Rethinking Rewards & Praise: What Dogs Really Understand

The vast majority of people are taught — no matter what kind of dog professional they go to, whether it’s a positive-only force-free trainer, a balanced trainer, a behaviorist, or a veterinary behaviorist — is to give rewards and praise for desirable behavior.

But why?

Handing out rewards and offering praise for someone’s good behavior or achievements is part of human nature — not a dog’s.

Dogs do not hand out rewards.

They do not give praise.

They directly express what they don’t like — not what they do.

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Take a dog with a bone for example.

Stella: Has a bone
Gus: Comes over to take it
Stella: Growls, shows teeth, barks, and snaps (She says what she doesn’t like)
Gus: Moves away
Stella: Doesn’t go over and give Gus a reward or praise for moving away.

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Scenario 2

Stella: Has a bone
Gus: Doesn’t attempt to take the bone
Stella: Continues chewing and says nothing to Gus (No reward. No praise.)

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Let’s look at two more:

Scenario 3

Redford: Is jumping all over Hickory
Hickory: Growls, shows teeth, and snaps (She says what she doesn’t like)
Redford: Stops
Hickory: Doesn’t offer a reward or give praise for Redford stopping.

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Scenario 4

Redford: Doesn’t jump on Hickory
Hickory: Says nothing to Redford (No praise. No reward.)

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When most people think of dog training, and giving rewards and praise for desirable behavior, we think of teaching and giving commands like Sit, Down, Heel, Place, etc.

So, let’s dive deeper—

A human being gives a cue “Sit”— when the dog places their butt on the ground, the person gives the dog praise “good” and a reward— often food. 

When wanting to teach a trick like “Sit” this approach is great. But when it’s used for control and communication— awful. 

Here’s why.

When you tell a dog to “Sit” or any other “obedience” command— ask yourself “Why am I telling them to “x”?” Often people will say stuff like:

• “I don’t want them jumping on me”

• “I don’t want them going over to that dog”

• “I want them to settle down” (A.K.A, I don’t want them to be so wild)

I don’t want “x” is always the reason for whatever command is given.

Now, how does a dog see it? 

Do they actually understand you don’t want “x”?

I believe they don’t.

A dog has just learned that if they “Sit,” or do any other trick— it gets them to food. So it reinforces in their mind this is a path to food acquisition.

I have seen so many dogs over the years go up to people and start going through their whole repertoire of tricks— Sit, Down, Heel, Place, Rollover— looking like they short circuited. But they are simply trying to acquire food. Then we will say things like— “stop begging”, “they don’t have food”, “stop being pushy”

But we created that problem through dog training.

Another example I see often is when people reinforce a dog’s jumping up on people by trying to teach them an alternative behavior like “Sit” or all fours on the ground. The dog jumps up on us and we tell them to “Sit,” or we wait for all four paws to be on the ground and then we give them food. 

The dog learns to jump up on people and to then sit or to stand there and wait a second to acquire food. The person with the mindset of dog training will continue to reinforce this every time, because in their mind they are “working” on no jumping. While in the dogs, they are learning to jump as part of the process when they want to acquire food.

Now some of you might be saying —

“Well this is why you should correct (Discipline) the dog”

But here is where we often go wrong.

We start to discipline the dog for breaking a command, or, after disciplining them for jumping, we give them a command to “Sit,” usually followed by reward and praise.

There is no reason to give an obedience command, rewards, or praise especially after we discipline. And we absolutely do not need to discipline our pet dogs for not Sitting, Downing, or any other tricks. In fact there is no reason at all to tell our dog to Sit, Down, Place, etc. 

Dogs do not think or communicate like this.

• You don’t want them to jump? 

• You don’t want them to go over to that other dog?

• You don’t want them to be wild?

• You don’t want them to do “x”

Say what you don’t like— no rewards, no praise, no obedience commands. 

Go straight to what you don’t want/like and express your disapproval. 

Intent–Body Language–Action(Discipline)

And what you like, say nothing to.

(we will talk more in depth in a future blog on domination and discipline and how we should go about it)

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It’s important to understand something Brandon Fouché said — something that gets to the heart of all of this:

“Dogs can only think like a dog, and they expect us to think like them.”

If we want a deep relationship with our dogs — one built on real understanding and honest communication — we have to fully embrace this idea.

We often humanize dogs in a way that doesn’t align with who they are by nature— and in doing so miss how intelligent they truly are.