High praise leads to high excitement

I have a 16-monthold vizsla and have been following basic gundog training drills, which she seems to be loving. The only issue is when I offer verbal praise when she does well. It seems to whip her up into a bit of a frenzy. She has never been particularly interested in food or toys so I use praise as her reward. I am therefore concerned that if I remove the praise she will stop working so well.

Reward is an essential component of teaching a dog anything. Without it, the dog has no reason to complete a task. All dogs will be motivated and in turn rewarded by different things. Your girl obviously loves the praise and it sounds like she is working well for it. When you praise her, be calm and quiet. You can also dictate when that praise comes. For example, after she has finished the drill, ask for a sit at your side, replace her lead and then praise her. Scratch her chest and calmly tell her “good girl”. Verbal praise doesn’t have to mean overexcitement. If she starts to get overexcited, stand up and ignore her.

As she progresses and becomes more consistent with her work, start to wean her off the immediate reward. So a quiet “good girl” will become adequate for her and only at the end of the session do you really praise her with lots of silliness and fuss. ES

GUNDOG TRAINING

All dogs are motivated by praise and reward, which is used to good effect in training