Anyone who has ever tried to train an animal knows how difficult it can be: all they want to do is play, eat, and sleep, and getting them to learn new tricks and be obedient can be a real challenge. Still, it’s not an impossible task if you learn and use a couple of useful tricks. By motivating your dog, you will get them to learn tricks and commands much easier and quicker. Giving them a good reason to do something is the best way to go, and we’re giving you the best motivation so you can train them more easily. See what works best for your dog and use this method to teach them new tricks.

Motivating with food

Is there a dog that doesn’t like treats? There probably is, but most dogs will be looking at you while you are eating and run like crazy from another part of the house when they hear the rustle of a bag of chips. Why not use their love of treats as a motivation for learning? Get a bag of treats and spend an hour teaching tricks. Don’t do it for too long, no matter how delicious the food is, they’ll lose motivation after a while, and you will be tired, too. When you see that their concentration is weakening, make a pause and resume the training in the afternoon or the next day.

Motivating with toys

For those whose dogs love treats, it’s unimaginable that there are dogs which are not moved by food bribes. On the other hand, where food bribes fail, the squeak of a ball does the trick, and if your dog likes to play more than anything else in the world, use their love to your advantage and turn a play-date into a learning session. Take a ball, a squeaky toy, or a Frisbee with you and every time they obey your command reward them by giving them a toy or tossing it for them to catch and bring back.

Motivating with praise

Remember that dogs are excited by different things, and where food and toys fail, perhaps the cheerful tone of your voice will succeed. A loving touch and a scratch behind their ears, as well as a cheery word to the ‘good boy’ will be enough to make them happy and willing to repeat sequences for a long time. Learn to control the tone of your voice: don’t be too loud or use your ‘scary voice’ which you use when they destroy something or make a mess. Cheerful responses and soothing tones will make your dog happy and willing to cooperate.

Develop your own system

Remember that positive reinforcement is an incredibly effective system, but if you see that your dog reacts best on food treats, you should consider using treats which are healthy for them. You can’t feed them chocolate, and you shouldn’t use high-calorie treats because these will make them gain too much weight in a short period of time. Instead, you can use Net to Pet to order dog treats made of carrots so you know that your dog will be eating high-quality food. Don’t stick to one kind of motivation: always use different motivators and develop your own system, which will be just perfect both for your dog and you.

While negative reinforcement can be equally effective, you don’t want to use it on your dog because it’s going to ruin your relationship. You shouldn’t use physical punishment as a method of motivation because negative reinforcement will leave bad marks on your dog’s psyche. Use food, fun activities, excitement, and learn to control the tone of your voice when addressing your dog – this way, they will be trained with positive forms of motivation and both of you will enjoy the training process.