Bringing a new puppy home is both a joyful and hectic experience. The joy comes with the fact that you are adding a new member into the family. However, the hectic part comes with training the dod. Dog training involves feeding training, potty training, and obedience training. With feeding training, you are required to teach your dog the appropriate meal times, where to get food from, and to train them not to snatch food from the kitchen. The process may also involve you changing your schedule to accommodate the dog’s meal training. On the other hand, potty training is all about training your dog on potty behavior and where to do his or her business. In this post, we discuss obedience training for dogs.
What is obedience training?
Obedience training for dogs refers to the act of teaching your dog good manners. It may also involve practices that are aimed at keeping your dog safe and under control. Dog obedience training also helps owners and those that come into contact with the dog to understand the difference between moments when the dog is aggressive and playful. There are different ways through which you can take your dog through obedience training. The most common method is reward-based training.
What is a reward-based training?
Reward-based training refers to a training method where the dog is either awarded or denied a reward based on the accomplishments or failures. For instance, during potty training, reward-based training would have you give your dog a treat for doing its business in the right place. It may also have you deny the dog a gift if it messes in the wrong destination.
The rewards can be in the form of hugs, cuddles, kisses, toys, or food-related treats. You must understand the difference between rewarding a dog and bribing it. To avoid bribing the dog, make sure that the rewards are not predictable. For instance, you do not have to give the reward every single time; there is an accomplishment but once in a while.
The process of obedience training
- The first step to obedience training is the training of the dog owner. Dog training is not an easy task that you can embark on without any experience or know-how. It is, therefore, vital that you carry out research that will assist you in the process.
- Having gained the necessary knowledge, you will need to collect some essential items. Such items include a leash or collar, treats, and toys.
- The next step would be to establish commands. For instance, you can choose the word to sit as a command. Have your dog sit in front of you, and label the behavior. Begin by showing them what it means then reward them when they get it right. Do this repeatedly until the dog is conditioned. Over time, you can choose to lose the treat to keep from encouraging bribing.
- Make the process fun by incorporating exciting games.
Take Away
The process of obedience training is not an easy one. It, therefore, requires a lot of patience and persistence on your side. Persistence is the key to ensuring that the lessons stick.
