Worst Mistakes You Can Make When Training A Dog

Training a dog can be a difficult task, and while there are many different approaches to dog training and many different techniques which can be utilized while doing so, there are several common mistakes that many trainers make. Although they're committed in innocence, and often times are very subtle, they can have a significant effect upon your dog and can make the training process much more difficult than need be.

Some of the worst mistakes you can make when training a dog are inconsistency, unintentionally rewarding a dog with a form of punishment, and using punishment-based training techniques.

Being inconsistent is perhaps the worst mistake you can make while attempting to train your dog; it's the surest path to reduce the efficiency of your training and cause a confusion that will lead to undesirable results. Dogs learn best through a method known as operate conditioning, which entails that actions and behaviors can be strongly associated with consistent reactions and results given the proper conditioning. Predictability is essential to training, for in the most basic sense training is about teaching your dog that certain results stem from specific actions.

Another big mistake that dog trainers commonly make, especially when they first start out, is calling their dog only to punish him or her when he or she does come. For example, if you're playing with your dog in the yard, call him or her when it's time to go in, then immediately put a leash on your dog or take him or her right inside, it's going to teach the dog not to come, for who wants to put an end to fun?

By doing this, it's likely that you'll - albeit unintentionally - teach your dog that when you call it's a signal that fun time is over, which will expectantly be met with resistance. Instead, an effective technique is to call your dog several times before it's time to leave and each time give him or her a treat or some sign of affection before sending him or her off again, and before finally calling the dog to actually come in. This will help prevent your dog from associating your call with something negative, and will encourage obedience.

Another of the worst training mistakes is using punishment-based techniques, for the main reason that it will not only destroy your relationship with your dog, but may result in and encourage aggressive responses that will no doubt be troublesome as your dog grows and matures.

Many people see choke collars, yelling, and even hitting as a way to discourage unacceptable behavior, but in reality using such techniques is a terrible mistake. Punishing your dog can actually encourage him or her to mask the behavior instead of stopping it, making it a long-term problem. Instead, use positive reinforcement to train your dog and remove any type of reward for negative behavior.