In honor of National Train Your Dog Month, we will be looking at not only how to train your dog but where most people go wrong before they even start training. Last week we talked about the importance of training puppies as soon as they come home and living in the present with our dogs. Now that we are in a better mindset (because we have let go of our dog’s past), we want to set our dog up for success, not failure.
1. Needs - Let’s start with basic needs. When a dog’s basic needs are brought up in conversation most people automatically think food, water, shelter. And while those answers are correct, most people do not think of another basic need, which is psychological. Dogs need a purpose. Whether it’s hunting, giving protection, or companionship, dogs need something to focus on and succeed at. Acknowledging that basic need and combining it with a dogs drive to please their human will result in much more successful training sessions.
2. Attention - As you get ready to start your training session, keep your dog’s attention span in mind. If you want your dog to succeed, keep each training session short and sweet. Most dogs can’t learn to (or retain the commands for) sit, shake, and rollover in the same day. And if you want reliable obedience then you need to be repetitive and patient. Most dogs can give you their focused attention for 10 – 15 minutes.
3. Abilities - Remember that all dogs are different. Some abilities, like retrieving, may come easier to a Labrador while other abilities, like sprinting, come more naturally to a Greyhound. The pace at which your dog learns a command does not matter. All that matters is the end result, which should always be the mastered command.
4. Consistency - The key to successful training is consistency, consistency, consistency! All too often owners get frustrated and give up on their dog’s training. Either they stop training completely or they accept mediocrity. This is setting your dog up for failure. When you reward a partial sit rather than a full sit you are telling your dog that he is doing what you want. Now you have a dog that does not give you a consistent sit on command, but you can’t blame the dog (even though you want to), because he has been taught (and reinforced with rewards) that what he is giving you is what you want. Inconsistency is most apparent in multiple person homes. If no one is on the same page with training then the dog is constantly receiving mixed signals about what behavior is acceptable. If you want to turn your dog into a model citizen you must follow through and make sure everyone in the household (including guests who visit) is expecting the same behavior from the dog. If jumping is not allowed, no one should encourage or allow jumping. If dogs are not allowed on the couch, then they should never be allowed on the couch regardless of who is sitting with them.
Check back later this week to see what rules professional Hollywood animal trainer, Mark Harden, says every dog owner should know.
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