Positive Reinforcement

Positive reinforcement is a process of encouraging or establishing a pattern of behaviour by offering reward when the behaviour is exhibited.

All animals learn quickly and retain more of that they have learnt if they are not fearful. Reward-based, positive learning is not only very effective but also a lot kinder. Not only are our training sessions enjoyable for the dog, but reward-based training actually encourages them to learn and to repeat what they have learnt and what get’s rewarded gets repeated!

Reward based training also enables the dog and the owner to build up a relationship of trust and to form a lifelong bond.

A reward can be anything the dog/puppy most wants (including toy play), but the easiest and most obvious is food! There are however, some objections to the use of food as rewards in training. For example, some feel it is bribery and that the dog will never learn to work for their approval. In reality, food used as a reward is incorporated into training to teach our dogs what we want them to do and, later, once the action is well learned, we can start to reduce amount of food rewards given to a manageable level. Ultimately, dogs will be expected to respond on a daily basis for gentle praise, toy play and social approval with food rewards thrown in to keep responses sharp.

Reward-based training does not involve physical punishment. We do not use aversive techniques and we do not assert what some call ‘dominance’ over the dog. We strongly believe that typical ‘alpha’ roles and ‘pack-leader’ type labels are unnecessary and out-dated styles of dog training.

Contrary to popular belief, we can use reward based training and positive reinforcement to deal with complex behavioural problems too and we certainly don’t have to use force or intimidation.

In short, reward-based training is a very kind yet effective way of training dogs and puppies and addressing behavioural problems too – all of this whilst bonding and building up a fantastic relationship with your dog!