Basic’s of Dog Training: Teaching- Day 3

Day 3 covers a bit of a broad range.

How do I begin to teach?

• Do not introduce the verbal command right away- Adding the word will not help until the dog understands the action. If you say “sit” and your dog doesn’t know it, the word will become meaningless to the dog. It’s better to wait until you can associate an action with that word before you add it. See “lure” in the next point for how to do that.
• Lure- To “lure” is to show a dog how to do what you want them to. For example, in “sit”, you would start with your hand in front of the dogs nose and slowly raise it up and over the dogs head. As the dogs head follows the treat, the bottom will go down and he will sit (its more comfortable to be sitting when you are looking up). That is luring. Praising the dog as soon as his bottom touches the ground lets him know he did it right. Then, when he will follow the lure easily, the verbal command can be added.
• Release your dog (with a release word) before you reward- For example, say “You’re free, Good boy” instead of “Good boy”. There will be times, when the dog is doing longer duration commands, where you will want to praise your dog but not release him or end the command (stay is the easiest example of this). Its better to distinguish the difference early and incorporate a release word like “free” or “okay”.
• Be very consistent- Do everything the same way, every time. You will confuse your dog if you do different things and expect the same result. For example, if you say “down” and expect the dog to lay down, you should always say “down” and not “lay”. Also, when working on “heel” or leash walking, make the dog heel every time, not just when you feel like it. The dog will not understand that he can pull sometimes, but not others.
• Be patient- Your dog will be disobedient, he will be hard of hearing at times. If you get frustrated easily, you may even have to take a break and come back to training later when you’ve calmed down. Frustrated moods will only further stress your dog and slow down training. Be patient and understand that training takes time.
• Do not give up- Never let your dog win. If you have to, force him physically to do what you ask. Note, this may not always work for every dog. But, in most cases, if your dog “wins”, he will continue to disobey because he knows that he can get away with it.

What else would you add to my list? Leave comments!

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