A dog can mean a companion waiting for you when you get home, a walking buddy, and a pal you can always play with. However, it can also mean torn-up shoes, incessant barking, and a general lack of obedience. Training your dog can alleviate these problems, but it sometimes feels like your dog just won't learn. This article will provide some advice that will help make your dog a friend, not a foe.
Do not train your dog through fear of physical punishment. Teaching your dog to respect your commands and dominance will create a healthy and stable pet. Dogs learn to respect the pack leader in the wild by being dominated, not attacked. Physical punishment can lead to an irrational and often violent pet.
When training your dog, be sure to enforce every command you give. This helps your dog understand that they must listen to you when you give a command. If your dog learns to think that he can can ignore you when you give a command, it can be very difficult to correct this.
When training, find a verbal clue your pet can understand so they will know exactly when to do as you say. Even a simple monosyllabic spoken 'yes' can help the dog to connect the desired behavior with the imminent reward.
Take everything that your friends and family members say about your training program with a grain of salt. Everyone will have their own opinions about how you should help your pet learn to follow directions. Ignore most of it and do what you know is best for you and your pet.
If you are trying to prevent your dog from begging, the best thing to do is ignore the begging completely. Don't respond either positively, with a treat or petting, or negatively, by shouting. Your dog will learn quickly and remember for a long time that the begging ended up with you paying attention to the dog.
Do not train your dog when you are angry or stressed. Not only will you have less patience, but dogs are incredibly receptive to their owner's moods. By skipping training when you are not at your best, you can be sure when you do train, it will be much more effective.
Be mindful of exactly what behavior you are reinforcing, so stand your ground and don't give into your pet's persistence. A dog will generally repeat whatever action has previously earned him a reward. Thus, if you give a dog food so that it will stop begging at the table one night, you're only making the dog more inclined to beg for food again, the next night.
If you want to train your dog, you should wait until it is at least six weeks old. A younger dog will not understand what you are expecting, and not be able to control itself enough to obey your commands. The first weeks of your puppy's life should be about creating a bond with you.
Correcting your dog with a short, sharp and clear message will really get the point across. Too often people explain wrong doings to their dog in complete and complex sentences, leaving the animal completely perplexed. Be brief, firm and repeat the same phrase for the same bad behavior every time.
Not showering your dog with enough positive reinforcement when he does good, will reduce the power you have over him in training. Since dogs love attention, giving them plenty of it, provides him with incentive to listen to you. If all he ever hears from you is what not to do, he is not getting any encouragement, only discouragement, so be sure to reward him with praise often.
An easy way to stop a puppy from biting is to act hurt when he or she nibbles at you. By startling your puppy with a noise and leaving the room, your puppy begins to learn that biting has negative consequences in the form that you will stop playing with it.
Be consistent when training a canine. One way to ensure everyone in your household uses the same commands is to create an easily accessible list of the commands used to train your dog. Anyone needing to handle your dog should follow the same program, using reward for good behavior and taking care to never reward bad behavior. If other people are not following your training program, it can make your dog confused, which will set back your dog's training.
A dog is man's best friend, but many times it can feel as if it's the greatest rival. Properly training a dog is a necessity for getting the dog you want. The tips here will hopefully make sure that your dog is indeed a good friend and not a rival. It may take a lot of work, but heeding the advice will get rid of the bad aspects of the dog, keeping only the good ones.
When training your dog, be sure to enforce every command you give. This helps your dog understand that they must listen to you when you give a command. If your dog learns to think that he can can ignore you when you give a command, it can be very difficult to correct this.
When training, find a verbal clue your pet can understand so they will know exactly when to do as you say. Even a simple monosyllabic spoken 'yes' can help the dog to connect the desired behavior with the imminent reward.
Take everything that your friends and family members say about your training program with a grain of salt. Everyone will have their own opinions about how you should help your pet learn to follow directions. Ignore most of it and do what you know is best for you and your pet.
If you are trying to prevent your dog from begging, the best thing to do is ignore the begging completely. Don't respond either positively, with a treat or petting, or negatively, by shouting. Your dog will learn quickly and remember for a long time that the begging ended up with you paying attention to the dog.
Do not train your dog when you are angry or stressed. Not only will you have less patience, but dogs are incredibly receptive to their owner's moods. By skipping training when you are not at your best, you can be sure when you do train, it will be much more effective.
Be mindful of exactly what behavior you are reinforcing, so stand your ground and don't give into your pet's persistence. A dog will generally repeat whatever action has previously earned him a reward. Thus, if you give a dog food so that it will stop begging at the table one night, you're only making the dog more inclined to beg for food again, the next night.
If you want to train your dog, you should wait until it is at least six weeks old. A younger dog will not understand what you are expecting, and not be able to control itself enough to obey your commands. The first weeks of your puppy's life should be about creating a bond with you.
Correcting your dog with a short, sharp and clear message will really get the point across. Too often people explain wrong doings to their dog in complete and complex sentences, leaving the animal completely perplexed. Be brief, firm and repeat the same phrase for the same bad behavior every time.
An easy way to stop a puppy from biting is to act hurt when he or she nibbles at you. By startling your puppy with a noise and leaving the room, your puppy begins to learn that biting has negative consequences in the form that you will stop playing with it.
Be consistent when training a canine. One way to ensure everyone in your household uses the same commands is to create an easily accessible list of the commands used to train your dog. Anyone needing to handle your dog should follow the same program, using reward for good behavior and taking care to never reward bad behavior. If other people are not following your training program, it can make your dog confused, which will set back your dog's training.
A dog is man's best friend, but many times it can feel as if it's the greatest rival. Properly training a dog is a necessity for getting the dog you want. The tips here will hopefully make sure that your dog is indeed a good friend and not a rival. It may take a lot of work, but heeding the advice will get rid of the bad aspects of the dog, keeping only the good ones.