Rewards

Effective rewards are a prerequisite for getting the most out of our blog, our book and being successful with your training. Rewards form the foundation of our entire training system. But what is a reward? It can be anything your dog is willing to work for. Now reread the previous sentence and let it sink in. What does it really mean?

You and your dog might not have the same idea about what makes a good reward. Sometimes we see owners who pet and hug their dogs in delight because they did something right. But the dogs look like they would rather be anywhere else. They lean away from their humans and turn their heads away as if they were thinking, ”My God, leave me alone!” This type of ”reward” is not effective at all since it likely doesn’t encourage the dog to repeat the behavior. Instead, it has the opposite effect.

In this category you’ll find all our blog posts on rewards.

7 things to work on when the weather is bad! Day 6: Listen to what I’m saying

Since Quling joined my family, having the dog really, really pay attention to what I’m saying and not guessing on what he thinks I’m going to say, has become one of the most important things in my training. He likes making his own decisions, he ”can do it himself” and...

The art of rewarding with a rabbit enclosure

Do you sometimes feel that your rewards fall way short compared to that fun distraction that your dog would much rather interact with? I think that one of the great things about clicker training is that we can use the environment as the reward when suitable. Last...

Dare to not reward!

There are so many traps you can fall into when it comes to dog training. When it comes to clicker training, we sometimes jokingly refer to these traps as the "clicker disease ". One of those " clicker diseases " is this to reward a little too often. We want the dog to...

Mountaineering in progress

Have you ever gone mountain climbing? I have tried it a couple of times, both on indoor walls and up a (small) mountain (well, maybe more of a boulder...) It has been breathtaking. Not least because I am really scared of heights - I get dizzy from walking stairs… But...