Too often, people bring a dog into their home without planning ahead. Owning a dog requires a firm commitment from you. You have to make sure that your dog is trained so that it will be properly behaved and will not cause any problems. Use the tips in the following article to train your dog.
Rewarding dogs properly and generously is the key to training. Dog treats must be plentiful and strategically timed. This is because dogs tend not to understand what it’s being rewarded for when they do not get it at the proper time.
Start with the easy stuff. 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. Doing this will give you better results in your training.
Among the initial commands a dog should learn is “leave it,” which instructs the dog to drop whatever it has and step away from it. Teaching them to “leave it” will stop them from destructive chewing and coming in contact with something that could potentially hurt them.
Try to find the triggers of your dogs barking to reduce this action. Whether your dog barks in response to other dogs, people, certain sounds or something else, it is important to habituate him to this circumstance. The key is teaching them that their triggers are nothing to fear.
Call your dogs name when speaking to him to keep him focused. Over time and repetition, the dog will begin to understand their name and that they are being spoken to. Choose a short name that is easily recognizable from other words.
You should be sure to respond positively when your dog does something good. Simple things like smiles, praise and even tiny treats help to reinforce the desired behaviors. Do not reward unwanted behavior.
When training your dog, it is important to remember to keep the training sessions relatively short. You should use at most 15 minutes for training. Any longer and the dog will become frustrated and will not respond correctly. Don’t forget to play with your pup as well.
You should make training fun for both you and your dog. Keep training sessions to more than 10 to 15 minutes to stay within your dogs’ attention span. The dog should be given ample rewards in various forms. Dogs get a kick of compliments and praise. The more enjoyable training is for your dog, the more he will look forward to it!
Be consistent when training a canine. Keep the commands simple to understand so that everyone can use them consistenly with your dog. Everyone must be commanding and responding to the dog in the same way for training to be successful. Having different people respond differently can confuse the dog and make training more difficult.
Learn your dog’s signals to help prevent accidents inside. Each dog has its own unique way of showing that it needs to relief itself. It is important to be observant and know your own dog’s signals. Being in sync with the natural tendencies of your dog will make house training much easier for both of you.
Don’t automatically assume that your dog will not bite you due to the fact that you are human and you are therefore the leader. Until you have established yourself as the pack leader, you dog may think that the position is his. Understanding the behavior that makes you an alpha will help the dog understand he needs to give deference to you as the leader. When your dog doesn’t understand your human behavior, even a calm dog can bite you.
Even if your dog has lived with you for a long time without being trained correctly, the ideas found above in this piece can help. An untrained dog can inadvertently injure someone simply because they do not know better.