The 3 Pillars of Balanced Training:

1.  Praise

• Praise is the reward

• Communicates the concept of “Yes”

• Praise dog for good manners and obedience

• Verbal

  • Ex: “Good dog,” “Good girl,” “Very nice,” etc.

  • If dog is very excited: Draw out vowels to calm dog and keep their focus on you

  • If dog is bored or distracted: Use “Mickey Mouse voice” to excite them and keep their focus on you

• Up the value of your praise by adding physical Praise to the verbal when appropriate

  • Petting, patting, or otherwise touching dog with open palm and/or fingertips

  • Do not use physical Praise after needing to correct (save higher-value praise for excellent obedience)

2.  Motivation

• Used to teach, encourage, help, or clarify

• Verbal

  • Ex: “You got it!”  “That’s it!”

  • Use physical Motivation only if verbal Motivation alone is unsuccessful

    • Physical Motivation includes using gestures, pats, and posture and positioning your body in a way that helps or encourages dog into certain position or location

3.  Correction

• Communicates “No”

• Only fair if dog understands what we want them to do

• Never Correct when you’re feeling emotional

• It is better to put dog in kennel than to risk correcting in an emotional, rather than a logical, state