Finding out what rewards your dog values the most...
For everyone who I have worked with, you will know how much I like to use food rewards for training... Food rewards are important for the initial learning and there is a VERY HIGH chance that your dog will learn very well using food as motivation and as a reward. This is because, food is what's known as a 'PRIMARY REINFORCER' Meaning that your dog NEEDS food to survive, and therefore WILL work for it, and when behaviour is rewarded with a treat, then that behaviour is more likely to be repeated again and again until it becomes learnt behaviour. As time goes on, you will start to find out what other things your dog likes - play, toys, praise, sniffs, being off lead - all of these are examples of what we call SECONDARY REINFORCER - where the reward becomes valued over time through association and experience. In tonight's video call, once we've talked through some individual puppy dilemmas, we will chat more about what your individual dog values the most, and learn how to test these rewards out, and how you can use these rewards to build and layer on the training and learning that they have already done! Join me at 8pm - the link is in the 'calender' - please let me know if you get stuck with joining. As mentioned yesterday, tonight will be my first time using the Skool call feature, so there may be some teething problems - but hopefully it'll just be a smooth ride!