Positive Dog Training-the Abc Of Dog Learning
Many have heard for positive dog training but few have taken advantage of this great method to teach our dog good manners. However, it doesn’t prevent us from getting upset if our dog doesn’t meet our expectations. The excuses we usually hear is that dog training is too complicated and we better leave it to professional dog trainers.
While it is understandable that not everybody is born to become dog trainer it is absolutely possible to teach our dog some simple staff. Needless to say that this process is very rewarding for both, our beloved dog and us as well.
In order to be successful with the positive dog training we should learn some fundamentals about how our dog learns. And nothing could be easier than this. Just think of this as ABC of dog learning.
What is the ABC of dog learning?
Before we go into the ABC of dog learning it is important to first look into the definition of the learning process itself. So, what is learning? Mostly, learning is defined as a change in behavior due to experience. Now that we know that the experience will determine the behavior it is our job to start using the consequence as a training tool.
What are the consequences?
It is rather well known that consequence could come in the form of either the reward or the punishment. When we talk about punishment most people think about something negative but it doesn’t have to be that way. It could be as simple as withholding or taken always something that dogs like. It has been proven that rewarding consequences have much better impact on dogs. Let us now look into tree most important components of dogs learning or as we refereed to it as the ABC of dog learning.
1.A stands for Antecedent which is much more known as a cue. This simply means anything that precedes the behavior. This could be any kind of trigger let us say when somebody approaches or knock at the door.
2.B stands for Behavior. Yeah, this is the easy one which means how our dog will respond on that trigger.
3.C stands for the Consequence. This is the action that follows the behavior. Yes, it could be yelling but also treating a dog with some nice and yummy treats.
Knowing this simple ABC of how our dog learns can be a great help. Creating positive experience will help our dog learn new things and for us-well, having a well behaved dog is like a dream coming true, is it not?
