This is the puppy training podcast, episode 157, Motivation Matters.

This podcast is designed to help you on your journey of becoming best friends through love and learning as you train your own dog from home.

And I'm here to help you every step of the way.

This is the puppy training podcast, and I'm

your host, Amy Jensen. Hey, everybody. How are you today? Something that I've been thinking about a lot

lately is motivation. Dogs do what works for them, and they stop doing what doesn't work for them.

That's just science. Dogs are motivated by something to do something,

and that motivation can be key in figuring out how to change their behavior.

Now, today I want to talk about motivation and why it matters.

I also want to make the scientific jargon of animal behavior simple and easy to understand.

Sometimes getting caught up in the language of behavior, I feel like,

can be overwhelming, and I find it easiest to understand through examples. So today, let's talk

terminology, but also I want to toss in some examples so that it makes it easier for all of us to

understand. Sounds good? All right, first things first, though. So we know that positive reinforcement

training has emerged over the last decade, I would say, though. So we know that positive reinforcement training has emerged

over the last decade, I would say, as a highly effective method for shaping desirable behaviors

and dogs. We emphasize encouragement and rewards rather than punishment, right? So here at

Baxter and Bella, we follow what's called Lima, meaning we use the least intrusive,

minimally aversive methods possible to train our dogs.

We feel this as the most humane way to treat animals.

So central to the success of this approach is the concept of motivation.

Understanding the importance of motivation in dog training and exploring what motivates our dogs,

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