Positive Dog Training

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     If you have acquired a new canine friend, training him can prove to be quite enjoyable, yet challenging. Traditional dog training uses the help of such implements as dog collar and choke chains. The reliance here is on pain and punishment. However this may cause excessive aggressiveness in your dog and create fear in his mind. Since he is going to be staying with you all his life, you should enjoy each other. So positive dog training is becoming more and more popular.

A friendlier approach!

Positive dog training makes the use of positive reinforcement, praise and rewards to get your dog to obey you. When you have gained a new puppy, dog obedience training becomes the first business of the day. This includes housebreaking, coming when called, walking without leash etc. The first order of the business is to find out what your dog likes. You can use these as his reward. The method relies on rewarding desired behavior. It is also known as operant conditioning. You should ignore the undesirable behavior. Punishment may be used only in the rarest cases.

You should first identify few basic commands which you want your dog to learn. Some basic cues include the following commands

?Sit
?Stay
?Off
?Down
?Come
?Stand

Now you have to communicate your command to your dog. At this time you have to be careful to avoid cross images. When you command your dog to stay while firmly convinced that he will not obey you, he gets a confused signal. He can identify the vibrations in your voice. So be firm and confident while delivering the command. The dog learns to associate a certain sound with a certain command. In positive dog training, he first learns the desired action, and then the command associated with it.

The use of rewards and praise

The entire principle of positive dog training is the reinforcement of the desired behavior. Command the dog, and then reward him when he performs well. In the early days of training you should reward your dog every time he performs a task well. Once he masters a cue, occasional verbal praise is enough to motivate him.

You can use several ways to reward your dog. You can give him treats or toys, physical affection or simply verbal praise. The trick is to find out what he likes. It can then be used to reinforce desired behavior.

In case your dog is not performing on cue, you should ignore his willfulness. If he continues to disobey you can penalize him, but never punish him. Penalties may include anything that your dog does not like. These include a mild leash jerk, not moving when he wants to run etc. But you should not use pain as a punishment.

One major principle to remember while using positive reinforcement is that desired behavior should be rewarded at once and every time it is performed well. If you allow time to lapse between the action and the praise, your dog will be confused as to why exactly you are praising him. Dog training books offer detailed steps to follow during the training regime.

A final word! You and your dog are friends. So the time spend together should not be a chore. Both of you need to enjoy the training process. Positive dog training helps to build up that special rapport which makes the training all the more effective.