I'm so confused...  How do I know when I should encourage vs. praise vs. give a correction!?

Learning how to communicate with your dog is integral part of being able to train him.  Proper timing and knowing when to use each one is critical. 

Lets use this example:  Jane tells her dog to sit, the dog sits.  Jane starts to praise the dog for sitting, but the dog gets up and starts to pull forward on the leash.  If Jane is still praising the dog for the good sit, but the dog is already up out of the sit, what is Jane really accomplishing?  In reality, she's praising the dog for breaking the sit and standing up.

What she should do is tell the dog to sit, start saying "Good Si..." and as soon as the dog starts to stand up, tell him "No! Sit" and enforce the sit, then once the dog sits again, gently tell him, "Good Sit!".  Observing your dog and reacting to what he's doing - immediately - is probably the most important thing in training.

Whenever I work with a new client, I stress the fact that they need to make sure that they are using encouragement, praise and correction properly.

I constantly talk to my dogs while I'm working with them.  Not always "come" "sit" "heel" "no" "stay", but more of a conversational tone to keep the puppy in tune with me and looking at me.  I talk, click my tongue, make strange noises, clap my hands, all to keep the pup interested.  Not an endless stream of words that end up fading into a dull background noise in the dog's head, but a bit of encouragement here and there, and when the pup looks up at me, he gets verbal praise, "Good boy!" in a very happy tone of voice, or a gentle pat on the head, a scratch behind the ears or on the chest.  Just enough to let him know that tuning in to me is a good thing.

Encouragement:

Praise:

Right - Give your dog lots of praise and let him know that he's done something absolutely wonderful whenever he did what you asked him to do.  Also praise him for doing something natural that he was going to do on his own.  If you see your dog start to sit, overlay his actions with "Good Sit!" and a bit of petting.  That will help him to learn that the action he just did, putting his butt on the ground, was actually a 'sit' and that you were very happy that he did it.  :-)

Wrong - Make sure that your timing for your praise is correct.  If you're working with your dog and you just asked for a 'sit', don't continue to praise the dog for a sit if he slides down into a "down".  Stop praising him, put him back into the 'sit' and then praise for the sit. 

Wrong - Constantly lavishing the dog with praise for doing nothing at all dilutes the effectiveness of your praise and can even turn your dog into a spoiled brat.  He'll start to think that he's the king of everything and that you're his loyal subject and all that you're around for is to fawn all over him and jump to do his bidding.  If that's the case, he's got it all backwards!  You want the dog to work for you and earn your praise.  If you give it all the time without him having done something to earn it, it's no longer special and no longer something that the dog will strive for.  He will not bother trying to make you happy and gain your praise if you fawn all over him and lavish him with undeserved praise.

Correction:

Make the correction fit the dog, and fit the crime.   ;-)

Right - Make the correction strong enough to stop the unwanted behavior the first time.  Some dogs will stop unwanted behavior with just a verbal, "No!" or "Leave it!" or "Eh, eh!".  Others need a quick snap on the collar, or a more physical correction.  The goal is to use the least amount of correction possible while still getting the dog to comply with your commands.

Wrong - Repeating a weak correction (verbal or physical) over and over and over again only serves to make the dog ignore the correction, and hardens him so that you have to elevate the level of correction even higher.

- Debbie Knatz
  Shepherd's Ridge

PLEASE NOTE:
While we are dog training professionals, it is not possible for us to be able to diagnose your dog's specific problems or
to formulate a training plan to work on these issues without seeing you and your dog for a personal evaluation.
 
The information provided in this website has proven helpful to many of our previous customers, but it is only being
provided here as general information, not as advice to correct any problems you may be having with your specific dog.

Please seek the advice of your veterinarian and/or a professional dog trainer before attempting any behavior modification
or training programs.

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