How cool is having a dog that does tricks like roll over, sit or stay? It would be neat to be able to effortlessly buy one from the pet store who is already well-trained and disciplined, right? But it isn’t that easy. Dog training is one of your responsibilities as the owner. Don’t worry! Training your new puppy will be as fun and exciting -- or even more -- as having one that already knows every trick in the book.
A few good things that you will gain when you do the training by yourself are your dog’s trust and loyalty. As you go along the process, you will have a closer relationship with your dog. Dog training is all about the communication and building on the trust that you have. This will be a learning experience, not only for your dog, but also for you as her trainer.
The road towards having your dog trained will definitely be long and difficult. You should both be ready for all the challenges that you’re going to face. And in the process, enjoy what you’re doing. Together, both of you will reach your goals and reap the fruits of your labor. Remember to have a break regularly to save yourselves from getting too tired.
There are 8 commonly tackled areas in the process of dog training; namely:
Training your dog is a long and gradual process. It would be a good idea to start the training while she is still a puppy. Although older dogs are still trainable, tendency is that they have already developed bad habits -- that would probably be hard for you to get rid of.
Basically, what you are doing in dog training is nurturing her innate skills and embedding acceptable habits in her. Rewarding your dog for doing a good job would be a good trick to apply on your training. This will make her feel that she is doing a desirable action when she is rewarded.
As the trainer, you should first equip yourself with the right dog training practices to apply to your dog. Some say that it takes a longer time for humans to become familiar with the concept of dog training than for their dogs to actually become well-trained. So don’t give up if things don’t go too well at the beginning. You just have to put some of your time, effort, and passion into it, for everyone’s benefit.
In training your dog, you need to be patient. Harsh means of teaching her won’t be of help. This will only delay your progress. Dogs get stressed out and distracted too, so make sure you give her enough rest, and resume training when both of are good to go.
Consistency is also very important. If you give treats to your dog if she does something good, make sure to do it every time she does. If you don’t, this will only confuse your dog and give her a difficult time in associating the action to the reward. This will make the process longer and harder for both of you.
Most trainers today use a positive approach to their training. Instead of punishing the dog for her bad action, they give rewards for the good ones. You just have to remember that your goal is to train your dog to obey your commands even without the treats. What you can do to achieve this is to train her without letting her know there is a reward at stake if she completes the task.
There are also electronic training collars for you to use in teaching your dog. These devices can be useful when enhancing her agility, hunting skills, and obedience. This could also be used to train your dog not to bark. Although these collars deliver shocks to your dog, it will not harm her when used correctly.
Dog training is a way of getting closer to your dog and spending quality time together; thus, you should always know where to draw the line between a good training and an abusive one. Make this experience a fun and memorable one for you and your dog.
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