As a child you probably remember instances where you did something good and were rewarded for the action – good behavior, good grades, etc. The basics for training your dog really is not that much different. Although a bit different than a child, the positives that your dog will appreciate are attention and praise as well as food. You will use these things to encourage your pet to repeat the positive actions that you approve of and can be one of the most powerful tools that you have when training your dog for good behavior.

Here is some basic information that will help you successfully use positive enforcement training. Firstly, timing is so important! You want to immediately reward your dog for the positive behavior – they have very short memories and attention spans. Secondly, consider using a clicker to mark these behaviors that you want to encourage – this is helpful for the dog to make the connection between the positive behavior and the resulting treat.

Keep your commands as short and simple as possible. If you have not ever owned a dog and have observed others and their dog training commands you may have wondered why the commands are so short and simple…well, you are talking about a dog and no matter how smart they are there are limitations to what an average dog can learn. The typical sit, stay, down, leave it – they are used so often because they work and dogs can easily be trained to know their meanings.

Lastly you need to remember that consistency is the key to successful dog training. When the dog does something good, make sure you reward, make sure everyone in the family does this too as well as having everyone use the same commands. Also, make sure you are not inadvertently rewarding for bad behavior, for example. Your dog barks and barks, louder and louder so you let him out. This is a perfect example of rewarding bad behavior; instead require him to perform a good behavior for you before opening the door. If you try to think like a dog now and then, you just might end up with the best behaved dog on the block.

The post Positive Reinforcement Training first appeared on Puppy Blog.

The cornerstone of good behavior in any dog is a good obedience training program. It is true to say that there are never bad dogs; the dog owners are the uneducated trainers. All dogs are always trying to please their master but the poorly trained or untrained dogs have no proper ways to do that and resort to the ways that they consider best. A well trained dog is healthier and happier, and so will be its owner. If you are planning to train your dog yourself, here are a number of guidelines that will assist you conduct an effective obedience training program.

Dog obedience training equipments

An effective dog obedience program does not demand a lot of equipments or supplies. However, a few equipments are necessary to make the exercise easy and smooth. The two necessary equipments are a dog collar and a dog leash. Choose the most appropriate, easy to use and comfortable equipments to ease the training process.

Getting started with the training

Choose the most appropriate and practical training technique prior to starting the training exercise. There is a wide variety of training techniques available but dogs respond more to positive reinforcement training like treats and training. The “clicker training” is the most common reinforcement training that uses a conditioned reinforcement.

Dog obedience training sessions

Success always comes in small steps, never in a bulk. Dog obedience training sessions should last between 10 and 15 minutes 2 to 3 times a day. This is more suitable for puppies because their attention spans are very short. Having longer training sessions will bore the dog and make it distaste the training sessions.

Start by training the dog basic commands like “sit” then “lie”. These are the easiest commands to learn. Once they grasp these commands, move forward to other commands like “stay” and “come. Once the dog has mastered the obedience basics, you may then train it fun tricks and other advanced commands.

Troubleshooting during dog training

Training a dog takes time and the process has its hurdles and frustrations along the way. The most common problems to obedience training is obedience problems like aggression and display of defiance. The best way to correct such behavior is by interrupting it and shifting the dog’s attention to positive things. You should also practice rewarding the dog when it masters a command to reinforce its dedication and skill.

During training, always keep your demeanor confident and cool and be clear in every command you give. Positive reinforcement always works well with dogs and you must never get angry or punish a dog under circumstances it finds unclear to avoid causing confusion. Hold the dog’s attention with enthusiasm and treats during training but you should also know when the dog is getting bored or tired.

Training resources

If you are not very confident of training your dog, you should study how to do it using the many online resources including eBooks, animations and videos. If after this you still cannot do it or have no time to do it, you should consider hiring a professional dog trainer to do it.

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