Training your Dog

The process of dog training is basically teaching your pet to do certain things that have been commanded of them. You train your dog to understand the command and follow it. There are different methods and goals in training a dog. A few examples of what they might be trained to do would be to obey commands, perform certain tricks, work as a guide, rescue, hunting, or herding dog, follow any commands regarding agility, and even work as a guard dog.

Dogs have the innate ability to cooperate with other dogs. Dogs that have been domesticated if trained correctly can respond to any signals given by their owner. Majority of dogs, regardless of training, will live among people that want certain behaviors acted out in order to live in a productive environment. People must not assume dogs can figure out the behaviors required, they must be trained to know what is correct.

Communication between owner and dog can be the most complicated part of the dog’s training. However, communication for a dog is very simple, reward good behaviors and correct bad behaviors, it’s as simple as that. There are 5 basic behaviors that are included in training on the obedience level. Those behaviors are sit, down, stay, come/here (also known as recall), close (or walking with a loose-leash), and heel.

The most important training command that your dog can learn is the recall command. You cannot achieve this with your dog unless you first teach it to heel. You must be able to get your dog’s attention and get it to walk right beside you. You never want to punish your dog for responding to recall. If you do, then it will train it that it will be punished. If you need to correct your dog, you walk to the dog, not call the dog to you. It will then put the wrong ideas together and create a run away response from your dog.

You dog will not understand any meanings of what you are saying. They will pick up any difference in your voice due to the great sense of hearing they have. Your dog will remember many words. The reason is because of conditioned responses to words.

So how do you give your dog commands?
You should always give your commands in a voice that is clear and calm. Your dog should not have problems hearing the commands, because if your dog can’t hear it, then it can’t do it. When praising the dog, use a higher, warm tone and if you are correcting your dog, then it should be done with a deep, unhappy tone.

You should train your dog on a continual basis, with an organized and gradual difficulty increase in the commands. You should make it like a game in order to make the dog happy and make you happy as well.

What is the point of training your dog?
Well, the point is to train your dog to respond correctly to your commands, whether it is hand signals, voice, or other signals. You should work with your dog all year long, as long as you remember that training your dog during the spring and early summer time because of the temperature. The first few times you begin training you should only do it between 5 and 10 minutes and as the dog gets older then you can increase the training times. Just remember, you don’t want to make your dog scared of the training exercises so pick whatever time and spot that suits your dog best. That way he will look forward to these educational times.

There are 3 types of training in working with your dog. The first one is regarding behavior. This will train your dog to learn etiquette around other people, and learning when and where it’s ok to use the restroom. If you have a dog that is well behaved, then your dog will not cause undue attention.

The second type is regarding obedience. This allows your dog to learn things such as heel. There is an emphasis placed on quick and correct response. This training will not necessarily improve any wrong behavior of your dog.
The last type regards activity. These activities range from hunting, herding, rescue, and other things that the dog has the ability to do. There are activities such as Frisbees and balls, which result from this type of training.
Hopefully, this information will give you a bit more insight into the world of dog training.