Sunday, August 8, 2010

Train Your Dog More

There is a direct relationship between training and your dog obeying you. Think of training as education for your dog. If you want your dog to understand you and not be ignorant about what your asking you need to educate them as to what your words mean and what behaviors are acceptable. A dog is going to be able to obey you because it knows what you just said and it no longer has to guess.

Dogs have certain behaviors that they do naturally and don't know that you don't want them to do it. Barking is a prime example. Some dogs use barking more than other breeds and they need to be educated as to when it is acceptable to bark and when to be quiet. Kota is a good example of coming from a breed that is naturally a barker. He gets excited about going outside when I take him potty. He starts to bark and won't quit till your walking out the door. I have to put him back in the laundry room if he doesn't stop barking when I ask. I wait till his is calm again and then we start over again. We don't walk out the door until he is relaxed enough to listen to me. Many times the barking is irritating so we hurry to run out the door to get them to stop but it only works at reinforcing the behavior insuring that the barking will continue.

Training is the greatest education you can give your pet and it can be as simple as 5 minutes a day of structured training. But don't forget to stop and take the time when the situation arises. Don't let your training opportunity pass away.

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