Pet Advice: Basic Dog Training Tips

Training your dog is a terrific way to bond with your loyal companion!

Dogs love to please their owners and owners love to take care of their dogs. The learning process keeps them occupied and mentally stimulated.  There are many different dog training approaches: obedience training, clicker training, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement (like dog zapper collars), etc., but the basics always apply.  Dogs need constant repetition and consistency.  Traditionally, dogs have short-term memories and usually even shorter attention spans - but they are very motivated to cash in on those tasty rewards!

Before jumping into dog training, you should be familiar with a few important guidelines. Do not "over train" your dog.  Dogs are good for about 15 minute concentrated training sessions. If you have a puppy, two or three sessions a day would be ideal.  Long training sessions will frustrate your dog and he will surely lose focus.

First, choose your verbal commands and stick to them.  Always use the same command to avoid any confusion.  For example, your "sit" command should be consistent and you should not occasionally change the command to "stay" as this will cause your dog confusion.

Food motivated dogs are the easiest to train.  Buy small "training treats" or your dog will gain weight. A tiny piece is a fine reward, and your pup will want to do more, to get more! Cut back their regular food on a heavy treat day.  Use a training treat as a reward immediately after your dog completes a task successfully...  Even a split second hesitation may be too late for your dog to associate his job well done with the treat. EVERY time that you reward your dog with a treat, make sure to give praise at the same time as you give him the food.  If you are potty training, keep treats at your door and grab some on the way out!

If your dog does not do the behavior that you ask, after you state your command, repeat the command twice, and then walk away and take a break. Believe me, if you are holding treats, your dog will follow you.  After taking a break, go back to the earlier command without trying to overkill the command.  If you need to, move on to another command and then come back to it.  As your dog catches on, slowly wean back the treats. Remember, your ultimate goal is for your dog to obey you and be happy with praise (slowly replacing treats as their reward).

Even though "sit" is the first command that owners usually teach their dogs, "stay" and "come" are the most important.  These commands are vital to your dog's safety.  Unfortunately, these are usually the hardest ones to teach.  A great way to teach the "stay" command is to tell your dog to "sit" in the middle of the room, and start slowly backing away while facing your dog.

Repeat the "stay" command by starting with a small distance and reward as you go.  When you reward your dog, make sure that you walk to where he is still sitting. Do not tell him to "come", when you are teaching "stay," he will get confused.  You want your dog to know that you are praising him for "staying" and not "coming" after the fact.

I highly recommend that you take your dog to obedience school, especially if you have a young dog.  Research a good school and try to avoid the huge "chains."  You will learn how to train your dog and your dog will be in "class" with other dogs in a controlled environment.  This will help socialize your dog and help him learn how to deal with distraction.  You do not have to spend a fortune on dog training and your dog will love the "school time" call!   My Australian Shepherd knew to the minute each week when we had to leave and I swear he looked forward to it!

There are so many different schools of thought about dog training, but no matter which route you choose, be patient, loving and have fun with it!