Train Your Dog The Right Way

Dog training is one of the most helpful and exciting things you can do with your pet. When you train your dog you are teaching them to perform certain actions or behaviors according to your signal or the circumstance. If you have a dog, this should be something you focus on.

Dog training is mostly about communication. You are trying to build a bond between you and your pet. Don't hesitate to enjoy the experience! You will be a lot closer to your dog as you get further along in the training. They will learn to trust and love you and look to you for direction.

Even though there are so many benefits, it doesn't mean the road will be easy. You should be prepared to enjoy what you're doing. If you and your dog start to get tired and overworked it's fine to take a break and come back to everything later.

There are certain areas that are very common in the field of dog training:

- Obedience
- Herding
- Agility
- Tracking
- Retrieving
- Hunting
- Guard
- Schutzhund

Training these skills is a continuous process and should be started as soon as you bring your dog home as a puppy. It is possible to train a dog once they are older, but they may have already developed bad habits and are less likely to be open to new ideas.

When you train your dog you are basically educating him. You will be developing his natural instincts as well as developing acquired habits. You might also integrate bribery into the training mix. This means that your dog knows there will be a reward once the desired action is performed.

Dog training can be a difficult task, so don't feel like you need to give up if it seems like you're not getting anywhere. It can take a while to learn the right methods to train our dogs. In fact, some feel strongly that it takes longer for humans to become adept at dog training than it does for our dogs to actually become trained!

Above all, you need to be humane in the way you train your dog. Believe it or not, your dog has several emotional states. If your dog is stressed out or distracted you will not have a successful training session. Another consideration is that you need to be consistent.

If you're relying on a system of rewards to train your dog it's important to realize that you have to be consistent. If you are not consistent with the rewards then your dog will not develop the required associations between the action and the reward. This will make training a lot more difficult for you!

Modern trainers use a 'positive training methods.' This means that you use rewards to increase good behavior instead of punishments to decrease bad behavior. Your end goal is to get your dog to respond even when there is no reward on offer. There may be times where you train your dog without showing the reward first. This conditions them to respond to the command regardless.

Another tool you can utilize is an electronic training collar. Contrary to popular belief these do not harm your dog when used in the right way. These handy devises can be used for many different training purposes including hunting exercises, agility exercises, pet containment, and anti-barking. Of course, there are many other times where this type of collar will come in handy as well.

Since you're a responsible pet owner you likely know where the line between training and abuse lies. Unfortunately, there are some who do not. There are some who take dog training too far and into the realm of abuse. Just remember to make training as positive as you can for your dog.