Dog Training Ideas

Have Fido Acting His Best With These Dog Training Ideas

If you take the time to train your dog the essentials, you are building a foundation for a lifelong enjoyable relationship with your pet. You can even teach an old dog a few new tricks with the right strategy. Here are a few neat dog training pointers.

Dogs should continue to be trained throughout their lives. Many owners think that once a dog is trained, he's trained forever. This simply isn't true. Daily reinforcement by reminding your dog of simple commands, exposing him to new people and providing positive reinforcement is important. This will keep your dog well behaved and allow him to remain a happy member of the family.

Dog training sessions should occur at the same time each day, if possible. Dogs, much like children, can thrive on a set schedule. This pattern will promote a learning environment in which your dog is eager to learn at the given time. Sporadic training causes confusion within your pet and can prolong the training.

As your dog progresses, you won't need to exert so much control. Balancing obedience and liberty make dogs feel very satisfied. Don't give too much at any one time, of course, or it could take your training back a step.

Go through the door before your dog, eat your own dinner first and always make sure that you win tug-of-war, by taking away the toy when you're done. This all asserts that you are the pack leader and your dog is subordinate. This will help curb other obedience problems and help in other aspects of training because your dog realizes that he MUST do what you say. It's how he's hard-wired.

When you get a new puppy, the best way to train it is to remove the temptation to behave badly in the first place. For example, if you have a puppy that is inclined to chew on shoes, store all of the shoes in the house out of reach of the dog. This way, the behavior doesn't have to be trained out of the dog later.

Consider moving your voice up or down in a specific manner associated with individual commands, to help your dog remember them better. Dogs are fantastic at understanding pitch differences, even more than understanding the sounds of the words. So if you alter your voice slightly when you say a certain command, the dog will be more likely to remember what to do.

The best way to crate train an adult dog is to allow the dog to train himself. Put the crate in a quiet room with a comfortable blanket and a favorite toy inside and leave the dog alone in the room with the crate. This way, the dog learns that the crate isn't something to be afraid of.

Dogs usually respond well to physical rewards when being trained. Almost all dogs have an extremely large capacity for love. That makes them respond very well to rewards like belly scratching, back petting and brushing. Your dog wants to be loved and greatly appreciates you giving him affection. Show your happiness with his success this way.

When you discipline your dog, your tone is an important factor. Dogs are very good at responding to perceived emotions of their trainers. An adequate stern tone can help reinforce their discipline.

A good tip when training your dog is to take your dog outside for a walk if you notice him digging. It's pretty common for dogs to dig when they're bored and anxious, and getting a little exercise can go a long way in stopping a destructive behavior like digging.

Training a dog will be not only a challenge, but also a test in patience. You are going to want to start small and make sure that you reward the dog for his good behavior, so be sure you have plenty of snacks on hand! Whenever your dog does a good job or minds the rules you've set for him, reward him by giving him a small snack, so that he can associate the food with his good behavior.

When your dog understands the benefits and rewards of learning the tricks you teach it, the desire to learn is often as rewarding as the reward itself. Your dog will be happier, and so will you.