Take a look at our list of 5 ways to encourage positive dog behaviour below, and make sure your pup grows to be a happy, social and care-free dog!
All of these are important, and every dog should receive them, but we’ve listed them in order of importance. Even then, some of these won’t work without the others, so you should make a habit of incorporating them all!
1. Strong Socialization
If you ever train your dog in any area, this should be the primary focus! The difference between a fearful, aggressive adult, or even a biting adult, and a happy, well-behaved pet is often the quality of socialization given during puppyhood!
Socialization essentially centers around social interactions, but it is deeper than that. When you begin socializing a puppy, you want to encourage happy interactions with everything and everyone!
Introduce your puppy to other household animals (with supervision). He should become familiar with family and friends, as well as complete strangers you pass on your walks. Encourage play with children and allow your puppy to meet babies (while supervised).
You want your puppy to learn, at a young age, that everything he may ever encounter in his environment means great fun!
2. Positive Reinforcements (with Rewards)
Positive reinforcement means you are adding something (the positive indicates addition) to reinforce a behavior. Most trainers like to make their positive reinforcement training fun and pleasant, by adding rewards!
- What can these rewards be, you ask?
They don’t simply have to be limited to treats. Enthusiastic praise can be rewarding, just like play and the attention that comes with it. When your dog does something you are happy with, act like it is the most impressive thing you’ve seen all week!
Positive reinforcement dog training with rewards (as long as it is happy training) encourages your pup to enjoy himself and have fun around others. Your pup is happy and loves his training! This can even help strengthen that pet-owner bond.
3. Plenty of Exercise
Have you ever heard the saying “A tired dog is a good dog.”? Many high energy breeds will find ways to entertain themselves if you don’t do this for them, and you might not like the result!
Let’s use Siberian Huskies as an example. These dogs were bred to work all day and descended from dogs bred to work even harder! They have an immense amount of energy and will be going strong long after you tire (assuming you’re doing the same work).
Almost any Husky owner can attest to the constant struggle with holes in their backyards, and many will tell you of escape attempts with these energetic guys. This breed, like several others, can become destructive if energy demands aren’t met.
Plenty of exercise is a great way to encourage positive dog behaviour!
4. Enrichment Activities
What are enrichment activities, you might ask? Enrichment activities focus on a dog’s natural instincts and behaviours. For example, playing at the dog park would offer great social interaction, and be enriching.
Puzzle games that force a dog to use his nose to find ‘the reward’ are enriching. Tracking activities force a dog to rely on those natural tracking senses and are enriching.
Social interaction with other dogs at the dog park, or other kids at a playground, or really most types of positive social interaction are also enriching for our dogs. Remember to make sure it is fun, and try to offer consistent supervision.
5. Keep it Fun!
Make sure everything you do with your dog is fun and rewarding! Keep his or her environment as cheerful as possible. Whether using simple rewards or combining one of the four (or all together) suggestions above, you want to be sure your pup is enjoying himself.
A happy dog will be more social, making the first suggestion on this list easier for you. Social dogs will get better exercise when interacting with other animals and experience less anxiety.
Try to combine play, social interaction, enthusiastic praise and even treat rewards together to give your pup a great time and encourage positive dog behaviour!
Avoid punishments whenever possible. Most dog trainers today will rarely recommend punishment as a form of reinforcement, unless dealing with the rare circumstance where safety is concerned (i.e. busy roads).
Tail Blazers Dog Supplies
Are you looking for quality dog supplies for your dogs alike? Are you confused by all your options available? Take a look at Tail Blazers! We offer several fantastic products your dog will love, especially during training time!
