Does your Labrador retriever work for you to get praised?

There is a widespread misconception amongst Labrador retriever owners that their dogs are doing a trick/technique to make them happy and to get praises from them, which makes them believe that they have at last established their alpha dog status (or pack leader status or dominance) over their dogs. They even take pride in that and rave about it, being unaware about the fact that ‘dominance theory’ has been debunked and proved baseless by science, long ago.Unfortunately, if you are one of those dog owners, then it's time to get things right and shed those misconceptions behind, right away !

All dogs are ‘Selfish’ by nature and is performing a trick or obeying a command, just to win a reward or a yummy treat from it’s owner(i.e. positive reinforcement) or to avoid a yelling or leash-pop(i.e. negative reinforcement which is not a recommended training method), and obviously NOT to hear those – meaningless - ‘good dog’ or ‘good boy’ from him.

What does ‘Praise’ really mean to your Labrador retriever?

For a Labrador or for any breed for that matter praise word like ‘good dog’ or ‘good job’ doesn’t mean anything by itself to it, if you don’t follow that up with a reward - favorite toy or a ball - or a yummy treat in case of positive reinforcement training like clicker training or other reward based training.

If your Labrador is trained using negative reinforcement or aversive training method (a training method which is not recommended at all for animals), praise word like ‘good boy’ would mean that he is not in trouble for the moment. For dogs, these words are mean nothing except plain sounds – unlike we humans their verbal abilities are very poor.

Which training method should I use to train my Labrador?

If you want your Labrador retriever to remain happy and healthy through out it’s life and want him/her to be your best friend, it is highly recommended to use positive reinforcement training like Clicker training - which is proven to be the best, most humane and efficient animal/dog training method.

Never use aversive methods – negative reinforcement - to train your dog which can only help you in spoiling a healthy relationship with your dog. Of course you can be successful in training your dog with that method, but the dog would never be happy and will always act out of fear. Is that how you want your relationship to be with your dog? I am pretty sure you don’t want that.

When you are using clicker training you are expected to be highly patient. You are also required to repeat the training sessions with your dog several times over a period of time – may be weeks or months consistently - to get the desired results. Again, the duration of the training depends on the type of the technique or trick that you want your dog to master.
 

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