Basics of Dog
Training
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by Dmitry Belov
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The most important things in dog training
are consistency, keeping dog's attention and understanding
your dog.
To get the respect of your dog you must
be consistent. You should make a set of do's and don'ts
for your dog. Follow these guidelines to the letter, if
a dog does something desirable always reward it, if a
dog does something bad punish him or her appropriately.
In dogs world consistency is a sign of a leader. You will
make your training my easier and effective by being a
leader who the dog respects and follows.
Ninety percent of your dogs training will
be getting his or hers attention and keeping him focused
on yourself. If your dog cannot focus on you, it will
not listen to you, and thus making the commands you give
fall on empty ears. I will describe a technique on how
to get and keep your dog's attention with few very simple
exercises. First, most dogs will respond to their name,
so call them and when they look at you tell them "watch".
After doing it few times the dog will associate the command
with looking at you.
After you have perfected the "watch" command,
start doing exercises aimed at expanding your dog's attention
span. A good technique is to hold a treat with your teeth
and while standing in front of your dog give it a watch
command. Stand in position for a few seconds keeping dogs
attention, then praise. Repeat the exercise until your
dog focus on you for about a minute. The more attention
your dog can give you the better student it will be.
A vital part of dog training is the understanding
of how a dog thinks. Dogs, like small children, have a
very short attention span. Most dogs can be focused on
training for about ten to twenty minutes, after that time
they will start loosing focus and will require a small
break. A good idea is to make regular training sessions
of 20-30 minutes per day. Another important thing is to
make the training fun for the dog. Make the dog look forward
to the training time instead of dreading it. To achieve
this you should always make their effort worthwhile. After
every successful command make sure to give them a treat
or praise them with very excited voice. The more willing
the dog is to train the more effective the training will
be!
Incorporate these techniques into your training
sessions and in no-time you will be ready to proceed to
much more complex obedience training exercises. You and
your dog will both enjoy the time spent together, your
dog will respect you for being a responsible owner and
other people will appreciate your dog's great behavior
after you are done!
About the Author
Dmitry Belov
is a dog trainer that has most of the his experience with
large live stock protection breeds.
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