When training a dog, you may become easily frustrated or have completely no idea where to start with the process. Even worse, it’s not like your new dog comes with any type of training manual for you to read and learn how to quickly communicate with them. Obedience training takes time and patience and some of us just might not have. This can get even worse if you’re in the dark about what you’re supposed to do with your new dog. This article will help you figure out how to properly train your dog and prepare them to properly act in front of you and others.
Why is obedience training important?
Obedience training can be the difference between some people keeping their pet or not. An untrained dog can end up causing all sorts of problems in an owner’s daily life. Without your dog being trained, they may never respect you as their owner. This means that they’re going to do whatever they want whenever they want without much remorse for doing so. Obedience isn’t just teaching your dog to sit when you want it to, it goes into their base behavior as well.
If you don’t properly train your dog, it can lead to problems with socializing later on. This can make it hard to take your pet out to places like a dog park to play and get exercise. You may find that your untrained pet is more willing to run away from you. Dogs have a bad tendency to follow their nose or run after something they think is exciting. If your dog isn’t trying to listen to you then they’re not going to stop once they start chasing whatever has their interests. Things can cost you a lot of time and money as you’re going to have to go out and look for your dog and if things get bad enough, your dog could even be impounded to where you have to pay a fee to get them out.
Treat Training
One of the best possible types of training, in my opinion, treats or reward. The best training leans heavily on positive stimuli to guide your dog and her being a proper companion. This generally works for most styles but in harder cases, you may need to get a trainer. This is to make your dog associate rewards for doing certain tasks. For example, if your dog comes back to you when you call then you can give them a treat or scratch them in their favorite place. After doing this enough times, your dog will learn that by doing favorable actions for you, they will be rewarded in some form or fashion.
With this training, there is generally no scolding or negative consequences for actions other than withholding treats or affection. By doing this, your dog learns that by performing certain actions such as listening to you when you call, they can get rewarded for it. On a physical level, the brain will even release dopamine every time they do the action after a while, giving them a sense of reward outside of your attention. Depending on the breed of dog, this can either be extremely fast-paced process or a long one. You also have to have lots of patience and plenty of the timing in order to get the treat into your dog’s mouth at the proper time. It’s a little bit of a waiting game to get this type of training to work, but it’s totally worth it if you can.
Kennel Training
Another popular form of training is using a dog kennel as punishment when your dog has done something wrong. Most people use this to do things like housebreak their dog or put their dog in timeout when they perform an unwanted action. This can help with dogs that have frequent accidents in the house and have refused to stop even when corrective action is taken. This can also be used for younger puppies to help housebreak them fast. To do this, simply put your dog in the kennel whenever they perform an unwanted action and leave them in there for a set amount of time. It’s extremely important that the dog is not left for an extremely long amount of time that could cause some health issues.
With this training, you also need to make sure that the kennel is big enough for them to move around in. While this is a partial way to train your dog, you still don’t want to make them completely immobile in their kennel. You just want to cut them off from things that they want to do, like a child. By doing this you would teach them that when they perform a certain action they get put up and don’t get to spend time in their favorite places. With any luck, the dog will learn that punishment follows negative actions and stop doing them.
Important Notes
Dogs are not like humans. If you punish them for something they did a while ago or over 20 minutes ago, then you’re not going to teach me anything. Dog’s brains aren’t going to automatically associate the action you’re punishing them for with the punishment. Even if you punish them for the same thing time and time again, if you wait to punish them, they’re going to associate whatever they were just doing as what they are being punished for. This means when you come home and your house is a wreck, it’s going to do absolutely no good to take immediate action. Instead, you’re going to have to wait to catch them in the act and then punish them
Also, you should never get physical with any animal no matter what they have done. Physical violence can send your dog into a defensive stance and cause them to attack you even if they’re docile. If they don’t turn violent then they will turn extremely timid and may even hide from you rather than ever learning anything. Even doing things such as dragging an animal around or trying to forcibly move them can be seen as negative actions in your pet’s eyes. Always train them gently and if you have any questions about training ask your trainer or your vet.
