Disciplining Bad Behavior:
I think a better kind of negative reinforcement is just being cold to your dog. Make it clear you're disappointed with him.
Dogs are emotional animals, they respond to emotion better than anything. If a dog knows you, and has gotten to know your body language and everything, just make it clear how you feel - like not looking at him, low tone of voice, ignoring him, cold looks, telling him he's a bad dog, etc. Unless your dog has some developmental problems or is really hyperactive, he should pick up on it and feel all terrible.
Just think to when you were a kid - what you hated more than anything was when your parents let you know they were disappointed in you. It made you feel stupid and guilty and wrong, and you'd swear to yourself you'd never mess it up again. But if they started yelling or getting physical, you'd be confused and angry and rebellious. You'd feel antagonized by them. You wouldn't care about what you did wrong, you'd just be angry at your parents, and would likely defend/repeat your actions out of spite and stubbornness. These are basic emotional reactions, and dogs are basic emotional animals. Their emotional capacity grew from social interaction, like us, and they even adapted to us specifically through millenia. We're both social animals and they're no strangers to human behavior. Just like family members who hit each other instead of communicating, a dog-owner relationship that works largely on physical dominance is wrong and dysfunctional.
Rewarding Good Behavior:
Rewarding based dog training is about rewarding good behavior while deterring bad behavior. When a dog performs a desired action like sitting when asked to do so, he should be rewarded. Try giving your dog a treat immediately after it follows a command, then this behavior will become linked in the dogs brain with a positive action. Praising them with an enthusiastic "Good boy/girl!" is also a simple reward that'll strengthen your bond as your dog learns right from wrong.
One hard thing to judge is when to reward your dog, one common time is when your pet is learning a new behavior, reward him every time he does the behavior. This is called continuous reinforcement. Slowly overtime you can decrease how often you give your dog a treat for a certain behavior. Eventually you will be able to decrease the treat down to a simple vocal reinforcement. By understanding positive reinforcement, you'll see that you're not forever bound to carry a pocketful of goodies. Your dog will soon be working for your verbal praise, because he wants to please you and knows that, occasionally, he'll get a treat, too.
I think a better kind of negative reinforcement is just being cold to your dog. Make it clear you're disappointed with him.
Dogs are emotional animals, they respond to emotion better than anything. If a dog knows you, and has gotten to know your body language and everything, just make it clear how you feel - like not looking at him, low tone of voice, ignoring him, cold looks, telling him he's a bad dog, etc. Unless your dog has some developmental problems or is really hyperactive, he should pick up on it and feel all terrible.
Just think to when you were a kid - what you hated more than anything was when your parents let you know they were disappointed in you. It made you feel stupid and guilty and wrong, and you'd swear to yourself you'd never mess it up again. But if they started yelling or getting physical, you'd be confused and angry and rebellious. You'd feel antagonized by them. You wouldn't care about what you did wrong, you'd just be angry at your parents, and would likely defend/repeat your actions out of spite and stubbornness. These are basic emotional reactions, and dogs are basic emotional animals. Their emotional capacity grew from social interaction, like us, and they even adapted to us specifically through millenia. We're both social animals and they're no strangers to human behavior. Just like family members who hit each other instead of communicating, a dog-owner relationship that works largely on physical dominance is wrong and dysfunctional.
Rewarding Good Behavior:
Rewarding based dog training is about rewarding good behavior while deterring bad behavior. When a dog performs a desired action like sitting when asked to do so, he should be rewarded. Try giving your dog a treat immediately after it follows a command, then this behavior will become linked in the dogs brain with a positive action. Praising them with an enthusiastic "Good boy/girl!" is also a simple reward that'll strengthen your bond as your dog learns right from wrong.
One hard thing to judge is when to reward your dog, one common time is when your pet is learning a new behavior, reward him every time he does the behavior. This is called continuous reinforcement. Slowly overtime you can decrease how often you give your dog a treat for a certain behavior. Eventually you will be able to decrease the treat down to a simple vocal reinforcement. By understanding positive reinforcement, you'll see that you're not forever bound to carry a pocketful of goodies. Your dog will soon be working for your verbal praise, because he wants to please you and knows that, occasionally, he'll get a treat, too.
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