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 Dog Obedience Training should be fun for you and your dog. The bonding between you and your dog is one of the best benefits for dog training. The second is you will learn how to teach your dog what you like and what you do not like. Your dog likes being your friend and likes to please you. Your relationship only grows as your dog learns and you will become less frustrated or irritated with your dog.
Commands
Commands are the words you use to give instructions to your dog. The command words you choose should be a one word command; like Sit, Come or Down. The command is Come not “come here” or Down not “lay down”. If you have more than one dog, use the dog’s name first; “Scout down”.
You must be consistent – use the same word every time. The whole family should agree on the command word or your dog will get confused and training will take longer.
Use a firm, pleasant tone when giving a command. Do not yell or whisper. Give the command once. Your dog hears you.
Hand signals are very effective with dogs. Many dogs respond better to a hand signal. This is probably because they study and understand body language and our language is not natural to a dog.
Be Fair & Consistent
To understand more about training a dog, it is helpful to think about how a mother dog or dam trains her pups. She is strict, fair and consistent. She grabs a muzzle and pinches it, gives it a quick shake by the scruff, pins it to the floor for a few seconds or maybe gives a quick bark to warn them to behave. She is swift in her correction and then all is forgiven.
She does not throw her pups outside. She doesn’t scream and yell. She does not hit them or beat them with the evening news. She does not call them over to reprimand them or rub their nose in a puddle on the floor. She also does not give them a lecture—her commands are one bark commands—short and simple.
If must reprimand your dog, grab the scruff, say “No” and release. Depending on the behavior, ignoring them may also work—just leave the room. Careful – do not grab a scruff of an aggressive dog or a dominant dog.
Consistency is important. If it is OK to chew on the newspaper today, then why is not OK tomorrow.
Praise & Treats
Dog training takes patience, practice and positive motivation. Little tasty treats and praise is a great reward to a dog for a job well done. Dogs learn quickly to repeat a behavior for a “good dog” and a treat. After a dog learns a behavior, you can occasionally give a command and no treat with success. As your dog becomes more successful and understands your Commands, treats will no longer be necessary, except during Training Class. Training with treats makes it fun and games, not work.
Treats come in all forms, but they must be small. Dogs prefer 10 little treats to one big treat. Dog food and dog bones do not make a good treat for training. Most dogs prefer treats to toys, but if your dog prefers a squeaky toy, then use the toy.
Gentle
Treat training does not mean biting, grabbing, nibbling or chewing your fingers. Pretend to cry if you are nipped. Say Gentle next time you offer a treat. Close your fist if they start to snatch the treat. Repeat until they take the treat with a soft mouth. You should never feel your dog's teeth. Remember it may be cute when a puppy is little, but it will not be cute when a pup grows up.
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