Just like humans, dogs come with their own unique personality. While breed or age may influence personality, each dog has its own set of likes, dislikes, interests, and preferences. Among those unique factors are what motivates your dog. Because a good owner always has a wide variety of tools to try, we want to highlight a few things that may (or may not) motivate your furry companion.

Attention
Many dogs can be motivated, at least a bit, by attention from their owner. When we work with our dogs here at Dog Training Now, we use attention and praise during each session. During the course of your day with your dog, take some time to recognize when you are giving attention to your dog. Praise and attention when your dog holds a Place command? Great! Giving your dog attention when they are jumping on the couch? Not so great.

Remember, attention can be positive (good boy!) or negative (stop barking!). Your dog doesn’t necessarily designate a difference. Either way, he is getting attention from his owner. Be sure that you are giving attention for good behaviors only.

Physical Affection
Some dogs love, and respond well to, physical affection. A nice pat on the head after holding a Sit command on a walk can be enough to encourage and motivate some dogs to continue that positive behavior. Other dogs love a belly rub or ear scratch and will modify their behaviors in order to get some physical love. Again, be sure that you are offering that physical affection when your dog is demonstrating a good behavior. If he is lying quietly at your feet, go ahead and give that tummy rub. If he is jumping up on your visitor, resist the urge to stroke his back because he can see that as positive reinforcement.

Physical affection isn’t the only way to use your actions to communicate. Our own Trainer Mary recommends motivating your dog with correct body language. “Dogs rely on body language as their main form of communication,” Mary says. “Make eye contact, smile, act relaxed – all of these body language signs will help to motivate and keep your dog on task.”

Treats
Food can be a universal language, and treat training with dogs can be very successful. We use treats as motivation for some of our activities here at the studio, especially when working with puppies during Preschool or when teaching tricks. However, using treats as the only motivation for good behavior or command obedience is destined to result in frustration. Dogs who receive treats for each Sit, Stay, or other command become accustomed to performing for the treat. This means that if you ask your dog to Sit without a treat in hand, you run the chance of having a disobedient dog who won’t Sit without a treat.

Our trainers recommend only using treats for trick training or for a little extra (and inconsistent) encouragement. Resist the urge to use treats as a reward for basic commands, those are required for your dog – no treats needed.

You
Your dog is often motivated best by you – your behavior, attitude, and time are important factors to getting your dog to behave the way you want. During our day training program, our trainers work with your dog to establish the commands, but your part in home practice and enforcement ultimately decide if your dog will maintain the wanted behaviors. Let us point you both in the right direction!