Encouragement

With some foundational work you’ll hear me using some cheer leading and verbal encouragement. This is something that we have to be very careful with as adding excited voices often works against us by introducing too much chaotic excitement and making it harder for the dog to focus. But when used correctly, it gives the right amount of motivation during this early learning stage before we phase it out.

Positive reinforcement is a wonderful training tool that we use all the time when teaching new behaviours, encouraging good choices and rewarding a dog’s calm mindset but it is important to note that positive reinforcement only works after we’ve first stopped the unwanted behaviour. If naughty behaviour and poor choices aren’t corrected before using positive reinforcement (food, pets, praise), then what we end up doing is inadvertently reinforcing those naughty behaviours and poor choices, which no one knowingly does or wants to do! It’s just that without the right training approach or tools for the job, it’s nearly impossible to sort this stuff out. So by using our ‘walker talkie’ aka the remote collar as a communion tool and a modern balanced training approach, we can stop unwanted behaviour and naughty choices and also guide the dog into calm behaviours and great choices and help her learn how to walk away from conflict and coexist peacefully with others.