Positive reinforcement has emerged as a powerful tool when used dedicatedly for pet training. Using the discipline in a proper way helps in dealing with the behavior issues and makes the pet comply with the commands or orders. If you are new to dogs or new to training your pet, this post based on the perks of positive reinforcement is for you, and you are at the right place.
What is Positive Reinforcement?
Positive reinforcement is an effective way to train your dog and even other animals. It is a process added immediately after behavior happens that makes the frequency of the behavior go up. Reinforcement suggests that the behavior of the dog continues or increases in frequency. And positive suggests that something is added.
For instance, if you command your dog to sit, the dog will do the same and then give him a treat (this is something that is added). Now, the next time, the dog is more likely to follow orders or commands whenever asked (now the behavior is reinforced).
Now let’s focus on the benefits of Positive Reinforcement Pet Training.
It Helps in Boosting the Confidence in Your Dog
Positive reinforcement or reinforcement of positive behaviors helps build your dogs’ overall confidence. In most of the cases, it is seen that pets that are punished quite often for their misbehavior tend to develop poor confidence with time. In some cases, they also start suffering from the effects of a broken spirit.
This happens when the punishment happens at regular intervals of time that too without any positivity from the dog’s family. Positive reinforcement is very effective in boosting the confidence of the dog as the technique makes the dog feel and help them to learn new behaviors.
Helps Your Dog to Burn Lot of Energy
In some cases, dogs tend to get bored and have a significant amount of pent up energy than they are likely to do something unwanted or bad. It can be chewing your most preferred brand new shoes, furniture or digging up the garden. Positive reinforcement training helps a lot in releasing this stacked energy. It also motivates the dog to learn good behaviors simultaneously.
You will Develop Strong Bond With the Dog
Most of the dog owners want their pets to become their true companions, no matter what. Many also want and consider them as an integral part of their family. It is possible through positive training. Through the former, your dog will learn to trust you more and more and eventually; the relationship will become much stronger.
Punishing your dog continuously will make the bonding negative. But rewarding your pet for every good deed will make your pet enjoy your company more and will become happier. For instance, if you ask your pet not to be around the electric dog fence to stay protected from strangers or any other potential threat, you must reward with the favorite item if the dog does the same. It could be anything, but doing this will create a big difference in the behavior.
It Prevents Your Dog from Freezing Up Out of Fear
It is revealed in studies that training methods that mainly involve severe punishment or negative reinforcement let your dog freeze because of fear of engaging in a behavior that might let them face the punishment once again. This eventually makes an unwanted delay in the overall development and learning of positive behaviors in dogs.
Positive reinforcement strategies mainly focus on rewarding the dog for showing excellent and desired behavior. The best thing is that it eliminates the tendency of the dog to experience freezing.
Positive Reinforcement Training Process is Fun
If you consider the positive dog training session as ‘playtime’, it will be a lot of fun for you as well as for your dog. The best thing about this process is that it motivates your pet to look forward to the training sessions. It is because they are already aware of the fact that they will be rewarded if they abide by the instructions. Also, they will develop learning new things.
Dogs are social animals, and if you treat them with love and respect, they can turn out to be one of the best companions. Hope the discussions in the post will help you to know how to make the best use of positive reinforcement training sessions. Please feel free to share your insights with us below in the comment section.
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