What dogs like. They know what they want.

 

Do you know what your dog likes?

What dogs like. It varies from one dog to the next. While one dog might like to play ball, another might like to chew on a chew toy. Do you know what your dog likes?

Dogs have opinions, whether we understand them or not. Usually, dogs are too polite to make a big deal out of it, but they don’t always like things that we think they should.

As dog parents, if we can figure out what our dogs like, we can make their lives and ours run much more smoothly. For example, when you’re rewarding your dog for something, it works much better if the reward is something that they actually like.

What dogs like = motivation

It’s all about motivation. I know I often feel motivated when I’m offered chocolate. Your dog feels the same kind of motivation when you offer something that they love.

Does your dog like a certain kind of treat? Maybe they aren’t motivated by food as much as by playing ball or tug. Some dogs want affection and praise. If you know which one your dog favors, you’ll know how best to reward them for doing what you want.

But how do you know what your dog likes? If you watch closely, you can see them really light up when their favorites are available.

Knowing what my dogs like

Quinn, for example, loves to play ball. Not just any ball, however. It has to be her favorite chucker whistler ball. Either blue or orange will do, but any other balls are just not right and will only do in a pinch. She will do just about anything if she knows that she’ll get to play fetch with her ball.

On the other hand, there’s Lincoln. We got a tug for him, but he doesn’t like it, so he looks at it when we pull it out. He also likes the balls, but not to play catch. He usually lets it hit the ground first and then carries it around with him. His goal is to chew it.

He loves to chew on his ball when I’m fixing breakfast or dinner. It’s funny to watch him. Almost like he uses that to rein in his enthusiasm about eating. If the ball rolls under a piece of furniture, he’ll stare at it until we pull it out and give it back.

If you want to encourage your dog to do what you want, you need to know what dogs like.

It’s simple. If you want to encourage your dog to do something, you want them to feel motivated to do that. If you know what they like, you’re more likely to find that thing to motivate them. It boils down to knowing your dog. It also boils down to whatever it is repeatedly by making them want to do it.

Since humans don’t generally speak dog very well, we have to be really clear about letting them know what we want. And rewarding with what dogs like helps. That’s what I wrote about in this post about positive reinforcement. This post from Dogville has more ideas for using positive reinforcement with your dogs.

Do you know what your dog likes? Tell me about it in the comments below.