The key to an amazing relationship with your dog is clear communication. Together, we can start the conversation.

At All Ears we use positive reinforcement training methods in personalized training sessions and work closely with clients to ensure lasting success. 

How positive reinforcement training works

Positive reinforcement is at the cutting edge of training science. It’s been proven time and time again to have statistically more reliable and sustaining results than methods using punishment as motivation. 

Why is this the case? Evolution has carved a handy pathway for shaping behavior: If a behavior is successful as a means to an end, then the individual will repeat it. If a behavior is ineffective, the individual must try something different. In other words, a behavior exists for a reason, because it works! When training with positive reinforcement methods, we reward the behavior we’d like to see continue. Punishment-based training methods (eg. yelling, using a choke collar or shock collar) may appear effective in the moment, but they come with the likelihood of unacceptable side effects. To name a few: Inadvertently rewarding the behavior you’d like to stop, damaging your relationship with your dog, making the behavior worse, or building negative associations with the wrong things. In learning to train your dog, as with anything else, you’ll make mistakes. If you’re using punishment based-training, those mistakes can come at a great cost. If we’re using positive reinforcement, a mistake just results in a rogue reward.

In any training scenario, the question we need to ask ourselves is: How can we create a situation in which the desired behavior is most rewarding for your dog? And meanwhile, how do we make the unwanted behavior obsolete? The answers will be different for every dog, but with creativity and dedication we teach the dog to love choosing the new and improved behavior.

Positive reinforcement learning provides lasting results, and has the additional benefit of creating a closer understanding and connection between dog and owner, as well as being intellectually stimulating for all.

Reasons dog owners have worked with me