Learn how you can reward your puppy for the actions you want to reinforce.

Learn how to reward and how to time your rewards so that they are the most effective. Plan even the shortest training sessions, and make sure your puppy is rewarded for the thing that you meant to reward him for. If your puppy skips the task you meant him to do and runs to his reward, let him go and be happy that you have found the right kind of reward for your puppy!

Your puppy needs to want to go to his reward and he will become unsure if he doesn’t know if it’s ok to go to the reward or not. If your puppy runs to his reward when you didn’t mean him to, create a better plan for the next training session where you set your puppy up for success. You are responsible for the planning.

Put your heart into the game

The words you praise your dog with don't have a real value, unless you really mean what you say. On the other hand, you can say almost anything, and your dog will interpret it as a praise, if the tone of your voice and your gestures show that you are happy. Be genuinely happy with your dog when you reward him. Let him know how proud you are of him, and mean what you say.

Not all people are natural talents in adding emotion to their words, but fortunately praising a dog is a skill that you can practice and get better at every day!

Remember that the praise is for your dog - don't worry about what other people may think of you. Most likely your happiness will make someone else's day, too! When it comes to rewarding, the only opinion that counts is your dog's.

Learn to be genuinely happy when you and your puppy succeed in your little training sessions together. Your puppy does know whether or not your heart is in the game.

Positive image in mind

The more excited your dog is about getting a reward, the more his speed and drive will increase. It’s important that the reward is something that your dog really, really wants. You also need to make sure that your dog feels happy and confident in going for the reward.

Going to a reward must be super-fun for your dog every single time. It has to be the best thing in the world! Ideally, your dog wants to get to the reward so badly that he will try to escape your grip when you hold on to the dog. Instead of telling your dog to "leave it", ask him to try and get it!

To make sure that you have a dog who is motivated by rewards, it should never be a bad thing. Don't tell your dog ”no” when he wants to run to his reward, even if he skips a task he was supposed to do to get there. Next time, pay more attention to how you position the reward, or have an assistant help you reward your dog. That way, if your dog doesn’t finish the task he was supposed to do, the assistant can pick up the reward before the dog reaches it.

Never get into the situation where your dog gets stressed about picking the reward up. It’s your job as a handler to make sure your dog gets his reward for what you want him to be rewarded for.

Timing of rewarding

Timing of rewarding is crucial from the beginning. Your puppy should get his reward as soon as he offers the correct action. Everything else can wait; when it comes to training, your puppy is number one.

Dogs live in the moment; they need to be rewarded at the exact time they are doing the behaviour that you would like to reinforce. If you want to teach your dog to sit, for example, you will need to reward and praise your dog when he is actually sitting. If you feed treats to your dog when he stands up after sitting, you end up teaching him that standing up is a great idea. To be able to reward your dog for the correct behavior, it is important to always plan the rewarding before each training session.

Before starting an exercise, plan and decide:

• what is the behavior you want to reinforce by rewarding.
• what kind of reward will you use: will it be a toy, or a bowl with food in it, for example.
• how will you reward: will you pre-place the reward, throw it, or are you going to have an assistant who will throw a toy or put the food bowl on the ground at the right time
• where will you reward: behind an obstacle, on your dog's intended line after an obstacle or from your hand. Each position reinforces something different for your dog.

Happy training sessions!