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Dog Behavior Training - 5 Things Not To Do

Author: AdrianFletcher
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Dog obedience training is a crucial part of your relationship with your dog. A well trained dog is a credit to you as the owner and will give your pet confidence in social situations and help him fit into the structure of your family. So all dogs should receive some kind of training and many people opt to do it themselves. This makes sense from a financial sense as proper lessons can be expensive. It is also less of a commitment when you are doing the training yourself as you can do it when you want or at weekends. However many people are less than successful in the training partly because the inherent flexibility of doing it yourself equates to unfocused training or because they fail to do enough research into dog training methods. This article will list five common traps that people fall into when embarking on obedience training their dog.

1. As I suggested at the start, most people fail because they are not committed. I guess this is nothing new as lack of commitment in anything you decide to do will lead to poor results. Remaining committed is a constant process of refocusing on what initially motivated you and then remaining disciplined.

Reinforce in your mind what prompted you to want to obedience train your dog. Think of the pleasure you will receive from a deeper relationship with your animal than, say, playing ball with him. Take heart from the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your dog is less of a danger to himself and the wider community as a whole.

Committed also includes having the energy to learn. Find out more about your breed of dog. Investigate new training methods and determine what works well for your dog. Never stop learning about your pet or the breed of your dog. This will improve your relationship with him and give you inspiration when it comes to training.

2.Not being consistent. This will happen when you bore with teaching the same thing repeatedly and want to move onto something new. You have to go at your dogs pace, not yours. You have to consistently repeat the command until your pet has it down to a tee. Keep it simple and straightforward to begin. Importantly, you should never move onto another command until you know that the dog understands the one you are teaching. Your dog will also get bored at times so don't make your session too long.

3.Teaching commands with negative reinforcement as opposed to positive reinforcement. Never punish a dog for not doing a command or understanding what you want. Cruelty has not place in dog obedience training and it will confuse your pet. Pain is not a good teaching philosophy and will lead to worse behavioral problems than better. There is little doubt that positive reinforcement by giving treats and positive feedback to the dog is the best way to go. If you adopt this strategy, your dog will want to do things for you and enjoy the process, this will improve the training.

4.Not open to new ideas. Don't stick to one idea rigidly merely because it was recommended by the dog whisperer or some other celebrity. Always see techniques as a framework to follow or disregard according to results. Remember that dogs are as individual as humans and some will respond better to one technique than another. The more you work with your dog the more you will understand his preferred teaching methods.

5. Strive to get a balance between keeping the training interesting but stay consistent. Avoid making the training too predictable and dull. Think of things that can spice it up from time to time. This will always depend on how your dog responds to new environments but why not try moving to different locations for the training. Maybe try a touch of playing before the lesson begins and then keep the lesson short. Mix the peripheral things up but try to keep the core one command per lesson consistent.