Train Your Dog

When understanding how to train a dog, you need to understand the reasons behind your dog’s specific behaviors. Dogs are not like humans, and may demonstrate behavior that is “bad” when not properly trained. To avoid this, it’s important to know how to train your dog properly and professionally. Here is a general guide to help familiarize you with the process of dog training, and the methods you can use to understand how to train a dog.
Socialize Your Dog
Many people fail to realize that an important part of understanding how to train a dog involves socialization. Socialization is just as much a part of dog training as obedience-related commands. The concept of socialization is fairly simple: expose your dog to as many situations, events and environments as possible. Dogs that are not properly socialized at a young age will tend to be fearful of new situations, which may cause aggressive or defensive behavior. This is also one of the most important concepts to understand about how to train a puppy, since puppies will be the most open to a socialization dog training program.
To socialize your dog, begin by first making it a point to bring them outside of the house each day. Take them for walks in areas with a lot of people, such as a park or crowded street. Make sure your dog is well-behaved enough so that they can interact in these environments without getting excited. It’s best to do this when your dog is still a puppy, since they are more prone to being open to new experiences. The concept of “how to train a dog” involves the willingness to expose your dog to new activities.
How to Train a Puppy
Apart from socializing a puppy with the outside world, it’s also very important to start a home puppy training program as soon as your puppy becomes a member of your household. Puppies are open to learning new things, and will respond best if you begin establishing their role at an early age. When understanding how to train a puppy, it’s important that you are extremely patient. Not all puppies are able to understand commands right away, and may require some time to become acquainted with their new home.
Spend at least 4 hours with your puppy each day, though this time should not be dedicated entirely to training. Take your puppy out into the yard, engaging in healthy outdoor playtime. You can also help expend some of their seemingly limitless energy by taking a quick jog around the yard, while having them harnessed on a leash. When understanding how to train a dog, it’s important that you are first familiar with how to train a puppy.
Generally speaking, there are two ways to get your dog to do what you want. The first is through the use of punishment. The second is through the use of positive dog training. Positive Training is the most effective and intelligent method to train a dog. Still you should know about punishment to improve your dog’s performance.
Punishment
Punishments implant fear in your dog. This can lead to aggression and other behavior problems. Also, punishment as a training method is not usually effective as the dog needs to learn correct behavior as much as he needs to learn what you consider inappropriate behavior.
Positive Dog Training
Positive dog training puts the spotlight on the things your dog does right, and it is the most effective way to train your dog. Positive dog training is quite simple and can be broken down to include just two techniques: ignoring bad behavior and rewarding good behavior.
There are many situations in which you should ignore bad behavior. Of course, this doesn’t apply to every situation, but for training in many areas, such as, barking, begging, ignoring the bad behavior is very effective.
Ignore Bad Behavior
Many pet owners make the mistake of unintentionally rewarding bad behavior. For example, your dog jumps all over when you walk in the door, so you pet him and talk to him. After all, you’re as happy to see him at the end of a long day as he is to see you. The problem is that now your dog associates jumping with getting attention.
Even if you yell at a dog (which you should never do) some dogs may still think that is positive. To many dogs any attention is good attention.
What you need to do instead is ignore the bad behavior. Of course, you can still say “NO” when your dog is misbehaving. But you should say “NO” and then move on.
Are you trying to train your dog not to bark or whine? Then don’t keep talking to him when he is barking or whining. Just completely ignore him when he is making noise. As soon as he quiets down, pay attention to him. He will begin to associate being quiet with getting what he wants.
If the dog jumps on you when you walk through the door, simply cross your arms and turn away from the dog. Say “sit”, and if he complies THEN pet him. If he does not, simply walk away.
Reward Good Behavior
When your dog does something right, such as obeying a command, going to the bathroom outside or waiting patiently for you to let him out of his crate, go overboard with the praise. Do whatever you can to make it well worth your dog’s while to behave.
By rewarding good behavior, you are doing more than just teaching him what he should NOT do. You are also using positive dog training to show him what he SHOULD do.
Another problem with punishing your dog is that they often have no idea what the punishment is all about. This isn’t to say that you should never let your dog know when his behavior is inappropriate, but there are many times when ignoring the bad behavior is the way to go.
Positive dog training teaches your dog self-confidence and helps to build a bond of trust between the owner and their pet. Practice positive training, and see just how quickly you get the results you desire.
How to Train a Dog – Playtime
Another important part of understanding how to train a dog involves being willing to engage in playtime. Just like humans, dogs need some time to play and relax. In order to make obedience training more effective, you need to understand that knowing how to train a dog will also require you to designate a period of time each day to playing with your dog. Having this time to relax with your dog will not only teach you how to train your dog more effectively, it can help you to de-stress as well.