Are You Accidentally Reinforcing the Wrong Behavior?

Sep 2 • GENERAL

One of the most common mistakes we make as dog owners is unintentionally reinforcing the very behaviours we don’t want.

Here’s the tricky part:Dogs are always learning — not just during training sessions. That means every interaction (or lack of interaction) is shaping their behaviour .

🔁 Example #1:Your dog jumps on you when you come home. You say “No!” and push them off…But guess what? Touch + voice = attention = reinforcement. To your dog, this could mean “Jumping gets me noticed!”

🧼 Example #2:Your dog barks while you're on the phone. You toss them a toy to quiet them down...Congratulations — you just paid the barking with a reward. Expect more of it.

🎓 Dogs don’t speak English. They speak consequences.If a behaviour gets them something they want, they’ll keep doing it. (Or on the flip side of the spectrum if it gets them something they don’t want they will stop doing it)

👉 Takeaway:Start noticing what your dog is getting from their behaviour — not just what they're doing.

💬 Have you ever caught yourself accidentally reinforcing a behavior you didn’t want? Share it below — let’s learn from each other’s oops moments.

See you for another daily post tomorrow.

Ollie ✅

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