Invitation to the Train for Rewards Blog Party

Join the blog party to celebrate rewards-based training of our dogs and other companion animals. #Train4Rewards

Positive reinforcement training for dogs and cats
Planning for the Train for Rewards Blog Party


By Zazie Todd, PhD

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Are you a blogger? Do you support rewards-based training for dogs and other animals? Would you like to take part in the #Train4Rewards blog party?

You are invited to write a blog post about rewards-based training of dogs or other companion animals, post it on your own blog on the set date, then come and share a link to it here. Bloggers from anywhere in the world are invited to take part.

Read on to find out more.

On Wednesday, 15th June:

1. Publish a post on your blog in support of the #Train4Rewards blog party. It can be words, photos, video, a podcast, or a combination, and relate to any kind of companion animal.  I’ve put some suggestions below to get you started.

Double-check your post to make sure the tone is friendly and supportive to people who might not know anything about positive reinforcement training – we want to encourage them to get interested.

2. Include the #Train4Rewards button (below) in your post, and make it link to the Train for Rewards blog party page.



3. Add your blog to the list on companionanimalpsychology.com. The list will be open from 5am PST on 15th June until 8am PST on 16th June. Don’t miss the deadline!

On Thursday 16th June:

1. Check out the full list of participating blogs on companionanimalpsychology.com. Visit the other blogs, and leave comments to show support for your fellow bloggers.

2. Share your blog post on social media using the hashtag #Train4Rewards.

3. Share your favourite posts from other participating blogs on social media, also using the hashtag #Train4Rewards. You don’t have to share all the posts (unless you want to), so pick the ones you like best and share those. You can spread this out throughout the day.

4. Feel proud of your contribution to improving animal welfare. Reward yourself with a piece of cake, a bunch of flowers, a walk in the woods, or whatever makes you happy.

Ideas for posts

The benefits of positive reinforcement dog training
Blog posts can be about any aspect of rewards-based training, so feel free to use your imagination. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

What you enjoy about training using positive reinforcement

How to use positive reinforcement to teach a behaviour or solve a behaviour problem

How to train your cat to go into a carrier

A video of your dog, cat, rabbit, rat or ferret doing tricks

The key thing that made you become a crossover trainer

Photos of dogs (or other animals) enjoying a training session

The best treats to use as rewards

Recipes for training treats

An ode to your bait pouch, written by your dog

Why you love your dog trainer

What is allowed: blog posts that celebrate the rewards-based training of companion animals.
What is not allowed: training that uses pain, including but not limited to choke and prong collars, electronic shock collars, alpha rolls, or other aversive techniques; blog posts of a commercial nature.

I reserve the right to not include posts if they are not within the spirit of the blog party. Please keep posts family-friendly.

If you want, you can let me know that you are planning to take part. I look forward to reading your posts!

Technical Details

How to add the blog party button to your blog post: Copy the code that is displayed underneath the button. Put the code in the html part of your page.

In blogger, click the html button on the top left; in wordpress, the html button is on the top right. Position the code where you would like the button to appear e.g. if you want it at the bottom of the page, put it underneath all the other html code; if you want it at the top, put it at the top.

If you want to centre it, put <center> at the beginning of the code, and </center> after it.

When you go back to your compose field, you will see the button in your post.

In Squarespace, add a content block, scroll down to "More" and then click "Code".  Copy and paste the button code into the text editor that pops up.  The content block can then be moved around like any other content block.

If you choose to also include a text link to the blog party (this is not required), please make it a nofollow link.

How to add your blog post to the Train for Rewards list:
You need to use the specific permalink to your blog post, not the main url of your blog. If you have pictures in your post, you will have a choice of thumbnails. The linkup for the Train for Rewards Blog Party opens at 5am PST 15th June until 8am PST on 16th June 2016.

If you make a mistake or want to choose a different thumbnail, you can delete it and start again any time up to the deadline.

You will need to provide your email address in order to add your link, but this will only be used (if necessary) to communicate with you about this link-up. You will not be added to any email lists. 


Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, writes The Pawsitive Post premium newsletter, and also has a column at Psychology Today. Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, one dog, and two cats. 

Useful links:

Photos: Darina Matisova/Shutterstock and iofoto/Shutterstock.

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