While working with a private client and her pup this week, she repeated herself many times by saying, “she is so smart”, “I had no idea my dog was so smart!” The funny thing is, I hear this from many clients when teaching their dog a new behavior.
When pet owners learn to teach their dog new behaviors using positive reinforcement, their reaction is always, always, the same: “I had no idea how smart my dog was!” The only thing they did differently was quickly rewarded the dog when it made the right choice, then repeated the reward when the dog did the correct behavior again. We were able to teach her puppy to touch her hand with its nose and to lie down, in a matter of minutes using the pups mid-day meal.
Seeing how happy this owner was, and how quickly she became more connected to her pup, reminded me once again how effective positive reinforcement training is — both for the dog and owner!