Obedience Training Tips: Be Consistent

If you want to achieve impressive results for dog training, then you must follow some basic obedience training tips to make sure that you are controlling the training, and not just reacting to your dog. There are various ways to conduct dog training, but one of the most fundamental points is that you must be consistent and the training must be carried out in a consistent manner.If you are not consistent in the way you handle the dog, he will receive mixed messages, get confused and simply withdraw himself from the process.

Obedience training can only be done effectively using consistent methods throughout. Teaching yourself to take a consistent approach will make the whole training process easier and more enjoyable for both of you. Dogs can be very sociable and tame animals so training them should be fairly easy. However, if you are not consistent with the actions and treatment towards your dog, you will never achieve the purpose of your training. Dogs are animals that have the ability to share genuine attention and affection with their owners.

The consistency of your actions, approaches, strategies, and methods, directly affects the outcome of your training. You will either confuse or train your dog, so to achieve the latter, be firm and consistent in your implementation of the training program. Inconsistency will leave vague and mixed perceptions with your dog. Like small children, they become confused when yesterday you did not mind him barking, but today and you are punishing him for acting in the same way.

Obedience training tips include strictness and firmness. Do not be haphazard as to when you apply certain rules; it will only result in your dog not following any of your instructions. Again, this can be related to how parents discipline their children. If you want to discipline and guide your dog along the correct path, do not allow flexible rules and always be firm in their application.

Although consistency is essential, it can often be difficult to achieve in dog obedience training. Consistency means that when you permit a certain habit or action, you must permit it all of the time. Similarly, if you forbid a certain habit or activity you must forbid it all of the time. It is this continuous implementation that provides the dog with certainty of what is expected of him. In due course he will reward you with his consistent, and positive response in all situations.

It is essential that other members of the family also stick to the same rules when interacting with your dog. All of you must follow the same policy on what is allowed or not allowed for your dog. It therefore makes sense to draw up and implement your obedience training as a group. Discuss it among your family members. Once you have discussed and gathered your policies and rules, all of you must commit to working to it consistently.

Subjects that particularly impinge on the family group, are questions like: Are you going to allow your dog to lie on your sofa? Are you going to permit noisy barking? Are you going to permit your dog to jump on people? What other things do members of the family wish to see the dog adhere to? That you want to impose? Once answered, and if imposed consistently, then these aspects will help create a harmonious and loving relationship between dog and family that will benefit everyone.