Dog Obedience Training is effective only if you do it the right way. Else, it can even be very stressful for your dog. The way your dog responds to the obedience training very much depends on the way you are carrying out your training. It is therefore very important to understand the right way to train your dog.
Training your Dog the right way:
First thing you need to focus on while training your dog is to develop a healthy relationship with your dog in your household. As you start working on this, you can use various techniques to train your dog. Some of these include:
• Dog whispering
• Clicker Training
• Positive reinforcement
• Collar and Leash Training
• Reward Training
• Marker Training
You can either do this by yourself or hire a professional dog trainer who can make your job a whole lot easier. Whatever you choose to do, you need to first set a few goals.
• You need to first establish excellent communication with your dog
• Then you need to strengthen your bond with your dog
• You need to commit yourself to spend some amount of quality time with your dog
Advantages of Dog Obedience Training:
• Training your dog will help in resolving almost all behavioral problems of your dog such as chewing up furniture or shoes, excessive barking, digging up your yard, jumping up on people and your dog walking you instead of the other way round
• It helps in establishing rules that will teach your dog to control his behavior so as to be accepted as a respectable member of your household
• It will make sure your dog behaves appropriately at any given place or time
• It will help you enjoy the company of your dog
• It will help in predicting your dog’s behavior so that you are free of your worries while walking your dog
Apart from this, dog obedience training provides many benefits to your dog too.
• Your dog is going to have a lot of fun during the training sessions
• It enables you in eliminating the confusions of your dog and making his life simple
• This gives more freedom to your dog. You can easily leave him alone and unsupervised when you have to go out for a while
• Your dog will be happy and confident at all times
• Your dog gets better and faster in learning newer skills
• Your dog starts behaving better in the presence of other animals
Dog obedience training is going to take some time and will need all your patience. Yet, all your efforts would be worthwhile once he is trained well. It would give you maximum satisfaction to train your dog all by yourself. However, if you don’t have that kind of time or patience, you can do better by hiring a professional dog trainer to do it for you. Even if this means you may have to spend some money, it will keep you free from many worries that may be inevitable if you do not go ahead with the training.
Remember to reward your dog each time he does something good or displays positive behavior. At the same time you will have to punish him for bad behavior; else he may never come out of it. This will be a totally new experience for you and your dog; and it is going to be a whole lot of fun. Here are a few dos and Don’ts that will help you train your dog without making any mistakes:
Dos:
• Always focus on your dog while training him
• Be honest with your dog at all times.
• Every time you use a command have your goal in mind
• Reward your dog lavishly and immediately when he completes a task that you have set for him
• Always be consistent in the words you use and in the tone of the voice that you use
• Always think ahead. Try and anticipate the actions of your dog before he makes a move.
• Go one step at a time and teach him only one command at a time. More than this might confuse him.
• Give him time to understand your command and take action. Delay in obeying your command does not necessarily mean disobedience.
• Enjoy the company of your dog. Play with him before and after the session so that he starts associating training with companionship.
• Be patient and kind
Don'ts:
• Don’t pamper your dog too much and don’t allow others to go over the board with the pampering
• Never end a training session with a bad note
• Never punish him just because you are angry
• Never lose your temper during training
• Don’t overuse any command to make your dog execute it. Give him time to understand
• Don’t let anyone else command your dog when you are training him
These may not be all; yet, they will guide you in the right direction while training your dog. In case you find any kind of difficulty it is always better to consult a professional dog trainer.