Jun 25, 2013
A major focus for all of us at Green Acres is education. Educating ourselves, our clients and others. One aspect where we put special emphasis is teaching people about the many erroneous myths about our furry companions.
One of the most harmful myths is that in order to train a dog the owner must show their dominance by being assertive, having a deep booming voice and making the dog do their bidding.
This in turn has led to the attitude that we should NEVER reward the dog with food because the dog should always do what we want just to please us. That led to this whole silly notion that dogs should just work for praise.
So how well would you respond if your boss told you that you had to work and that the only reward would be his praise? I suspect you'd be looking for a new job tomorrow.
All dogs are food motivated - they MUST eat to survive. When food is used properly as a reward it works better than either praise or touch for training.