A Guide to Successful Obedience Training
By Jon Dunkerley (slaboflab) www.web-rover.com
Showing off your dog in front of friends and family is something that I personally
love to do. Having an obedient, happy slab of lab is like having an obedient happy
child. Have you ever been in a supermarket only to come across a screaming baby
and a blushing parent? I know I have, and my first reaction is to get as far away
from the disturbing scene as possible. I have also been in the undesirable situation
of being in public with an unobedient dog and I can say, I feel the pain of the
frantic parent!
The term "A happy dog is an obedient dog" is one that I really believe
holds a lot of merit due to its simplicity. If you have a relatively well behaved
dog, that interacts well with the family, it is fair to say that rarely will you
or anyone else in that family be angry or even worse abusive towards your pet.
On the other hand if your dog is not obedient to a satisfactory level, and does
not interact well with the family, one can say that members of that family will
have a hard time coping with the pet and this trend can only escalate only leading
to the eventual departure of the pet from the family.
When teaching your dog basic obedience, it is wize to make sure that you first
have an understanding of the art yourself. Like people, dogs have unique personalities
none of which are the same, and it is a good trainer that will take the time to
figure out the dog before trying to figure out how to best approach introducing
basic obedience. Furthermore, there are many external resources out there for
you to take advantage of in order to help you understand the art of training.
Books, articles, Obedience Instructors, and the Internet, are all reliable sources
that you should take advantage of when seeking advice, or just experiences from
others in your situation.
Below I have listed my top ten components to keep in mind when working with
your dog. I did not rank them, as they are all very important to keep in mind
as they will only aid you in bonding, understanding, and interacting positively
with your four-legged friend:
- Know what your doing! Before commensing any type of training, do your research
first! To offen, pet owners try to do all the work their way, get frustrated and
take out their frustrations on their pet. Having an understanding of the methodology
behind the many types of training, will benefit you to no end.
- Consistency! Being consistent with your approach is very important when
dealing with your dog in any aspect of life. When working with your dog try to
use the same approach each time. Changing training methods mid session for example
will only confuse your dog even more than he-she already is. Furthermore, set
up training time at least twice a day, and keep to these times. Training time
is important, the more sessions you set up the more productivity you can expect
in the long run.
- Keep your sessions short! The attention span of a dog is frail at the best
of times, thus it is crucial to keep the sessions short. Remember keep the sessions
short but do not sacrifice content. Rome was not built in a day.
- Keep training sessions fun! Dogs as do people, like to have fun, and why
shouldn¡¦t they? Training can be fun for you and your pet! Be lively,
treat good behavior, praise your dog to no end, make him feel like he is the best
dog in the world, even if he's not!
- Never punish your pet for what they don't know! To often, I have seen people
talk to their pet with the understanding that their beloved dog is a master of
the English language, only to punish them when the desired response is not carried
out. This really bothers me because it shows me that that person would rather
bully their pet into submitting than taking the time to research, develop and
implicate an approach to help the dog learn the desired response to certain words
or phrases. No Hungmay Kowaisa! Did you understand that? Well you would if
you researched the Korean language
Train to your dogs strength! As stated above every dog has its own unique
personality, therefore we must identify characteristics of our pets in order to
take advantage of them in our training sessions. If your pet is!ery lively, take
advantage of that! During training sessions, be lively yourself! Match your dogs
enthusiasm, when your happy, your pet will be happy and your pet will be!ery happy
come training time. If your dog has a laid back shy personality, take this into
account when training. Still be lively and upbeat as this will spark the interest
of your dog, however keep in mind that due to his/her personality, displaying
comprehention may take longer due to the shy nature of your dog. It is really
important to make a shy laid back dog feel super great during training sessions
as this can only improve your chances of continuing successful training.
- Incorporate training into your everyday routine ¡V It can be!ery beneficial
to perform individual obedience exercises through out the day. Simply by performing
the sit exercise while you brush him, or having the dog sit while you attach his
leash can help to imprint the sitting position. Keep little things like this in
mind as they can only aid you and your pet.
- Be patient ! Remember you are trying to teach your dog! Your dog is a non-english
speaking individual, lacking house manners, behavioral skills, courtesy, do I
need to continue?? Take your time, play to your dog's strength, praise, respect,
keep sessions short and compact, and have fun!
- Empithize with your dog! The best example I can think of for this suggestion,
is going to a foreign country and trying to comprehend what people are saying.
Somebody will come up to you and start rambling on in a foreign tongue and you
have no clue what they are saying. Your dog is in the same predicament with you.
When you start training your dog, he-she has no clue on earth what you are saying.
How is he-she supposed to respond if he-she doesn't know what you want? As in
the above example, the more time you spend in the foreign country, the more familiar
you become with the language. You can apply the same principle with your dog.
More training leads to more comprehention, leading to the end result, an obedient
dog.
- Reward good behaviour! The best way to reinforce good behaviour is to reward
it. Others may disagree with this statement, but through my experience with my
own dog and others around me, I have found that rewarding good behavior can only
aid in maintaining that behaviour. In my opinion, the best way of rewarding good
behaviour is through offering toys or treats. Praise is also worthy but would
you rather have an icecream cone, or a good handshake? I personally love icecream
and would pick that over a handshake anyday. Your dog is driven by his belly in
most cases, and you can achieve astonishing success by baiting your dog with the
occasional russle of the treat bag
About the author: Ron is the CTO for Dice Ventures Inc an Internet holdings
and development company. Some current projects include a hosting forum and a Linux
forum.
The Commands That Every Dog Owner Should Know And How This Will Lead To A
Happy, Clean And Obedient Dog That Will Not Cause Problems
There are of course many reasons for owners to want a calm, obedient and faithful
dog. For one thing, obedient and trained dogs are happier dogs, less likely to
get into tussles with people or with other dogs. Another reason is that many communities
require that the dogs living in their neighborhoods be well trained. This is especially
true for many breeds thought to have aggression and behavior problems - dog breeds
like pit bulls and rottweilers for instance.
And of course, training your dog well will also make he or she a much better
family companion, especially in households where there are young children. Many
studies have shown that proper dog training makes a big impact when it comes to
cutting down the number of dog bits and other behavior problems encountered by
dog owning households.When considering training your own dog, or having someone
else help you train it, there are certain basic commands that must be mastered
in order for a dog to be considered truly trained. These basic commands include:
* Heel - it is important that any dog learn to walk beside its owner on a loose
lead, neither pulling ahead nor lagging behind
* Respond to the word No - the word no is one word that all dogs must learn. Training
your dog to respond to this important word can save you a ton of trouble.
* Sit - Training your dog to sit on command is a vital part of any dog training
program.
* Stay - A well trained dog should remain where his or her owner commands, so
stay is a very important command in dog training.
* Down - Lying down on command is more than just a cute trick; it is a key component
of any successful dog training program.
* Off - Forms the basis for later training, especially when training the dog not
to chase people, cars, bikes, cats, etc.
Dog training does much more than just create an obedient, willing companion.
Training your dog properly actually strengthens the bond that already exists between
dog and handler. Dogs are pack animals, and they look to their pack leader to
tell them what to do. The key to successful dog training is to set yourself up
as that pack leader. Establishing yourself as pack leader is a very important
concept for any potential dog trainer to understand. There is only one leader
in every pack of dogs, and the owner must establish him or herself as the dominant
animal. Failure to do so leads to all manner of behavior problems.
A properly trained dog will respond properly to all the owner's commands, and
will not display anxiety, displeasure or confusion. A good dog training program
will focus on allowing the dog to learn just what is expected of it, and will
use positive reinforcement to reward desired behaviors.In addition to making the
dog a good member of the community, obedience training is a great way to fulfill
some of the dog's own needs, including the need for exercise, the security that
comes with knowing what is expected of it, a feeling of accomplishment and a good
working relationship with its handler. Dog training gives the dog an important
job to do, and an important goal to reach.
Giving the dog a job is more important than you may think. Dogs were originally
bred by humans to do important work, such as herding sheep, guarding property
and protecting people. Many dogs today have no important job to do, and this can
often lead to boredom and neurotic behavior. Basic obedience training, and ongoing
training sessions, provide the dog with an important job to do. This is especially
important for high energy breeds like German shepherds and border collies. Training
sessions are a great way for these high energy dogs to use up their extra energy
and simply to enjoy themselves. Incorporating playtime into your dog training
sessions is a great way to prevent both yourself and your dog from becoming bored.
Playing with your dog helps to strengthen the all important bond between you -
the pack leader - and your dog.
About the author: Discover How You Can Train Your Dog With Immediate Effective
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