Positive Dog Training

Dogs are very much like children, they respond well to positive praise, rather than shouting and frustration. This is why positive dog training has proved to be so successful.

When you are training your new dog, or even if you are training an older dog, you need to make sure that every single time that the dog does what you require him or her to do, you need to praise him. Also ensure that anyone else who has a part in your positive dog training uses the same methods as you do. There is no reason why the whole family cannot help in training your dog.

Each dog will have their own favorite type of praise, some prefer lots of pats and fuss, others prefer some doggy treats, and others like to have a game with their favorite toy. Most dogs like a mixture of all three!
So if you are trying to train your dog to sit, then you will say his name (this part is very important, as it lets your dog know that you are talking to him), and say the command ’sit’ loudly and clearly. While you say the word push down on his back end to force him to sit, and when he does make sure that you praise him up. Dogs love the attention we give them, and if they think they are pleasing us, they will want to do it all the more.

Repeat a couple of times, and you will soon find that your dog begins to associate the word ’sit’ with sitting down, and in no time at all he will be sitting all on his own at your command.

Some people worry that giving their dogs too many treats is not good for them, but you only need to give treats while they are learning the command, once they have fully mastered it, the treats can drop off.

Make sure that you keep the training session fairly short, as even fully grown dogs will not really take anything in after a while. Puppies need to have plenty of rest and sleep. Once the training is over then spend some time playing with your dog, he will really enjoy this and begin to look forward to your playtime once his training is over.

It can seem very daunting when you realise how many commands there are for your dog to learn, but if you concentrate on teaching him one at a time before moving onto the next one, you will be fine.

Dogs love to learn, and if you use positive dog training you will soon find that he has mastered several commands and is well on his way to being a well trained dog.