Saturday, June 12, 2010
Dog Training - Fun Ways to Train Your Dog
The thought of dog training can make most people cringe. The hours of work and the constant repetition may seem too much, yet dog training exercises can be enjoyable. Being able to have a well trained dog and have fun in the process is possible. Because dogs have different personalities, an owner may need to try a few methods in order to see how their dog responds best.
Reward training is a type of positive reinforcement training. Part of this type of instruction is giving your dog a command and then rewarding for the proper action. Clicker training is one popular example of this. When a dog performs the desired act, the clicker sound gives him the acknowledgment that he did right. When starting the clicker training, the click is followed by a treat. This gives the dog the knowledge that the click is what he wants to hear. After awhile, the treats can be taken out of the equation, and the sound of the clicker is enough reinforcement. Treats are great supports, but a pat on the head or excited voice can also be very important to you dog. This reward training is used for most types of training. If you are using the right kind of treat, for treat based training, your dog will want to spend the time learning.
Agility training is a fantastic way to enjoy your dogs education. Most dogs, except for large, heavy ones will enjoy this fun way of exercise, and you might be amazed at the amount of discipline that the dog must learn in order to accomplish this task. An agility course is set up to have the dog go from one obstacle to another in a timely manner. Some of the obstacles might include crawling through a tunnel, jumping over small fences, and climbing over walls, to name a few. The owner stays with the dog, but must only help the dog by giving a dog command, and at the beginning, leash guidance. Through this course, dogs learn to listen to their owner, get exercise, and helps build a teamwork bond between pet and owner. With the popularity of agility training there are more schools using this method, but if you cannot find it in your area, a simple search online to find the appropriate items can set up your backyard.
Almost any game can be used to teach your pet. When you are working on obedience training, it is a good idea to intersperse some tricks in the midst. This will help you enjoy the time more which will help your dog relax and learn more easily. Simple tricks like "shake" and "stay" are teaching valuable lessons. In order to "shake" a dog must learn to sit properly. "Stay" is a great command when you have children or elderly people visiting.
A well trained dog is the goal of most dog owners, yet many of us stop training after our dog gets beyond the bad manner behaviors. The guidance should not stop there; in finding exercises and games that both we and our dog enjoys will enable us to continue the education and the bonding time with our pet. Obedience classes as well as agility training are available in most areas for all ages of canine.
You may not believe this but... 
You should NEVER use the recall word ("COME", or whatever word you choose) to call your dog to discipline him, correct him, tell him what a bad dog he is, or for any negative reason. Bad deeds MUST be caught IN THE ACT in order to correct. If you still need your dog by you for a negative reason, give him a firm SIT command and go get him.
For example:
Imagine this, you see your dog "Major" outside digging up your newly planted daisies. You first quietly say "Major, Come here". Major, doesn’t respond. You then yell "MAJOR - COME HERE!". Major still doesn’t come, so you go over and grab him by the collar and yell "I told you to Come Here!" and give him a smack.
Major, being a smart dog, makes a mental note "Come Here" means "You’re in trouble and about to get punished".
Next time when he is outside, and you want him to come inside for dinner you go out and say to him "Come here", he responds by running away. "Dumb dog" you think and go and grab him and drag him inside so he’ll eat his food. Then you say sternly "How come you don’t ever COME when I call you?!" Major makes another mental note (Hmmm: seems to me my memory of "COME HERE" is still accurate – don’t want to respond to that – after all, "COME HERE" means I am in BIG TROUBLE!)
Remember, dogs know ONLY "dog language" when they come to live with us. WE must teach them our language. In the above examples, Major did not learn OUR translation for the word "COME". He learned "COME" meant "angry owner – I’m in trouble now. Better scram out of here!" We want Major to learn that "COME" means "Get your buns to me in the fastest way possible – NO EXCEPTIONS!" Major needs to understand that COME means GOOD stuff – ALWAYS!
