Living with a poorly trained dog can prove to be a nightmare and lead to nothing but stress and anxiety. On the other hand, correct dog training advice will result in a well behaved pet which can bring years of pleasure and companionship.
Taking on the challenge of training your dog may seem, at first, a lot of hard work, but it's hard work that's well worth it to prevent the stress of trying to control a badly behaved dog.
It is not possible to give you a complete training schedule in this article but the dog training advice that follows should give you a step in the right direction which hopefully will encourage you to keep up the momentum and persevere with your training. Some of the tips may seem obvious but can be very easily overlooked. Other points may seem less obvious and should certainly be considered.
Before starting a dog training programme it is important to remember that your dog really does want to please you, even though at times it may not seem so. Until he is trained he won't know how to do this so won't always be aware that he is doing wrong.
Always keep training sessions short. A maximum of 15 minutes should be enough to teach your dog a single command. Stick to one command a day and always end on a positive note. Once your dog has responded to this command a couple of times then you should spend a bit of 'play time'. It is vital that your dog looks forward to your time together.
Patience is of the utmost importance. Don't try and train your dog after a hard day at the office. Your dog doesn't know you've had a hard day at the office but will pick up on your stress and anxiety. This will have a very detrimental effect on the training session.
It is important to remember that, hopefully, you're more intelligent than your dog. You may find repeating training exercises boring, but your dog will enjoy it. Repetition and consistency are vital to success. Even if your dog has learned a particular command, repeat it every day for a week so the command becomes second nature. Your dog will not find this boring but will enjoy the interaction and will know he is behaving the right way.
When training a dog, you may think that you're doing the right thing and end up getting frustrated as the training is not having the desired effect.
Picture the following scenario:
You look out of your kitchen window and see your dog digging up your newly planted roses. You open the door and ask him to 'come here' to which he doesn't respond, so you shout the same command. When he fails to respond again you go over to him, grab his collar and shout 'COME HERE' while yanking him away from your roses, and maybe giving him a smack. You have now made 'come here' to mean that you're in trouble and you're going to get punished. So next time you ask him to 'come here' you wonder why he runs the other way.
You had no intention of making the command a reason for your dog to be scared but it has happened and now you have the task of undoing the damage done. To change the meaning of a command will prove to be far harder than the initial teaching of a new command.
At the end of the day all dogs are different. Do take on as much dog training advice as possible but different dogs will react in different ways. Some will learn certain commands quicker but will take longer with others, so be prepared to have a certain amount of flexibility.
A well trained dog will show loyalty and companionship throughout their life, and to successfully train your dog will always be an immensely rewarding experience.
I have included a link below where you will find more dog training advice and, in fact, a complete dog training programme.
May I wish you every success with your training and I hope that you and your dog will have many years of happiness.
More Dog Training Advice
