In this dog training tips article I am going to teach you the 5 most important things that you need to know and understand as a dog owner. Dogs are more like humans than you might think.
Dogs learn in the same ways that human children do…through repetition Dog behavior training Houston. So wouldn’t it make sense that some of the same methods that we use for children would work for out dogs as well?
Dog Training Tips for the Dog Owner
1 – Persistence & Consistency – Every thing that you train your dog to do and its success are tied directly to persistency and consistency.
Corrections must be made immediately and every time. If getting on the furniture is not allowed, you as a responsible dog owner must enforce this all of the time.
This is the most important step and is the best of the dog training tips that I will ever give you. If you can’t master this one then you will never train your dog.
2 – Discipline – The key to using discipline is to know exactly when to administer it.
Though dogs are intelligent their reasoning power is limited. If you catch your dog going to the bathroom in the house you should discipline him immediately.
However, if you find a pile of poop, even though you know the dog did it, you cannot discipline him now. If you discipline a dog after he has done something he has no idea why you are doing it.
Suppose you find a pile that has been there for 10 minutes, so you call your dog over. He comes wagging his tail happily, and then you discipline him for pooping. You just gave him negative reinforcement for pooping, but in his mind you are doing it for coming to you.
3 – Learn Everything You Can – Unless you have successfully trained a dog in the past I suggest that you learn everything that you can from a professional trainer. Even if you have trained a dog in the past, did you do it correctly?
Learning the easy methods will make it much easier on both you and your dog.
4 – Rewards – I put rewards in the top five dog training tips because rewards need some explaining. A reward does not always have to be food. In fact, most of your rewards should be in the form of praise and affection.
Food rewards are fine when you are teaching your dog something for the first time. But once he understands and is responding immediately start switching to praise and affection alone.
5 – Training Sessions – For maximum success you should keep your training sessions short, just a few minutes at a time for puppies, and 10 – 15 minutes for adult dogs.
When many owners decide to train a dog they want it to be a boot camp type thing. When your dogs attention starts to become distracted its time to take a break.