Three Things to Do When Training Your Dog or Puppy by Barry Mcgee

Now that you know what you absolutely should not do, what are your alternatives? What follows are the three must-know alternatives to the three big “do not”s listed in the previous article.

Praise, praise, and did we mention praise?

A lot of people get so wrapped up in chastising and complaining when their dog does something wrong that they barely take the time to notice when the dog does something right We've already established that harsh physical discipline should never be used, and while we all have to get onto our dogs at some point, verbal and physical praise should definitely outweigh verbal discipline. If you fail to let your dog know when he's correctly obeyed a command or otherwise done something that pleases you, you shouldn't be surprised when he doesn't do the same thing again for you. In the same vein, it's so difficult to catch a dog in the act of misbehaving that throwing a fit at him when we do catch him is such sporadic discipline, it'll never do much good. Instead of trying to show your dog where he's going wrong, work to replace his less desirable habits with completely desirable habits by giving him plenty of opportunities (training sessions) to do the right thing, thus earning him loads of well-deserved praise. He'll soon learn that listening to you yields lots of the things he likes (treats, ear scratches, hugs) and he'll be all the more eager to please you with every step he takes.

Demand Attention, but Only if You Deserve It

The world seems full of people who, for one reason or another, seem to think that their dogs were born knowing all the basic obedience commands. If you're one of those people who repeatedly shouts at your dog to sit or lie down when you know in your heart that your dog hasn't a clue what either of those commands mean, then it's time to start shouting and take some action You can't expect a dog to obey a command if he hasn't been completely trained to know what that command means. On the other hand, if your dog knows very well what those obedience commands mean and he seems to have suddenly forgotten, then it's time to demand attention as efficiently as possible. Rather than shouting the same command over and over, try to figure out what's keeping your dog from responding. Is he distracted by another dog? Make him focus on you by holding up a treat, clapping your hands in front of his nose, or giving a light pull on the leash. Once he has eye contact with you, he should go ahead and obey, if distraction is the issue at hand. If there are no visible distractions, it's time to ask yourself if the dog really is as well-versed as you believed. Chances are, if you asked him 99 times in a training session to sit and he sat on the 100th issuing of the command, he's not going to remember next time around how to sit. In fact, the 100th command should have been your official starting point. Everything up until that point was just a warm-up. If you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that your dog knows that command like he knows his own name, consider that your dog may just be having a bad, stubborn day (especially if you've been yelling at him ). Did you all have a disagreement earlier? Are you angry or upset about something? Dog's are very perceptive of tonal shifts in our voices and of our body language. Are you on the defensive because your dog is being a brat? Perhaps, if it's not a matter of life or death that your dog lie down RIGHT NOW, then both of you need to take a breather and come back to the training later. Whatever you do, never let more than a few hours between a dog's episode of deliberate disobedience and correction of the problem. If at all possible, an episode of deliberate disobedience should be corrected immediately, but only if you're calm and prepared to be firm, yet patient.


Maintain Consistency in Vocabulary

If you've worked hard to train your dog, then he's probably got a handful of trigger words under his collar sit, stay, lie down, come, etc. As was mentioned previously, it's not the dictionary meaning of the word your dog is responding to; it's the sound and tone of the word and the physical action your dog has been conditioned to associate with that sound and tone. You could teach your dog to sit using the word rosebud, and he'd sit himself down every time you said the trigger word Therefore, one of the most important parts of making sure that your dog behaves each and every time you give him a command is to be absolutely consistent with your dog's vocabulary. For instance, you've taught your dog to come, but you find yourself out in the yard shouting for your dog to get over here. Will he come? Maybe, or maybe not. It depends on whether he feels like it Don't say down when your dog knows lie down, and don't say heel when your dog knows walk. The words you use in the very first training session should be the words you stick with for the rest of the dog's life. If you have to write them down to remind yourself, then by all means do so. Whatever words you choose, be they rosebud, roll over, or something in between, make sure that you don't issue your command in a frenzied string of words that mean nothing to your dog. Simply say your dog's name and follow it up with the command your dog has known to obey from day one of training.

About the Author:
Barry S. Mcgee is a pet enthusiast. His site at: http://www.squidoo.com/puppyanddogtraining covers all areas of dog training.

For answers to all your puppy and dog training questions, please visit: http://www.squidoo.com/puppyanddogtraining