Dog Obedience Training – Tips to Create Great Bonding Moments
- Carplips / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND
Introduction
Dog obedience training is one of the best things that you can give for your loving pet and yourself. Dogs are social animals and without proper obedience training they will just behave like animals. Obedience training is nothing but simply training your pet dog to be obedient and well-behaved. This type of training is considered highly essential in order to teach dogs to learn basic commands, manners, and socialization skills. Obedience courses basically teach dogs basic commands like sit, stand, heel, lie down, and how to interact with other dogs and other people. Proper training does not solve just behavioral problems but lays a strong foundation for solving just about any type of problem.
Importance of Obedience Training for Your Dogs
Obedience training is considered to be a vital aspect as it lays the foundation for solving many other behavioral problems. To actually realize and feel the importance of proper obedience training one should take a look at the consequences of excluding it from your dog’s life – excessive barking, chewing, aggression, and most dangerous of all, biting. Untrained dogs will also soil your house, destroy your belongings, dig holes in the yard, and fight with other dogs. Obedience training opens up a line of communication between you and your dog. Training is important to establish a connection in helping you and your dog to relate to each other and thereby make living together fun and enjoyable. Yes, this special training not only teaches your dog to just sit and stay, but it establishes a positive interaction between you and your dog.
Essential Tips for Dog Obedience Training
Dog training is quite an intimidating and challenging task. It requires immense patience to overcome the difficulties that you may encounter during the training sessions. Dog training can be done at home or you can enroll your dog in an obedience training class. Before initiating dog obedience training, do some research and understand your dog’s behavior.
1. The first and foremost thing to consider is you should never rush the process. Proceed to the next step of training only when your pet has mastered the first one.
2. Begin the training in a place that is familiar to your dog with the least amount of distractions.
3. Start with the basic commands like sit, stand, come, heel, and lie down before proceeding to advanced commands. Use the commands frequently so that your dog will get acquainted with them and remember them well.
4. Special breeds have special traits. Hence, concentrate on honing these unique skills and capabilities as you advance through.
5. Positive reinforcement is an effective training method. Instead of punishing your dog for bad behavior, reward it when it complies with your commands correctly. Punishment only triggers violent or fearful responses and causes dogs to go into “animal” mode. Yes, punishment rarely works well–hence, praise your dog for his good behavior. If you don’t like a behavior, take rewards away. Clicker training is considered as the best way to teach your dog using positive reinforcement.
6. Keep the training sessions short so that your dog will be more attentive and engaged. Too long a session may make your dog lose interest in the training. Remember, their attention span is short and they become tired easily. Hence, keep training short and sweet.
7. Make sure to set a dog training routine for your dog. This will enable your dog to know the difference between play time and work time.
8. Patience is very important in teaching your dog to do what you want. Be very patient even when inevitable setbacks occur. Do not over train your dog and also expect it to learn very quickly. Never force your dog to obey instantly.
9. Make sure your dog is in a good physical condition and well hydrated before starting every session.
10. Never be overly strict with your dog but instead be very understanding that learning takes time.
11. Motivating your dog and praising him by giving his favorite toy or food is an effective approach towards good dog obedience training.
Conclusion
If you learn and apply the above basic tips, dog obedience training can be a fun and rewarding experience for you and your dog. The right type of approach will definitely develop a lasting mutual bond between you and your pet dog. With perseverance and positivity, the training process will be more enjoyable for both you and your dog.