With the right information and a patient attitude, training your dog can be enjoyable for both of you. When you see how well your dog is learning the new commands, it will become fun, and you will both look forward to lessons. Also, knowing the basic commands like Come, Sit, Stay, and Heel will help keep your dog safe in dangerous situations, such as around traffic or strangers.
Make one person responsible for training your pet. This is important because the dog will find it easiest to become familiar with one person and their training methods because of the consistency of the training method. All the people that share a dwelling with the animal need to know that they must follow the training formula of the head trainer. When kids assist, they’ll need to be supervised, hopefully by the chief trainer.
Sessions should be less than 15 minutes long, because of a dogs shorter attention span. Sessions can be 10-15 minutes long every day, or every other day. If you’ve had a bad day or don’t feel very patient, it’s probably best to skip a session, since you won’t be at your best.
For fastest results, blend the commands you’ve been working on into the dogs daily life. For example, if you’ve covered the Sit command, try using that throughout the day. Remember to reward your pooch every time he displays the correct behaviour.
When using food rewards, make sure that training stints are before mealtimes (the dogs) so that he’s hungry and inspired to act.
To help your dog focus on learning the new command, start the training with little to distract him. Make yourself the most interesting thing in the room by getting rid of potential interruptions. Be alone with your dog, in a quiet room. Add some distractions after she masters the command, such as having other people in the room.
After she’s demonstrated proficiency with the new commands, reinforce them using your body in different positions, then in other rooms of your house, and finally in the park with a leash. Verbalize the new commands while she is on your left or right, and with you standing and sitting. She will soon realize that no matter where you both are, or what your body language is, you want her to do the same thing each time. It’s crucial to reward her every time that she’s successful with the command. Don’t react when she is unsuccessful.
If your dog isn’t a puppy, don’t despair. Older dogs frequently have longer attention spans than puppies, letting him learn faster and easier. This will balance out the fact that he may have had previous training that was less than ideal, that will need to be unlearned.
Previous training could cause her to link a certain behaviour with the command word that you’re using. Maybe your dog is having trouble grasping what response you want for the word Come, use the same training sequence using Here, instead.
It’s normal to need to regress a step or two in the training regimen, when moving to a new location, being in a new situation, or using different body language. Your dog has many ways to be distracted, and he is learning to focus on your command, and remember what it means, and then perform it.
8 Fantastic Dog Training Tips:
* Make one person the primary trainer
* 15 minutes of lessons every day, or every second day
* Using food rewards? Train before dogs mealtime
* Use food reward, but train before mealtimes (the dogs, not yours!)
* After mastering the command, change body language, change location, utilize distractions
* Regress a step or two in the training regimen if she seems to have forgotten the command
* Previously trained dog? Be prepared to substitute command words
* Substitute command words for adult or previously trained dogs
Who’s a good dog?
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How to train a dog for great behaviour in less than 30 days!
