Training your dog is important
Is your dog pulling the leash whenever you take them out for a walk? Making a mess at home and chewing on anything? Then it's time to train your pet. Training your pet takes time and patience for you and your pet. But, the results will be promising, particularly when you start training them at a young age. There is more to dog training than commanding them to sit or stay.
Benefits of Training Your Dog
Have Better Control Over Your Pet
Telling them to sit, come, stay, leave, wait and doing it immediately is a huge benefit to us dog owners. These commands will help you better manage your pet on a day to day basis. It keeps your dog safe and makes it easier to control him particularly in public places.
When you have control over your pet, it makes it easier for them to bring in dog-friendly parks, hotels, events, and businesses. When your dog trained, you don't need to lock them off whenever guests arrive at your home. You'll be more confident knowing that you can bring them along on out-of-town trips with lesss worries.
Avoid Behavioral Problems
Training your dog builds a level of communication that you and your dog understands. The more time you invest in training them, the more you will avoid problem behaviors in the future.
Many dogs end up being punished for bad behavior that could have been avoided when your dog is trained. Your dog will respond to cues and know immediately if he has done something wrong.
Develop Better Relationships with Your Dog
Training your dog helps you have quality time with them. You can better understand how they are feeling at the moment through their body language and the unique signal he uses to communicate with you. Studies show that dogs that are well-trained, responsive, happy and obedient is easier to manage. You'll have more satisfaction in owning your dog and is more likely to be closer to them.
Respond Positively to Other Dogs
Your dog will encounter other pets on any occasion. Which is why you need to let them know what is an acceptable form of socialization to other dogs and how to get along with them. They'll encounter dogs in parks, veterinary clinics, and other public areas - you wouldn't want to them to jump off or bark at every dog they see. Training helps makes them more sociable to other dogs.
Puts the Joy Back in Dog Ownership
Untrained dogs can be stressful and hard to manage. Training dogs will make them more manageable; thus, giving you a fun and happy experience that makes you love owning your pet.
It's Never Too Late To Train Your Dog
While it is more beneficial if you train dogs while they were puppies, it is never too late for senior dogs too. Training adult dogs that never encountered any training can still grasp the idea of following instructions to get a reward. While it can take a lot of time, the trick with older dogs is to think about what behaviors he should do to earn a reward and how to respond when he is asked for certain behavior.
But, older dogs take a lot of time to train. This is due to the fact that older dogs have aging brains that affect how they respond to commands well. Your veterinarian can recommend in ways of improving your dog's brain health, but a dog supplement that can improve brain health can work just as well.
Don't jump right into training your senior dog, consult your vet first. There may be medical issues that your veterinarian needs to address first before you can have a successful dog training session.
How to Start Training Your Dog
Are you ready to start training your pet? There are many ways to train your dog - you can sign up for obedience training classes or hire a dog trainer. But, you can do the dog training on your own. It is a great way to save money on training costs and helps you develop better relationships with your pet.
Start with a Plan
Effective dog training starts with a plan. You need to prepare the equipment, set your preferred schedule and your training methods. You also need to be committed to the training.
Equipment
Training a dog doesn't need much, all you need is a leash/harness and dog treats.
Training Methods
There are various training methods that you can do with your dogs, here are some of the most popular and effective methods available:
Positive Reinforcement. The idea behind this method is dogs will repeat good behavior when it is followed by a reward. Bad behavior does not get rewarded and if a punishment is to happen it is in a form of removal of the rewards. No need for harsh reprimands or physical punishments, unlike other training methods.
You train the dog by rewarding them the minute you see good behavior. Continue to do this whenever he does the right thing and then move to intermittent rewards if the behavior becomes consistent. In this way, your dog will associate good behavior with a reward. This method requires consistency. You need to inform everyone in your household to use the same command and the same reward system.
Clicker Training. This method relies heavily on positive reinforcement. In fact, it can be used along with positive reinforcement rather than its own method of training. Clicker training relies on a device to make a quick and sharp noise such as a clicker or a dog whistle to signal a good behavior.
You start by conditioning your dog to know that the click or the sharp sound from the whistle means that they will be rewarded. Then your dog can associate a behavior with a click and a reward. You can then implement verbal commands as a new form of association.
This is a great way for dogs to learn new tricks and it helps them follow basic to more complicated tasks. Professional trainers use this method as it helps them to train dogs faster.
Scientific Training. This method relies on a good deal of research and studies to provide effective training. Science-based training is so broad that most of the training methods used in scientific dog training are used by other forms of training as well. The gist of this is that it relies on conditioning that often includes positive reinforcement. It also requires certain forms of punishment. Some of the methods include relying on dog psychology to improve the relationship between dogs and owners.
Relationship-based training. This method combines various training methods, yet it highly focuses on a more individualized approach for you and your dog. This method aims to meet the needs of the dog and the owner. The goal of this method is to foster communication and to strengthen your bond with your dog.
In order for this to work, the owner should know and understand their dog's body language. You should meet your dog's basic needs before you start a training session. When you see good behavior, you reward your pet with positive reinforcement. The environment that you train your dog with is controlled so you can prevent possible unwanted behaviors. This type of training will take time and you need to have the patience for it.
6 Basic Commands Your Dog Should Know
- Sit
- Down
- Stay
- Come
- Don't Touch
- Off
A big part of dog ownership is that to make sure your dog knows a good from a bad behavior and understand basic commands. Getting your dog to be well-trained won't happen overnight. It takes a lot of time and patience and you, as the dog owner has to commit to it. If you don't have the time, you can hire a professional dog trainer or send them to dog schools. However, training dogs on your own will develop a relationship with your pet that no professional dog trainer will be able to provide. A big part of dog ownership is that to make sure your dog knows a good from a bad behavior and understand basic commands. Getting your dog to be well-trained won't happen overnight. It takes a lot of time and patience and you, as the dog owner has to commit to it. If you don't have the time, you can hire a professional dog trainer or send them to dog schools. However, training dogs on your own will develop a relationship with your pet that no professional dog trainer will be able to provide.