The essence of training a dog is not a difficult concept to grasp if we understand the idea that dogs carry out actions based on how rewarding that action is. Something that is extremely rewarding means that they will probably repeat the action and something entirely unrewarding may be rarely repeated or even become ‘extinct’ in their behaviour repertoire.

For example, when dogs chase rabbits, they derive pleasure from the chase (and the taste of bunny if they’re quick enough!!) which means the action of chasing the rabbit is self-rewarding and they are likely to repeat this action.

Just as, when a trainer rewards a behaviour the dog has carried out with a treat or toy, they will be more likely to repeat this action, so that the reward is issued again.

If, on the other hand, they experience something unpleasant, the chances are that they will not repeat the action or repeat it less frequently.

So how do you go about discovering what your dog finds rewarding? Well, the obvious reward is food. Most dogs love treats and food rewards can be higher or lower value – so you can give your dog high value rewards (ie something extremely tasty!) as a means of reinforcing a desired behaviour and if they’ve done especially well during a session.

However, not all dogs are food-motivated (though I doubt many would say no to a chunk of chicken and a bit of liver cake!) and it is important to find out what does it for your dog.

Another brilliant training reward is a toy. One dog might be obsessed with balls, another with a tug rope and so on. If this is the case, you can begin to implement games into your training which is a fantastic way of reinforcing behaviours in a way that motivates your dog and is fun for both of you!

One game I like to play with our dogs is tuggy (albeit with a rubber dumbell toy rather than a rope!) – they are given the command to ‘leave it’ and let me take the tuggy. As an immediate reward, I throw it back to them and the tuggy game starts again. Then they are asked to leave and sit. Then rewarded with the toy. Then down and wait – then reward. Our recent game was incorporating target training (they were responding to ‘touch’ and touching my hand or another toy) and again being rewarded with some tug-o-war with me and the dumbell. I also alternated this with some ‘go seek’ – ie hiding the dumbell and asking them to look for it – again, once they’d found it, they came charging back to me and we again indulged in some tuggy.

By the end of the session the dogs were happy and tired – and it was good fun for me too.

The behaviours I was asking for during the game have initially been worked on with the use of a clicker – which is a brilliant training device that enables the dogs to understand very quickly, what the trainer is asking of them.

You could also have a special dog toy that only comes out when you are ‘game-training’ and that your dog goes mad for (you can encourage the dog to be keen on the toy by making a big fuss over the toy and encouraging your dog to play with it – yes, you might have to seem a bit nutty and play with the toy in excitable, high-pitched voice and enthusiastic body movements but it’ll be worth it!) and thus the reward the dog gets from playing with the special toy will be a big one, successfully reinforcing his given behaviour!

Dogs are fun – spend time with them, play with them, train them!