Understanding Basic Dog Training

Dogs make wonderful pets and give loyalty and companionship to the whole family. Unfortunately some people make the very basic mistake of underestimating the importance of properly training their dog. It is unfair on both the owners and the dog to neglect a proper training schedule, which gives the dog boundaries and allows good communication between dog and owner. In many cases a dog that is seen as misbehaving or unruly simply doesn't understand what is being asked of it and has no structure in it's life to adhere to. Dogs need to have a role within the family unit even if it is something simple like fetching the post in the mornings, this will help them feel part of the unit.

One common mistake is to delay training puppies on their arrival in the home. No matter how young a dog is, you need to start training it from the day it sets foot in your house. Puppies are so adorable that everything they do is seen as cute or playful and as such they can get away with almost anything. This is where problems start to set in, as puppies are learning constantly. If they get away with things they remember this and will continue to behave in an undesirable fashion - both puppies and dogs think nothing of pushing their luck, and so long as they are getting away with things they will push further and further. Suddenly your adorable puppy is a fully grown dog that likes to steal your food or muscle you off the sofa and it isn't so cute and playful anymore.

Dogs don't speak human, so until they are taught what a word means, they will have no idea and this is really important to remember as you are training your dog. Associations between words and actions will form very quickly in your dogs mind, they will know when a word equals a treat or a telling off and this is why in the early stages of training it is very important to use positive association. A dog will not respond to "sit" or "here" if it thinks bad things are going to happen.

There are a few basic commands that all dogs should be taught. No, sit, stay, come or here are the most important as they allow you to have control over your dogs movements. Reward based training is one of the fastest ways to get a dog to learn, and doggy treats are always going to be a winner. Sit is probably the best place to start, as once you have taught your dog to sit, you have it's full attention and you can teach it other things from there such as lie-down, stay etc. First you need to get your dog or puppies attention, then you need to tell them to sit, now we know they don't understand us so this is where using firm but gentle pressure to push your dogs bum to the floor gives the dog the association between the word "sit" and it's bum being on the floor. Repeat the word sit as they are sitting, then reward the dog. You will have to repeat this a few times, depending on the willingness and ability of the dog to learn, be patient. The correlation between "sit", bum being on floor and treats being giving will set in pretty quickly and your dog will sit perfectly for you every time.

This reward-based training can be used across all the commands, of course when your dog has mastered a technique the rewards are no longer needed, but with each new command there will be rewards and this can make a dog very keen to learn! Remember, training doesn't have to be a boring chore, make it a fun activity and it will be much easier to help your dog learn and a well trained dog is a happy dog.