Make sure you walk your dog and do not let your dog walk you! This article can help you learn about dog training techniques that every owner should know.
Put yourself in your dog’s proverbial shoes, or paws, rather. You need to exercise patience with your pet, even if you think he should be learning at a faster rate. You should never give up on them, try looking at it from your dog’s vantage point. This allows you to gain more insight into what is most likely to work and what should be avoided.
Dogs have great focus and can focus on one thing, ignoring everything else, until something breaks their attention. When a command is reinforced properly and often enough, your dog will begin to shift his focus from the distractions around to you in order to wait for your signal.
Shock Collars
Do not use shock collars and similar training devices. Often times, they do not work and are over priced. Plus, using shock collars could discourage your dog in having good behavior. Trying things akin to this will only cause harm to your relationship with your dog.
Start small when you begin to work on training your dog to give your dog an easy start. Not only will you get the instant gratification of your success, but also your dog will gain the important foundation of what an acceptable trick or behavior is. You’ll have better results this way.
Start by teaching your puppy his name. Always refer to your dog by his name, and begin teaching him to come anytime it is called. His name should be the first word he learns. Spend a lot of time with your new puppy, so he will learn how to gain trust in you. This will help them become more receptive to harder training later.
Don’t give your dog too many treats as rewards, or he might start adding too many pounds. A lot of pet owners don’t think about how much weight their dogs can put on with treats.
Good dog grooming habits can assist you in training your dog. Some breeds need very little grooming, while others need to be groomed meticulously every week. This will keep your dog fresh and reduce the chance of illness.
Remember, each action you perform around your dog affects who he is. Realize that you could very well sabotage your own training efforts with innocent activities such as rough-housing. Work on commands at all times to keep them learning the right behaviors.
You should use the name of your dog as a positive reinforcement more often than you use it as a reprimand. Your dog should know that you can call their name when they are happy and mad so they are not always afraid of coming when they hear their name.
More often than not, dogs bite out of fear more than anything else. It is a natural reaction to the dog perceiving a threat. Do not ever forcefully train your dog. If you do this, you can form bad relations with your animal, and you can even be bitten. A dog that respects you will obey you.
Ball Directly
When teaching a dog to fetch, make sure to establish your role as the leader by having him/her bring the ball directly to you each time. If your dog just lays the ball down, they will think they are in control. Your dog will understand his expectations if he must always bring the ball directly to you.
“Shake-can” training can be very effective. Put the coins in an emptied cola before sealing it. Shake the can whenever your dog misbehaves. The dog will be startled and will stop doing whatever it is he’s doing. After using this method several times, your pet will begin to realize you find his behavior unacceptable. Do not shake the can multiple times or he will become desensitized to it.
Your dog’s brain also need to exercise. Dog puzzles are a great way to stimulate brain development in dogs. There are puzzle toys of all different types, so choose one that will appeal to your dog’s individual strengths.
If you are thinking of hiring an animal specialist, be sure that you check their reputation and interview them thoroughly. Animal behavior professionals have differing opinions on what correctly training a dog entails, so you should make sure that your trainer is in line with your own ideology before using their techniques with your dog!
If bad behavior suddenly starts, take your dog to a vet to eliminate health problems as the cause. Sometimes pain and other health conditions can cause some animals to act strangely or lash out. Since dogs cannot communicate verbally, a change in behavior might be a sign that something is wrong.
Try to be realistic when you are trying to change a behavior that your dog has done for a long time. If your dog has been allowed to exhibit bad behaviors for a long time, it will be hard to correct those behaviors. It is much easier to address issues when dogs are still young.
Don’t just give your dog treats during training, learn to make use of positive reinforcement as well. Treats are effective for teaching proper behaviors. You probably do not carry treats with you 365 days a year when you are not in an “official” training session. To solve this problem, integrate attention in the form of patting or cuddling into your training routine. This can replace treats in some cases.
If you want to train your dog to complete complex tasks, divide that task into steps to teach him. A good thing to teach your dog to do is to get the paper in the morning. First, he needs to learn to hold an object. Then the dog needs to begin learning to go for the object when given the name as a command. After this, teach him to pick the object up. The last step is to train him to bring the object to you. Do not be weak when it comes to training your dog. They will see this and take advantage of it.
If you are uninformed about canine training, you could feel overwhelmed. Hopefully you now feel more confident about training your dog since reading this article.