use as a reward?
Rewards can be anything that your dog likes.
All dogs are different, so they will naturally find different things rewarding, however most dogs enjoy food, toys and our attention!
Food:
-Whatever you choose needs to be safe for your dog and something they like!
-If you use food for training, remember to cut down on the amount your dog gets during meals to prevent weight gain.
- Treats Dogs especially love, like small pieces of boiled chicken, can be used as the ‘gold start reward when your dog gets something spot on! You can also use these to keep your dog’s focus and attention in environments where there are more distractions. These can be chopped into small pea-sized pieces for training and should be used sparingly as a special treat only.Introduce any new foods to your dog, even in very small amounts, gradually to avoid stomach upsets.
- Use treats that are less exciting, like some of their food, kibble or chopped up carrot, to reward your dog at times it is easy for them to get it right, for example when practising
- something they know in quiet environments.
Toys
- Some dogs really love to play, and you can use a game with toys, such as fetch or tug, to reward them for desired behaviour. Make sure you teach your dog how to release toys using reward-based training so that you can get the most out of your sessions.
Attention
- We often underestimate how valuable our attention is. Most dogs feel good any time we look at, touch, or talk to them. This means that we are constantly influencing their behaviour with our attention. Make sure your dog gets your valuable attention for the good choices they make, rather than when they are doing something you don’t want them to.
A marker is a signal that tells your dog exactly when they’re doing something that you’re really happy about! The marker tells your dog “Yes, you’ve got it right and I’m just about to give you a reward”. It must always be followed by the reward so your dog can be confident they’ve got things right!
Some people use a short punchy word such as “Yes”,”Good” or“Nice”, but you can also use a mechanical clicker device, or even give a thumbs up. Choose a marker and make sure everyone sticks to it, so your dog never becomes confused regardless of who’s training them. When you’re teaching your dog a new behaviour, use the signal at exactly the precise moment when your dog is doing what you want them to. Your dog will know their reward is on its way, and they will also know exactly what action to do again to get their next reward!
If you haven’t used a marker before, you will need to teach your dog that a reward immediately follows the sound. To build up this association start by using your marker word, or clicker, then rewarding immediately afterwards, you can start this around your home. Your dog does not have to be formally training or practicing any behaviours when you first introduce the marker. You could just be sitting on the sofa, working at your desk, or sorting out the laundry while you practice a few times. Once your dog has got the hang of hearing the marker, then expecting a reward straight after, it will make your first training session run more smoothly.
Teaching your dog to sit will help to keep them safe when you’re out and about. It can be used when
meeting people, before crossing a road or in a queue.
In the workplace, it is an important life skill so your new canine colleague can politely and calmly
meet the workforce when they are ready.
It is also a simple exercise and a good starting point to build upon when teaching more complex behaviours in the future.
If you are new to training or have a new pup or rescue dog that has not had
the experience before, then both of you can benefit from learning the ropes with this exercise.
Remember, training should be fun, exciting and an opportunity to bond for both you and your dog so is best done in short sessions and in a relaxed environment where you can both concentrate and work together to achieve success.
Here’s our handy video guide, and step by step instructions to help you teach your dog to sit, and once you’ve mastered that, progress on to ‘down’!
Teaching your dog to lie down is a natural progression from sit, and the next step on the route to teaching your dog to settle and relax on their bed, in the car, or even on your sofa.
You can take your training into the office with you once you have practised at home and your dog will be chilling out desk-side in no time at all, making the perfect working partner!
If your dog hasn’t yet mastered the skill of sitting on your cue, check out ‘Teaching your dog to sit’ before you progress any further.
Teaching your dog to be calm and relaxed and have time without your attention.
For a harmonious family life, it’s important that dogs learn to relax and enjoy time on their own.
It’s a useful life skill for them to be able to settle when you’re busy – whether you’re cooking dinner at home, working at your desk in the office, or out and about with your friends in a dog friendly café.
It’s hard for your dog to learn how to settle when there are distractions, so it’s best to begin practicing somewhere quiet. We would suggest a quiet area of your home where you are unlikely to be disturbed by tricky distractions, especially during the early stages of training.
1. Stand in front of your pooch and show them you have a dog treat in your hand. If your dog is not food motivated try using their favourite toy instead!
2. Move the treat from the end of your pup’s nose back over their head.
3. As their head follows the treat, their body positioning will naturally bring their bottom down to the floor. As soon as this happens, mark and reward your pooch. If your pup isn’t following, practise getting their attention and them focusing on the reward before you start this step.
4. Once your pooch has the hang of this (they will likely need multiple repetitions and several short training sessions), repeat the above steps but without the treat in your hand.
Remember to continue marking and rewarding every single time they sit on the floor at this stage
5. When your dog is sitting every time using the hand gesture alone, i.e. with no treat in your hand, you can introduce your verbal cue. Say “sit” just before using your hand gesture. Mark when their bottom is on the floor and remember to continue rewarding every successful repetition.
6. Over time your pup will begin to sit as soon as they hear the verbal cue, and if you want to, you can stop using the hand gesture. However, it can be useful to continue using a hand signal for use in noisy environments, or in the future if your dog ever becomes hard of hearing.
7. Over time, your dog will become more confident and get the hang of what you’re asking them to do. Then, you can start practising your ‘sit’ in new, more challenging environments such as in the garden, at the park, before crossing a road, or on a new walk.
1. Start with your dog in the ‘sit’ position and make sure they know you’ve got a tasty doggy treat (or their favourite toy) in your hand to use as a lure.
2. Holding the treat in front of their nose, bring it straight down to the ground between your puppy’s paws. Hopefully your pooch’s head has followed your hand down and is now in a
lowered position!
3. In one swift movement, bring your hand (with the treat) along the ground away from your dog and towards you. When your doggy follows the treat their body will follow.
4. Mark and reward as soon as your dog is in the ‘down’ position.
5. Once your pup has the hang of this, just like when teaching the sit, try without the treat in your hand. Remember to still mark and reward as soon as they lie on the floor.
6. When your pup is reliably lying down, you can introduce your verbal cue. Say “down”, then use your hand gesture, i.e. follow the above steps but without the reward in your hand. Remember you should still be rewarding every time your pooch gets it right.
7. Over time you can start to phase out the hand signal as your dog learns to respond to the verbal cue.
Top Tip:
If your pooch’s body doesn’t follow their head straight away, you can mark and reward them for just moving towards the floor, bending down, or lowering their head as these are all progressive steps towards lying down. You can then build on this, marking and rewarding each step until your dog lies down. Remember every dog is individual, so break it down into as many steps as you need to, we want to set our pooches up to succeed and this means adapting our training to suit their needs.
1. Reward relaxed behaviours
To begin with you may just need to reward your dog for any behaviour that doesn’t involve staring
at you, pulling on the lead, or barking.
• Sit quietly on a chair with your dog on the lead and a blanket on the floor. Drop tiny bite- size treats to your dog as a reward for settling down on the blanket. Don’t say anything to your dog while doing this.
• Gradually reward more relaxed behaviours. This will vary between dogs – some will automatically start lying down so you can quickly progress to rewarding your dog only
for this behaviour.
• Then move on to reward specific signs of relaxing, such as sighing, weight shifting and head resting.
2. Increase the time your dog must be settled before you reward them
• When your dog is relaxed, start increasing the length of time they are settled before you reward them. Gradually build up by a couple of seconds each time over multiple training sessions.
• Once your dog starts to get the hang of it and is shifting their weight so they’re comfortable and relaxed, you can start practising with them off lead. You need your dog to learn that they can settle whether they’re on or off lead – useful skills for a lot of different situations both at home, and in the workplace!
3. Add in distractions
• Once your dog has learnt the basic objective of being settled, try training in different
locations with more distractions.
• Slowly start building up distractions by practising the ‘settle’ in increasingly busy areas, or ask a helper to create a distraction by walking past, progressing to more exciting
activities like sweeping or skipping.
• If your dog becomes unsettled or gets up, ignore them, and wait until they settle again before rewarding them. If they’re unable to relax and settle, increase the distance from the distraction or make the distraction less interesting.
• Try to resist telling your dog what to do during training, the aim is for them to learn for themselves to be calm and to relax. This is a form of learning that requires your dog to learn to settle without needing to be asked.
Top Tip:
Some dogs will take longer and might struggle to stop pulling on the lead or staring at you. If this is the case with your dog, you’ll need to take things more slowly by rewarding behaviours such as standing quietly, disengaging from people or sniffing their blanket.
Whatever stage your dog is at in the training, always make sure your dog is having a good time when settling, whether enjoying their toys, chomping on a tasty dog treat, or simply dozing and snoozing!
