Dog training is the process of teaching skills or behaviors to a dog. This includes teaching a dog to respond to certain commands, or helping the dog learn coping skills to stressful environment and when the dog learns the tricks, this can be a source of pride and joy for the owners.
Most dogs live with people who want them to behave in ways expected of them, the one that would be pleasant to be around, keep them safe and provide as well protection to owners and other pets. Dogs do not figure out basic obedience on their own. One of the basic rules to remember is that we humans should not apply human standards onto the dogs with the theory that the dog will understand. The hardest part of training is communicating to the dog in a humane way that your dog will understand. However, the basic principle of all communication is simple, reward the desired behavior while ignore or correct the undesired behavior.
A puppy requires discipline, consistency and patience of the owner. The puppy training phase is essential in raising a healthy and happy dog.
Obedience training is simple training your dog to be obedient. The two basic approaches to obedience training is first the negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement breeds fear. It makes your dog afraid of you and of others. This fear may cause aggression and unpredictable behavior. Next is the positive reinforcement. This on the other hand, creates bond that can last a lifetime. And using a clicker is the most effective tool to accomplish a task. The clicker is a tool that tells your dog the instant that he does a desired behavior. The clicking sound together with positive reinforcement is like a verbal praise to your pet dogs.
Here are some of the basic commands that you would want to teach your precious pups.
How to train you dog to lie down
This trick is a nice and useful trick and this is also a start of some basic tricks such as roll over, crawl and the likes.
Description
Your dog will be lying down with his front paws stretched out before him.
How to do it
There are various ways on how to do it. But the most basic one is have y our dog sit then say “Lay” then pass a treat in front of him, going all the way down to the ground with your hand and your puppy will naturally go after your hand or the treat and he will end up laying down. Give him the treat once when his forearms are stretched out. Do not forget to praise him a lot.
Tips
After a while just say “lay” while pointing your finger to the ground, your dog will lie down on your feet.
How to train your dog to stay
This trick is really useful you can use it especially during play where you will command your dog to stay while you hide stuff for him to find.
Description
When you command your dog to “stay”, your dog will stay in the spot you placed him, either sitting or lying down.
How to do it
Hold a food treat in front of your dog and make him sit. Then say “stay” while holding your hand open in front of him, walk away a few steps. Make sure that you are facing him and praising him like “good boy” if he does not move. Start with just a few steps and make the stay always longer. Give him the treat when you go back to him.
Beagle Rolling
Tips
You can have your dog sit when he is staying but you can also make him stay when he is lying down.
How to train your dog to roll over It is essential that your dog knows the “lay” position in order for him to easily get this trick.
Description
At your command, your dog will roll over his back and you can train him how to do it more than once.
How to do it
Starting from “lay” position, say “roll over” then gently roll your dog by pulling or pushing him to the other side until he makes a complete roll. After he has made a complete roll, make him sit, praise him and give him a treat.
Tips
This trick can be a hard one because your dog will have to lie with his belly up and some dogs do not like this position. If ever your dog is one of those, do not insists too much. There are still other tricks that he can learn.
How to train your dog to sit
German Shepherd
Description
Getting a puppy to sit is perhaps one of the most basic commands that you could give a try for your dog to perform. Remember to give your puppy treats as positive reinforcement when he does the desired behavior.
How to do it
Say the word “sit” and then you may have to push your puppy down in order for it to sit down. You have to do it over and over again until your dog will eventually associate the word sit with the action.
Tips
Remember to have a treat at hand when teaching your dog with this command. Put the treat right up to their nose then push down their end until eventually your dog will have his head up to reach the treat.
How to train your dog to fetch
Description
The “fetch” trick is one of the most played with dogs and puppies. This is actually simple. Just throw a toy, usually a stick or Frisbee or a ball and then ask your pup to go after the think and bring it back to you.
How to do it
Fetching is probably one of the most instinctual trick that a dog has. First you need to have your dog by your side, thrown the ball and your dog will immediately follow it and grab the thing. All you need to do is make sure that you say the word “fetch” first being sending the dog running after what you have thrown. Praise him and give him a treat once he gives back the thing.
These basic commands provide you and your dog quality time for bonding. It also keeps the dog safe and this ensures that your dog will not adopt any unwanted behaviours not to mention destructive behaviours. Obedience training is a positive step toward lifelong dog and owner pure bliss.
Photo Credit: By Tim Dobbelaere from Ieper, Belgium (Man’s best friend) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
By Rlevse (User:Rlevse) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
