The dog must feel it is a reward

The reward must be felt by the dog! Every dog ​​has its own unique hobbies and will value certain rewards. For example, most dogs cannot resist the temptation of snacks. Moreover, the status of different rewards in the dog's mind may be different from moment to moment. In other words, you can convert things that distract your dog into rewards that reinforce behavior. Only rewards that your dog can perceive and strongly identify with will be most effective.

Reward your dog in a timely manner

Rewards must be immediate, just like punishment, because delayed rewards will always reinforce the wrong behavior. Delaying rewards has the additional risk of having the tragic effect of “suppressing good habits.” For example, if your dog returns to you obediently (good habit), but is punished for jumping (bad habit), this punishment will not only strongly inhibit the jumping behavior (bad habit), but also partially inhibit the good recall Behavior (bad habits), and finally the dog doesn’t want to come back when he hears your call. Therefore, you should immediately reward your dog for correct behavior and punish your dog for bad behavior immediately, so as to strengthen good habits and inhibit bad habits.

The best time to reward your dog

There is thousands of science on when to reward and when not to reward animals research report. For example, if we want the dog to learn the command to sit down, then there will be rewards for the first time, and there will also be rewards for the 4th, 12th, 17th, and 20th times. Distribute the 5 rewards to the 20 correct responses variably, rather than evenly.
For another example, if we want the dog to learn to wait quietly, we may give rewards when waiting for 5 seconds, waiting for 20 seconds, waiting for 13 seconds, and waiting for 34 seconds, instead of giving rewards every time it reaches 15 seconds.

Use a changing mechanism to reward your dog

When you use rewards to induce your dog to train, you can use a changing mechanism from the beginning.
If the dog does it right at the beginning, then you need to start reducing the reward ratio as soon as possible, requiring it to perform the correct behavior twice before giving one reward.
It is very important not to allow your dog to be rewarded every time he performs the same behavior. If you do this, it will indeed learn quickly, but it will also forget quickly. If the timing of the reward is accidental and random, it will learn quickly, remember it more firmly, and work harder for good performance.
Through the training of your changing mechanism, the dog knows that there will be rewards, but it doesn’t know when. When there is no reward, it will not give up or complain, but will continue to work hard. There are always times when you just don't have snacks on hand. At this time, you don't need to worry because your usual training has laid a good foundation and it will still respond correctly.

Rewarding the dog will make the dog continue to improve

For example, if you trainTrain your dog to pick up the ball. After picking up the ball 10 times, he responded quickly the third time, waited patiently for the fourth time, and was particularly focused and happy for the 12th time. These are the times when we can strengthen rewards to let the dog know that he has The better the performance, the more timely and intense the rewards will be. The best performance can even win a super grand prize.
For example, if you train a dog to pick up a ball, you pick it up 10 times. The third time you pick up the ball, you respond quickly, the fourth time you wait very patiently, and the 12th time you are particularly focused and happy. These are all opportunities when we can strengthen rewards. Let the dog know that the better it performs, the more timely and intense the reward will be. The best performance can even win a super prize.