The Earlier You Start The Training Of Your Puppy The Better
The Earlier You Start The Training Of Your Puppy The Better
If you take the time to train your dog the essentials, you are building a foundation for a lifelong enjoyable relationship with your pet. You can even teach an old dog a few new tricks with the right strategy. Here are a few neat dog training pointers.
Dog owners can find great value in being affectionate toward their pets. Positive reinforcement has been proven to work better in a training situation than negativity. Dogs are social beings and love praise. Your efforts will go a long way toward improving future training sessions as well.
Dogs benefit from being trained to respond not just to verbal commands but also to the body language of their owner. Consider, for example, a dog that is approaching its owner from across a busy highway. The dog who is trained to stay in response to the proper hand motion will be more likely to survive this experience than the dog trained only to verbal commands.
If your otherwise well-behaved and housebroken dog starts exhibiting poor behaviors, such as urinating indoors, take it to a vet to rule out any medical problems. Many medical issues can cause a dog to act out. Don't punish your sick dog for showing you that it is sick; help it.
Most dogs respond better to positive reinforcement rather than negative punishment. If you're trying to train your dog, reward him for good behavior and only scold him if absolutely necessary. Your dog will remember the reward for good behavior more distinctly than the punishment for bad behavior, making rewarding more effective.
Some training techniques advise that you give your dog a treat as a reward for good performance. This is a great method, but be sure you're not giving your dog a treat every time they perform the task. If you do, they come to expect the treat each time and when you stop with the treats, the obedience stops as well. Instead give the dog a treat randomly so that they don't begin to expect when they get a treat.
Any dog you adopt should go through at least a basic obedience class with a professional. The skills you can learn from a professional course will more than outweigh the cost of the course. Also, a course gives you and your dog a chance to socialize with other dogs and their owners.
If your dog is digging up your yard, they may be bored. The biggest cause of destructive behavior in dogs is boredom. Simply putting them out in a back yard does not necessarily mean they are getting exercise. Try making sure they have some activity by taking them for long walks, or if you must stay home, a long game of fetch. Your dog will be too tired out to bother digging.
When your dog understands the benefits and rewards of learning the tricks you teach it, the desire to learn is often as rewarding as the reward itself. Your dog will be happier, and so will you.