.

Effective communication with your dog is essential when you begin formally training your dog.

In the beginning, it is best to keep this communication simple. A good way to do this is with markers. You choose a word for positive and negative markers. For example, the positive marker could be yes, and the negative marker could be no.

The exact words don't really matter as long as there is a distinct difference between the positive and negative word.

Some common examples are: yes and no, good and bad.

When your dog does what you want, you say the positive marker and reward them with a treat or affection or both. When they don't do what you want, you say the negative marker and ignore them…meaning withholding rewards. This is how you would use communication based training with positive reinforcement.

Let's look at an example of using markers. 

Let's say you are working on the sit command. You tell your dog to sit and they do. Say "good" or whatever the positive marker is and give a treat. Now what happens if they don't sit? Most likely they will stand there or try to sniff your pocket for a treat. In this case say "bad" or whatever the negative marker is and do not give the treat.

This is a great way to get started on communication with your dog, which is essential to successful training…

Don't forget to sign up for our FREE newsletter where you'll get immediate access to another video as well as ongoing training tips and methods