Motivation

It's all about motivation. What motivates you? In order for us to do just about anything we have to be motivated by something. I was inspired and motivated to finally start something that has been suggested to me many times. I have had dogs my entire life. I was brought home, from the hospital, to a dog, as a baby. I've always had a love for animals, especially dogs. My relationship with my dogs is a huge motivator for me to understand more about them. I've had people encourage me to blog and speak my mind about training, behavior, what has worked for me and what hasn't. There is so much I have to learn and I'm always striving to improve. However, there are many things I have experienced and many things I feel need to be discussed. Whether this reaches thousands of people or ten, I've shared my knowledge with someone and in turn they may share theirs with someone else.

"Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it."

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

What are motivators and how can we use them?

Motivators are all around us and whether or not we know it, they pull and push us humans in certain directions. Motivators can be a variety of things including the environment, food, toys, praise and they are all different for us. Find what motivates your dogs and use it to your advantage. If you hold the key to what drives your dogs you can shape and create just about any behavior by reinforcing it. Motivators can work against us as a dog may choose to self reinforce. However, if you know how to control those motivators, the results can be brilliant. Think about what motivates yourself. What would you do for something you really like? Finding motivators can be difficult, especially when outside motivators, such as the environment or other animals, have more value. Having two dogs myself that are practically night and day has pushed me to find motivators and really think of what will get each dog to work for and with me. And, I feel it isn't so much about manipulating but more so about teaching the dog about a fair trade off. Making a right choice yields a high value reward. Making a wrong choice simply means the reward is withheld.

Regardless of what motivates a dog, keeping a dog motivated and interested in the training process is key. Many people expect a dog to simply focus and pay attention to them 24/7. Here's the thing - the environment is fun. There are exciting things to do such as greet people and dogs. We cannot expect our dogs to be robots. All we can do is teach our dogs to make good choices and that those choices will be rewarded. Motivators help bridge that way between making good choices and being reinforced for them.

So, what motivates YOUR dog?