Beginner’s Guide to Dog Training
Posted on 29. Sep, 2012 by admin in Dog Training
Beginning to train your dog
The person who trains a dog will learn as much as their dog when teaching. This is effective because, in order for a dog owner to be successful in training their dog, they must learn some things by themselves. None of us are born with the innate skills and knowledge on how we should train our dogs, so to be successful, first we must be sure that we have the desire and determination to do so, and we also must have the time available to learn. The tips in this article can help you get started.
If you already have a dog before introducing another, then the interaction should proceed slowly. Think about your current dog or other pets at home before adopting or bringing home a new one. You should try to pick a pet with a personality that relates to your own pet.
When it comes to titbits and treats, try to remember the number of them that you have given to your dog as a reward in order to avoid them gaining excess weight. Many trainers and owners do not factor in treats when they are calculating how much food to give their pet as part of it’s diet, but remember that every biscuit or piece of ham soon adds up, particularly while you are training your dog.
Not all dogs react in the same way, so if you see something that appears to trigger an adverse reaction in your dog resulting in bad behavior, then while you may feel the need to give in to temptation, try to keep him occupied. For instance, try and do something distracting that will be stimulating and entertaining to your dog when you are walking him, especially when you approach another dog that it not get on well with. You are trying to teach your dog that the things he once disliked or was fearful of now has positive associations.
Our most common fears relates to when dogs bite someone. Often this is because the dog is protecting itself or its owner. Sometimes its instinctive reaction is due to fear. Biting is a natural reaction. A dog is reacting to something it perceives as a threat. To deal with this situation, try and be patient. Whatever you do, do not use force when training your dog. Trying to rule a dog by fear risks you being bitten by your own dog. Pack order and dominance are factors. A dog wants to make you happy as its pack leader.
Make your training sessions short and frequent. Try to make them a part of your time together. You and your dog need to bond, and repeating your training sessions ensures that you keep your dog familiar with what they have been learning and reinforce positive behaviour. You need to keep working with your dog, even after it has mastered its training, so do not stop as soon as your dog has learned its new behaviour. You will find that dog are habitual, and will quickly fall back to bad habits if you let them. For this reason, it is necessary to make a set of rules that your dog should comply with from the outset and that you and your dog both stick to them.
You should ensure that your dog is kept active and gets lots of exercise. Dogs like many pets can quicklly become bored if they have nothing to occup y their time. You hope to get your dog interested in what you are doing so that it is easier to train. Sometimes, you will find a motivator, which could be food-orientated or task-orientated that will encourage your dog to interact with you. A dog that is well-exercised and happy is a joy to work with and easier to train. Dogs love exercise, so ensure that you take your dog out for runs and long walks.
If you have brought home a puppy, then you will want to consider crate training. While there are many different approaches, you want to encourage the puppy to have time on his own and to protect him from hazards. If your puppy shies away from a crate, try placing something in the crate to entice him in, such as a chewstick or bone, but leave the crate’s gate closed. This will encourage the puppy to want to get inside the crate for the treat. This requires the puppy to go into the crate, so begin by praising your puppy as soon as he gets inside the crate.
When training, be specific and consistent with your commands. Use short phrases for your pup. When it comes to house training, for instance, you could use the phrase “go out” when you take them outside. To help them remember repeat a command, such as “go potty”.
Dogs do not respond well to punishment, so it is an ineffective tool. Some owners insist in some punishment when repromanding their pet, which is equally bad behavior on their part. Managing the bad behaviour of your dog to start with can be corrected by making sure he does it right the next and subsequent times. You are aiming to build a secure relationship with your dog during the training process.
While training a puppy or dog, you should not encourage games of tug-of-war as it is seen as an aggressive game that can promote aggressive behavior. This can be critical when young children are in the household as you want the dog to be lower than them in the pack order and often children loose to tug-of-war games, and also may be bitten by an over zealous dog.
If you are interested in training your new pet dog, take some lessons or dog obedience classes to learn from a professional trainer. You and your dog will love to learn new tricks, so they can progress to have a well-behaved and well-balanced pet. Once a dog begins learning its commands, the dog owner will begin to appreciate the rewards of dedicating time in ensuring that they are doing the right thing for man’s best friend.
