If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Proper behavior training is important for developing your relationship with your pet. A dog trained to understand how to behave will be safer to the wider society and a credit to you as the owner. Therefore all dogs should get some good behavioral training at some stage and many owners choose to do it themselves. This is understandable as many dog obedience lessons are too costly for many people. It is also a whole lot less commitment when you can choose to do the lessons when you have the time or motivation. However most people will fail in this process because the don’t take the training seriously enough to stay the course or do adequate research in training methods. This article will cover 5 things you should avoid if you want to successfully obedience train your dog.

1. As I suggested at the start, most people fail because they are not committed. I guess this is nothing new as lack of commitment in anything you decide to do will lead to poor results. Remaining committed is a constant process of refocusing on what initially motivated you and then remaining disciplined.

Reinforce in your mind what prompted you to want to obedience train your dog. Think of the pleasure you will receive from a deeper relationship with your animal than, say, playing ball with him. Take heart from the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your dog is less of a danger to himself and the wider community as a whole.

Committed also includes having the energy to learn. Find out more about your breed of dog. Investigate new training methods and determine what works well for your dog. Never stop learning about your pet or the breed of your dog. This will improve your relationship with him and give you inspiration when it comes to training.

2. No consistency in your actions. The biggest problem with this is that it may become boring and you want to move onto something else. You need to teach at your dog’s speed of learning not your own. Repeat the same procedure over and over again until your dog gets the command. Keep it simple to begin with. Only teach one command at a time and don’t move onto another command until your dog knows the command well. Your pet will also suffer from boredom at times so you should keep the lessons fairly short

3.Being negative rather than positive in your training methods. Don’t punish a dog for not doing a command correctly or failing to understand what you asked of it. This is cruel to the dog but also confusing. Ultimately, pain will have a negative affect on the animal and lead to psychological problems. Results have shown that positive reinforcement, through encouragement and even a reward, is far more effective. Quickly your pet will want to please you and this will make training easier for both of you.

4.Not open to new ideas. Don’t stick to one idea rigidly merely because it was recommended by the dog whisperer or some other celebrity. Always see techniques as a framework to follow or disregard according to results. Remember that dogs are as individual as humans and some will respond better to one technique than another. The more you work with your dog the more you will understand his preferred teaching methods.

5.It is always a fine line to tread between being consistent in your training but keeping it interesting for you and your dog. Avoid getting into a boring routine that will make both of you looking for something else to do. Add little touches to make it fun. Nothing dramatic and also dependent on your dog’s nature, but why not do the training in a different location. How about short lessons with a bit of play in between another lesson. Play with the peripheral aspects of the training but keep the fundamentals, like one command per lesson consistent

Tags: Dogs

Popularity: 4% [?]

Share This