Some elements of force-free dog training are quite technical. But did you know there's one thing you can do that will reliably improve almost any behaviour issue? In technical terms, it's capturing a behaviour, and marking and rewarding it. In simple terms, you're rewarding the behaviours you'd like to see more of. Behaviour that's rewarded will be repeated more often.
Anyone can do it; all you need is a reward that your dog finds, well, rewarding! Most often it will be food, but it could also be praise, touch, or play. You might also like to use a marker, to clearly identify to the dog which behaviour you're rewarding. The marker is a word, noise or signal that you use immediately the dog performs the behaviour you want. It's followed by the reward.
Make sure you match the marker, reward and delivery to the behaviour you're rewarding. An excited "Yes" and a game of tug, or a high value treat you throw for your dog to catch, is perfect for a check-in on a walk. That behaviour can be high arousal, exciting and joyful. But if you're rewarding your dog for settling independently in the house, you want a calm marker (like a gentle "gooood"), a piece of food your dog doesn't find too exciting (but is still rewarding), and a gentle delivery like slowly placing it between the dog's paws. In this case you might find the dog gets up and follows you away, in the hope of more rewards. If you don't provide any more, they will soon work out that getting up isn't worth their trouble.
You'll need to make sure you have appropriate rewards available for the moments you want to reward your dog. A soft cloth cross-body treat bag can be worn in the house, or you can keep a toy, or treats in a pot each room. Wear a treat bag while you're out on walks. Try not to have to open a box or bag to get the treat, as that leads to a delay, and can become confusing for the dog.
Now just start watching out for your dog doing something right. It shouldn't be hard - even the naughtiest of pups will be doing good things for a good part of the day. Capture the moment with your marker, and provide a reward. And that's it! Keep it up, and look out for your dog starting to understand what you want and doing more of it.
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