Owning a dog can be one of the greatest joys in life. Pet owners are routinely found to have higher qualities of life than their pet less counterparts, however, an untrained dog will certainly provide you with many unhappy moments. This article serves to provide you with the tips necessary to start training your dog on your own.
Run away from your dog if he gets loose. It is easy to panic when a dog breaks loose from his leash or escapes the house or yard. Resist your instinct to chase the dog. Dogs love to play chase, and going after him will only encourage him to go further away. Instead, get your dog's attention, and then run AWAY from him. This uses the same instinctual love of the chase game to your advantage. Instead of you chasing your dog, the game becomes to chase you. Be sure to praise him thoroughly when he "catches" you!
The way to train a dog is to be consistent with your training. It is important to pick one style of training and stick with it. Consistency in the method of training is just one step. You must also consistently train your dog. Taking long breaks between training confuses your dog and training will take longer.
If there is a behaviour you'd like your dog to be able to do on command, make sure you praise him whenever he offers this behaviour. This works well for tricks that you are actively teaching, as well as actions that he does naturally. For instance, if you think it'd be fun to
teach your dog to sneeze whenever you ask, simply say, "Sneeze" and treat him whenever he does sneeze. Sooner or later, he will learn the association between the word "sneeze," the action of sneezing, and the reward.
It takes the entire family to train a dog. When you have a family dog it is important that all members participate in the training. This ensures that the message of what is right and wrong is consistent. Involving children in the training ensures that the family pet sees them as
alpha members of the family.
When
training your dog, make sure to enforce all commands you give. Do not repeat them over and over, but issue them once firmly, and make sure your pet follows through. Do not let your dog ignore a command, or else he will think you are not serious and will disregard most of the training session.
For a
happy pup, it is important to start socialisation from an early age. During the first few weeks of life, a puppy should be exposed to new situations, people, and animals. This will help him to be better adjusted and friendlier later in life. This will also ensure that he will feel less stressed when encountering unfamiliar situations and things.
Never punish your pet for coming when called. According to
Ryan O'Meara (K9 Magazine) a good
recall command is essential, not only for obedience, but for your
dog's safety as well. It may seem obvious that calling your pet to you for punishment is bad, however when you are angry at a dog who has darted out of the yard or refuses to come for a bath, it is easy to forget. By keeping their "come" command associated with positive experiences, you can be assured that next time they get away from you, they will reliably return when called.
All pets, and certainly all dogs, can be wonderful companions. For many people, the time and
patience it requires to train you dog properly may discourage them from attempting it on their own. But by applying the tips in this article to training your dog, not only will you have an obedient companion, you will save yourself many headaches and provide yourself great joy in the long run.
Article distributed by Emily Sutton on behalf of
petbuzz.
