How to Make Your Dog Want to Work With You: Dopamine, Anticipation and the Casino Effect
Most people think that if a dog is not motivated, he needs a better reward. Better food, a better ball, better treats, more play.
I think that’s often the wrong question. The real question is this: does your dog know exactly what is going to happen every single time you train?
If the answer is yes, you may have turned yourself into a vending machine. Sit, food. Down, food. Heel, food. Same exercise, same reward, same delivery, same timing. It works. But it’s not very exciting.
A huge part of the excitement happens before the reward arrives, in the moment the dog is thinking: what’s coming? In this article, adapted from my video below, I explain dopamine, anticipation and prediction, and how I use those ideas to make a dog really want to work with me.
Watch the Video: How to Make Your Dog Want to Work With You
A 9-Month-Old German Shepherd Without a Formal Heel
Right now I have a young German Shepherd. He is nine months old, and until now I have not worried about making him look perfect. He doesn’t even have a formal heel yet.
For the first months my priority was different. I wanted to build desire. I wanted him to think that working with me is one of the best things in the world.
Today, in a safe, controlled environment, I can remove the leash and I’m almost certain he stays with me, even with other dogs barking at him. Not because I spent months drilling the heel. He stays because he wants to know what I’m going to do next. He is always watching me, always following me, and when I call him he comes like a rocket. He is completely hooked on the game we built together.
Of course, this is a specific dog with a specific future job. I’m not telling every family to raise their dog like this. But it is a very clear example of what anticipation can do.
Why Some Handlers Make Every Dog Look Electric
You have probably seen it. Same dog, different person. With one handler the dog looks average. With another, the dog looks electric: more energy, more eyes, more intensity. People think that handler has magic hands.
Usually there is no magic. That person understands value, sometimes without even knowing the concept: timing, anticipation, movement, access, and when to play. For me, this is one of the biggest differences between average training and excellent training.
I explain it in four stops:
- The casino floor
- The game
- Becoming the house
- Drive with control
Stop 1: The Casino Floor
Let’s keep dopamine simple. Most people hear “dopamine” and think pleasure. For dog training, I want you to think of it as wanting: expectation and anticipation. The brain learns that one thing predicts another, and once that prediction is learned, the excitement starts before the reward arrives.
You see this every day. You pick up the leash and your dog goes crazy before you’ve walked anywhere. You open the cupboard where the food lives and your dog appears. You put your hand near the pocket where you keep the ball and the dog changes immediately. Nothing has happened yet, but something might. That’s anticipation.
The training consequence is simple: your dog can become excited by what predicts the reward, not only by the reward itself.
Now think about a casino. Everybody talks about the slot machine, but the casino starts working on you before you touch it: the lights, the sound, the chips, the tables, the people. Everything says something might happen here.
Dog training is the same. It starts long before you say “sit”. Where are you? What leash is on the dog? Where is the ball, where is the food? How are you standing and moving? How does your voice sound? How do you take the toy out? All of these can become signals. I have dogs that look at me and already know we are about to work, before I say a word.
But first: clarity, not a casino
When a dog is learning something new, I want predictability. I don’t want a casino yet. Behavior, marker, reward. Again: behavior, marker, reward. The dog needs to understand the rules before I make the game less predictable.
Some people hear “variable rewards are good” and start rewarding randomly while the dog doesn’t even understand the exercise. He does it right, nothing happens. He tries again, nothing. That’s not anticipation. That’s confusion, and confusion is not good training.
In my system I use a terminal positive marker, “Chip”. If I say “Chip”, the dog gets paid. Always. I don’t want the dog wondering whether “Chip” means something today. My communication stays predictable, and the dog trusts it. This clarity is the base of my Drive Control Protocol.
Stop 2: The Game
A vending machine: one euro, press Coke, Coke comes out. Tomorrow, the same. Useful? Absolutely. Exciting? Not really.
Now imagine a blackjack table. The rules don’t change every hand. You know what the cards mean and what you can do. But you don’t know the next card. Predictable rules, less predictable outcome. That creates tension and anticipation, and it’s the model I want in training.
Once the dog already understands sit and down, a session can look like this:
- Sit, “Chip”, one piece of food.
- Sit, no marker yet. Down, then “Chip”, food.
- Sit, “Chip”, and suddenly not food: the ball comes out.
- Sit, “Super”. Down, “Super”. Come with me, turn, sit… then “Chip”, and maybe a jackpot.
“Super” is my continuous positive marker: yes, you’re right, stay in the game. “Chip” ends the behavior and always pays. The dog understands everything I’m saying, but he doesn’t know exactly what’s coming: one behavior or three, food or ball, one piece or five, a quick reward or a big game. Now he starts watching me differently.
It’s not only what you give, it’s how you give it
Take one piece of food. I can say “Chip” and put it straight in the dog’s mouth. Fine. Or I can say “Chip”, jump backwards, make him chase my hand for two seconds, talk to him, smile, then give exactly the same piece of food. Same food, completely different emotional value.
The same with the ball. I can say “Chip” and throw it. Or I can jump back, throw it, call him back to me and start playing, maybe a short tug, maybe I let him win, maybe I ask for an “out”. Same object, different experience.
Of course the dog has to like the reward. If your dog hates the ball, I can’t create magic with the ball. But once I know the dog values something, my job is to make it more valuable, and that comes from more than the object: scarcity, movement, timing, delivery and anticipation.
Stop while he still wants more
Many people play until the dog slows down and decides he’s finished. I prefer the opposite. I stop while the dog is still thinking, wait, we’re stopping now? The ball disappears. The casino closes. The next time I open it, he remembers.
Access matters too. If your best training toy lies on the floor 24 hours a day, don’t be surprised when it stops being special. Not starvation, not frustration for no reason. Just value through access.
Stop 3: Become the House
Your dog already has access to another casino, and it’s probably much more powerful than you: the environment.
He walks outside. A smell, nothing, another smell, nothing, then suddenly an amazing smell. A cat appears; sometimes it sits still, sometimes it runs, and when it runs, boom, chase. A dog behind a fence is sometimes quiet, sometimes barking. A person walks past the fence, your dog barks, the person disappears. From the dog’s point of view: I barked and he left. Another payout.
And now you’re outside with your dry little biscuit saying “look at me”. Why would the dog choose you? The environment is running a better casino than you are. That’s one reason a dog can look amazing inside the house and forget you exist outside. I explain this in more detail in why your dog listens at home but not outside.
Part of my job is to change that relationship. I want the dog to think the good things come through this person: the ball, the food, the game, the movement, and sometimes even access to the environment. Then I’m no longer just competing with the reward. I become part of the reward.
That’s what I built underneath my young Shepherd’s heel: if I move, he wants to move; if I run backwards, he comes; if I disappear, he wants to find me; if I call him, he expects something to happen. The lesson is not “don’t train your dog until nine months”. The lesson is: before I ask for beautiful obedience, I want a dog that wants to be in the game.
For example, this dog has only worked for food so far. I won’t introduce the ball in a normal training session. First I build the value of the ball and of playing with me with it. Only when he’s crazy about it, running at me and jumping to get me to play, will I start using it in training.
Stop 4: Drive With Control
This is where people can destroy the whole thing. They hear “build drive, create anticipation” and now everything is crazy: chase again and again, the dog spinning and screaming, unable to think. And the owner says, “look at that drive”. But can you bring the dog back?
I don’t want a dog that only knows how to go up. I want up, down, up, down. That’s control.
Think about a car. Give me 1,000 horsepower, amazing. Now show me the brakes and the steering wheel. The bigger the engine, the better the brakes need to be. The more drive I build, the more communication matters. This is the core of training a high-drive dog.
Obedience opens the game
The ball appears and the dog comes up. Good, I want him to want it. But wanting it doesn’t mean he gets to lose his mind. Sit, “Super”. Down, “Super”. Heel, turn. Sit, “Chip”, boom, ball.
Think about what the dog just learned: obedience didn’t kill the game. Obedience opened the game. People sometimes believe control destroys drive. Bad, boring and confusing training destroys drive. Good obedience can become part of the chase. The dog starts asking, what do I need to do next?
The uncertainty is never “does he mean what he says?”. “Chip” always pays, that is sacred. The uncertainty is how many behaviors before the reward, what the reward is, how big it is, and how it will be delivered. That’s enough. I don’t need messy communication to create anticipation.
Reward calm too
If every valuable thing only happens when the dog is at 100%, don’t be surprised when he starts living at 100%. Some very high-drive obedience dogs are trained in a way that makes normal social life hard for most owners.
I want intensity when I ask for it. But I also want a dog that can lie down, wait, think, hold position, recover and switch off, and those states can be rewarded too. Not a dog trapped at maximum intensity. I talk about why this matters for off-leash control and for a reliable recall.
The Four Stops Together
| Stop | What it means in training |
|---|---|
| 1. The casino floor | The game starts before the command. Equipment, body, movement, voice, the toy and the food all create anticipation. |
| 2. The game | First predictability and a clear marker system. Later the rules stay clear, but the payout changes: food or ball, one piece or a jackpot, one behavior or three, calm or explosive delivery. |
| 3. Become the house | Don’t let the environment own every interesting thing in your dog’s life. Become the path to the good stuff. |
| 4. Drive with control | Don’t only build a dog that can go up. Build a dog that can come back again. |
Do this well and the dog watches you differently, follows you differently and offers more energy and focus. The dog may be the same, but the attitude is completely different, because the handler became valuable.
The One Sentence to Remember
Don’t make your communication unpredictable. Make the game unpredictable.
Your rules, your markers and your commands should be clear, and your dog should trust what you say. But the game can change: sometimes small, sometimes big, sometimes food, sometimes the ball, one repetition or five, calm or explosive. The dog knows there is value in staying with you, but not exactly what the next card is. That’s why he keeps watching.
Next time you train, don’t only ask yourself what reward you are going to give. Ask: what does my dog think is going to happen next? Sometimes the most powerful part of the reward is the moment before it arrives.
If your dog feels flat in training, if the environment is always more interesting than you, or if you can create excitement but can’t control it, that’s exactly the work I focus on. You can book a call with me.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I use variable rewards with a dog that is still learning?
No. While the dog is learning a behavior, keep it predictable: behavior, marker, reward. Only once he understands the rules do you make the reward experience less predictable.
What is the difference between a terminal and a continuous marker?
A terminal marker (I use “Chip”) ends the behavior and is always followed by a reward. A continuous marker (I use “Super”) tells the dog he is right and should keep going, so you can chain several behaviors before paying.
Does obedience kill a dog’s drive?
Not when it’s done well. Boring or confusing training kills drive. When obedience is the route to the reward, the dog learns that control opens the game.
