How Do I Build My Puppy’s Confidence?
When people think about building confidence in a puppy, they often think about encouragement.
“Good girl!”
“You got it!”
Lots of praise and reassurance.
But can too much verbal reassurance actually hurt your puppy’s confidence?
I believe it can.
Verbal encouragement may help a puppy through a difficult moment, but I don’t want it to become the long-term strategy. If your puppy continually relies on your voice, facial expressions, or emotions for reassurance, they can begin looking to you for confidence instead of developing it within the exercise.
I want the puppy thinking:
“I know what I’m doing.”
That’s what I’m working on with Sadie, a 14-week-old Bernedoodle puppy I’m training in Richardson, Texas.
Let Your Puppy Discover the Behavior
Before I introduce a verbal command, I give Sadie an opportunity to discover the behavior on her own.
Let’s use sit.
I’ll stand beside Sadie’s sit mat with a reward, but I don’t tell her, “Sit.”
Sadie knows I have something she wants. She also knows that something she does can cause the clicker to click and earn the reward.
What she doesn’t know is what behavior will make that happen.
So she experiments.
She may move around or try different behaviors. Eventually, Sadie sits on the mat.
Click.
She earns the reward.
I didn’t tell her the answer.
She discovered it.
The Confidence Comes Before the Command
This exercise isn’t just teaching Sadie how to sit on a mat. She’s discovering that she can solve the problem herself.
She experimented, found the behavior that worked, and earned the reward.
With repetition, Sadie becomes confident offering that behavior because she understands how to succeed.
That’s the progression:
Discovery → Confidence → Behavior → Command
By the time I introduce the word “sit,” I’m giving a name to something she already owns.
Then I Add the Word “Sit”
Once Sadie confidently understands the behavior, I begin attaching the verbal command.
As she’s about to perform it:
“Sit.”
Sadie sits.
Click.
She earns the reward.
With repetition, “sit” becomes associated with a behavior she already understands and enjoys performing.
Now when she hears “sit,” I don’t want uncertainty:
What does he want? Am I doing this right?
I want:
I know that. I own that.
The command signals a skill she’s already confident performing.
Why I Use a Clicker Instead of Constant Verbal Praise
The clicker gives Sadie clear, consistent feedback without requiring her to interpret my emotional state.
But there’s another reason I like using it.
Once the click has repeatedly been paired with food, Sadie learns that the sound predicts a reward. The click becomes what’s called a conditioned or secondary reinforcer.
Research on clicker training has also pointed to the brain’s dopamine reward system as one possible reason reward-predicting signals become motivating. Dopamine plays an important role in reward prediction, motivation, and learning.
So when Sadie hears:
Click.
She knows something good is coming.
That anticipation gives her motivation to keep trying to discover which behavior caused the click in the first place.
And unlike verbal praise, the click doesn’t change based on my mood. It sounds the same whether I’m excited, tired, frustrated, or happy.
I don’t want Sadie’s confidence coming from:
“He’s happy with me, so I must be right.”
I want:
“I figured this out. I know what caused the click. I know how to do it again.”
The click marks the success. The reward reinforces it. Sadie gets the experience of figuring out the answer herself.
Build Confidence Before You Ask for the Command
Confidence doesn’t have to come from constantly convincing your puppy they’re doing a good job.
Give your puppy opportunities to discover, solve, succeed, and eventually own behaviors for themselves.
Then put a name on what they already know.
When Sadie eventually hears a command, I want that command to represent something familiar:
You said something I own. You said something I know. You said something I like doing.
That’s the confidence I’m trying to build.
Not:
“Tell me I’m doing okay.”
But:
“I know what I’m doing.”
Puppy Training in Richardson, Texas and Dallas–Fort Worth
Breyers Canine Academy provides private puppy training and dog training in Richardson, Texas and throughout the Dallas–Fort Worth area.
Our puppy training focuses on developing confidence, clear communication, basic obedience, public training skills, and greater independence as puppies mature.
