Advice on obedience training for dogs

Dog obedience training is an important step in establishing an appropriate relationship between you and your pet. Puppy obedience training will not only establish your role as the owner but also teach important social and behavioral skills for your dog. You and your dog will both be comfortable due to the fact that you have set consistent expectations, limitations, and consequences for particular behaviors.

Advantages of Obedience Training for Dogs

• You can take your dog anywhere with confidence. You know that your dog will respond appropriately to your directives and requests with little resistance or hesitation. Both you and your dog will be aware of expectations for behavior and what happens if these expectations are not met. You will not need to dread the embarrassment of an uncontrollable dog in the public
• You will receive recognition for your hard work and determination. People will realize and compliment you on your ability to control your dog's behavior and train it with to respect others and respond to its owner. Training is often a time-consuming and difficult process. So recognition is especially appreciated in this area.
• Your self confidence and your dog's self confidence will remain high. You will feel good that you have been successful in training your dog and as well as be able to overcome a variety of obstacles. Your dog will remain confident as it rarely requires punishment or negative attention. Your dog will be less frustrated as he acts appropriately and thus earns praise and reinforcement on a consistent basis.

Basic Commands and How to Teach Them

Some of the most basic commands of dog obedience training include the following:

• No

This is possibly the most important command of all. If your dog is unable to respond appropriately to the word "no," then it will have difficulty with other commands. Particularly when your dog's or others' safety is at risk, it is crucial for your dog to be able to stop when you say "no." This command is important .

• Sit.
• Down
• Stay

This command is not always used by dog trainers as it often overlaps with "sit" command. Many tra iners figure that if a dog is sitting, it will remain still until another command is given. If you're just starting out canine obedience training, you may want to skip this command to make things easier for your pup.

• Heel.

You want to follow these tips when teaching commands:

• Begin with the most simple commands (e.g., "sit," "look") and gradually introduce more complex or difficult commands as your dog develops its skills.
• Keep your dog's genetic makeup in mind. For example, teaching a Basset Hound to provide protection will likely be more difficult than teaching a Rottweiler from Shutzhund lines to do so.
• When beginning to teach a command, praise and reinforce even in the shortest duration of the target behavior. For example, praise and offer a treat to your dog for sitting two seconds after a command. Gradually increase expected duration of the target behavior as your dog improves his response. Keep training sessions short and always end them on a positiv e note.
• Remove distractions such as television, toys, and radio from the training area. You can gradually introduce distractions as your dog proceeds through training.
• Stand directly besides or in front of your dog when beginning to train it. You can gradually increase the distance between you up to 30 feet.
• Teach the command in a variety of locations including inside, outside, within the home setting and in the community setting. This technique will assist your dog in generalizing obedience to all possible settings.
• Teach the command on a variety of surfaces including grass, cement sidewalks, dirt, and sand.
• Change the order of delivered commands during training sessions. You do not want your dog to memorize a pattern of responses rather than a respond to each individual command.
• Teach the command at different times of the day including morning, afternoon, and evening or night. This is another technique.
• Teach the command while using different bo dy positions, (e.g., standing, laying down, sitting, positioning yourself below or above the dog) volumes (e.g., quiet, moderate, loud) and tones (e.g., commanding, squeaky).
• Disappear before or after issuing a command to determine if your dog will follow or maintain a response to a command when you are not visibly present.
• Always remain calm and positive when training your dog. Patience is a virtue when you teach dog commands. Yelling or expressing frustration will only cause frustration or confusion in your dog. If your dog has difficulty in following commands, try again the next day.
• If you're looking to work with a qualified instructor, then you can contact a specialized school (e.g., Animal Behavior College), or other groups (e.g., Association of Pet Dog Trainers), or search the internet. You can also visit your local library to search for obedience training books. Book dog obedience training can offer sound advice.

If you follow these guidelines, you will successfu lly accomplish puppy obedience training. Dog obedience training is a very important process and you need to hear the advice of others.

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