How Much is Too Much?

Can you give your dogs too much praise? Do you think they wind up tuning you out?

I give a lot of praise. So much that my mom makes fun of me. She says the dogs think their other name is “good boy” or “good girl”. LOL She especially found it funny when I would praise Trooper for going poo-poo.

I find myself sitting and petting my boy and just cooing and saying “good boy” or “what a good boy” over and over again. I don’t know why. I could probably just pet him and he’d be happy but I can’t seem stay quiet.

My dogs are my babies and I praise them for nearly everything. When they lay quietly. When they eat their food nicely. When they go potty and come back inside. They get praise.

Is that weird?

For Timber, I feel like I need to give him extra praise on top of everything we normally do. Last night, he was curled up in bed with us - laying on his back with all four paws in the air. Something I’m sure he didn’t get to do six months ago. So I was just petting and petting and rubbing his belly and telling him what a wonderful boy he was and how much we loved him.

Does that make me weird? That’s okay. I’ve been called worse.

So do you think that excess praise hurts training with dogs? Or do you think it helps? Or does it matter at all? Do you praise your dogs or pets excessively.

I admit I used to do the same thing with my cats. *grin*