How PupPod can facilitate successful dog training

As part of our positive reinforcement and behavioral series this April, we’re looking at how PupPod can help with dog behavior and training.  

While PupPod isn’t specifically for obedience training, there are ways in which the interactive puzzle game can encourage good behavior in dogs. Through positive reinforcement, and other specialised features, PupPod encourages dogs to become more focused, patient and better learners! See below for more ways in which PupPod can help facilitate dog training.   

Increases concentration 

PupPod helps to keep pups focused. If you have ever watched a dog play PupPod, you can just see it in their eyes! PupPod is really effective in holding a canine’s concentration as they work out how to solve puzzles, understand differentiating sound cues and get their food rewards. This could help them to build-on concentration for other tasks, too. 

Helps teach impulse control  

Some owners want their dogs to be better with their impulse control. This might be particularly prominent in training when getting your dog to ‘stay’. Good impulse control will help them to stay put, even if you leave, or teach them to wait rather than immediately run out the door when it’s opened, for example.  

By teaching dogs to touch on cue, not whenever they feel like it, PupPod can help to hone impulse control, showing them that they can get rewarded if they do as they’re told! Helping dogs to learn this kind of trick can be useful for reactive and impulsive dogs.  

Patience 

All good things come to those who wait! 

Any pet parent with an excitable dog and a PupPod will have noticed the way in which PupPod can help to channel their energy and settle them. Because dogs have to wait for the sound cue that comes from the PupPod, and then wait for the Feeder to launch well-earnt kibble, this can encourage them to be patient as they wait.  

Foundational training skills  

Dog training typically focuses on specific behaviours that owners want their dogs to learn such as understanding verbal or hand cues, self-control, obedience and loose leash walking, amongst others. 

Before a dog starts work with a professional dog trainer, there are some foundational skills that can be useful to develop. PupPod can help build these baseline skills and sow the seeds for more successful training.  

Understanding how to react to certain cues – signalled by the Rocker, ‘staying’ as they wait for their food rewards, and even calming down so they are in a better frame of mind to learn are a few ways in which PupPod can help dogs prepare for dog training.  

Cognition skills  

It sometimes comes as a surprise when people learn the cognitive capabilities of dogs and how smart they really are. At PupPod, we started out with this awareness and have executed a smart toy to help pet parents get the most out of their pup’s intelligence.  

As a training tool, PupPod can assist with dog cognition. The puzzle game helps with their ability to acquire information, understand certain patterns and apply what they have learnt to other situations. PupPod can also help cognition by boosting a dog’s problem-solving abilities, as this is essentially what they are doing throughout the game. 

Mental stimulation for better behaviors 

PupPod encourages a complex cognitive interaction between dog and game, working various parts of the brain so dogs get a dose of enriching mental stimulation.  

When dogs are mentally stimulated, alongside getting the right amount of exercise, they are less likely to engage in destructive and undesirable behaviors. Which might be all the ‘training’ some pet parents need! 

Employing mental stimulation techniques alongside training efforts and can ensure they are in the right frame of mind to learn, less agitated and, generally, a more pleasant time for both trainer and dog.  

Using dog tech in a post-covid world 

PupPod isn’t typically used as a substitute for training, especially not obedience training, however, the smart puzzle game can aid with dog behavior and cognition in the ways described above.  

In a post-covid world, where loads of pet parents are having to leave their pandemic puppies alone for the first time, it can be tough knowing how best to cope. Some dogs will struggle with this change and the tech-empowered PupPod can be effective in helping to keep pups occupied, mentally stimulated and on their best behavior. Or at least, it’s a good start.  

We would love to study dog psychology in relation to PupPod in more depth, but in the meantime, we’re enjoying hearing customer stories about how PupPod has helped them with their pup’s behavior, and most importantly, how much fun their dogs have been having along the way! 

Make sure to get in touch with a dog trainer if you’re unsure about using PupPod for dog training. 

We’d love to hear from you if you have any feedback on your experience with PupPod – get in touch at support@puppod.com. 

PupPods are available for purchase, here.