Prize And Punishment: Fundamentals In Dog Education

Psychology and teaching specialists often dictate the rules for educating children. It is clear that a child can do whatever he wants, without anyone setting limits, he can, in the first place, feel free. However, over time, the child will realize that the parents don’t care enough about her and will feel insecure.

With the pet something similar happens, so it is essential that the animals also understand that they cannot do everything they want, and they must be taught the difference between what is right and what is not.

What they need is, in a word, education. We will tell you how to do this: the prize and the punishment are fundamental.

Dog education needs to be consistent

What we must not forget, in any case, is to educate our dog and, for that, we must invest a lot of time and effort. Often we won’t do well, but as with everything, persistence is the key to success.

The method we are talking about has the easy part, which is when you reward your dog, but it also has the difficult part, which is when punishment is essential.

The choice of positive reinforcement does not pose great difficulties. However, things get complicated when choosing negative reinforcement. But with the tips that we’ll see below, everything will be easier.

The prize in dog education

We all like it when our efforts are valued, dogs do too. So, you have to keep in mind that if you want the animal to repeat the good behaviors, you must reinforce them.

The award takes place when the orders given have been fulfilled. Well, prizes can’t last a lifetime. At least not the ones that are tangible, so we will always have to reinforce their good behavior with a “very good”. The goal is to use them until he learns to obey.

For positive reinforcement, we can use whatever rewards we know will please the animal. The most common practice is to use a food, a caress or a toy, all of this should always be accompanied by a “very good”.

Do not forget that while this type of reinforcement is necessary, it is important to vary the prize so that it does not become cloying for the dog.

When he has the desired behavior as something natural, obeys our concrete order, we can withdraw the physical reward and keep only the verbal as positive reinforcement.

When there is a behavior that we are most interested in using, we will use a reward that is especially rewarding for him.

Punishment in dog education

The first thing you have to keep in mind is that punishment should never be an escape route for your bad mood or your anger at your dog’s bad behavior. Punishment must always have a didactic function.

A way recommended by animal trainers is to tap with a certain force, without damage, on the side of the loin, while we say with energy: ‘no’.

Other handlers find it more helpful to quickly shake them through the skin on the upper part of the neck, as bitches do to their puppies. When the behavior to be corrected is more severe, it is appropriate to topple the animal by the back, something that is very unpleasant for them.

If the dog returns to behavior that has already been removed, only a scathing ‘No’ will be needed for it to abandon it again. Once that happens, you should keep playing with him, so he realizes that this is the way he makes his master happier.

Do not forget that we must never inflict cruel or humiliating punishment on the animal. It is neither human nor effective. The only thing we’ll get out of it will be a fearful dog and not an obedient dog.

The reward and punishment must be immediate.

We shouldn’t ignore that dogs have a baby-like memory, so the reward, or in this case the punishment, has to be immediate. Otherwise, in either case, the animal will not in its mind associate good, or bad, behavior with reward, or punishment.

It is essential, a point that is essential for the success of the process, that all family members have the same behavior in the education of the animal. Everyone should always reward and punish the same behavior in the same way.

Now you know how to educate your pet, so put it into practice.