How Much is Too Much?
Can you give your dogs too much praise? Do you think they wind up tuning you out?
I give a lot of praise. So much that my mom makes fun of me. She says the dogs think their other name is “good boy” or “good girl”. LOL She especially found it funny when I would praise Trooper for going poo-poo.
I find myself sitting and petting my boy and just cooing and saying “good boy” or “what a good boy” over and over again. I don’t know why. I could probably just pet him and he’d be happy but I can’t seem stay quiet.
My dogs are my babies and I praise them for nearly everything. When they lay quietly. When they eat their food nicely. When they go potty and come back inside. They get praise.
Is that weird?
For Timber, I feel like I need to give him extra praise on top of everything we normally do. Last night, he was curled up in bed with us - laying on his back with all four paws in the air. Something I’m sure he didn’t get to do six months ago. So I was just petting and petting and rubbing his belly and telling him what a wonderful boy he was and how much we loved him.
Does that make me weird? That’s okay. I’ve been called worse.
So do you think that excess praise hurts training with dogs? Or do you think it helps? Or does it matter at all? Do you praise your dogs or pets excessively.
I admit I used to do the same thing with my cats. *grin*
February 5th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
I praise a lot, in the same ways you do! And that thing you did on the bed last night? I do the exact same thing.
…and look what she does for me. Look what your dogs do for you. I don’t think the love is misplaced, not at all.
February 5th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
No, I do the same thing with our dog. She is special and we let her know at every opportunity. I think it is the right thing to do.
Have a terrific day.
February 6th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
We always praise the Dogs. Surely thats what all Dogs want? It is also very good for training purposes, if they know they get praised they are much more likely to be good.
Well……sometimes!
February 6th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
I guess it depends on the dog. Some could care less about praise and they only want food or to keep working. Some tune out too much verbal praise. Others get too excited from it.
I don’t go overboard with the verbal praise with Ace. Just telling him “Yeah! Good boy!” here and there does the trick. Sometimes when we’re working on heeling he’ll be doing really well until I say “good boy” and then he sneaks ahead. So it works better to just keep my mouth shut and count the walk itself as his reward.