Dog Obedience Training For Your Pet Dog

You must have patience when trying to develop good behavior in your dog just about as much as raising a child. For the most part we as humans don’t have that much patients. So when trying to train your dog to behave you may need to train yourself.

When training your dog, keep in mind that daily sessions are needed to reinforce the desired behavior you want. Half an hour to an hour time slots will be most rewarding. Remember that no matter how much time has gone by, if you are starting to lose your control or your patience you must end your training session.

Your goal should be to increase the “time to boiling point” bit by bit every day. Don’t forget that you and your dog are working together in this training and that your dog is only able to understand commands at the level of a two-year-old toddler. This is even true for breeds that are easily trained. There may be exceptions to this, but those are few and far between.

Dog behavior questions can always be answered by thinking about nature. In nature, dogs live in packs where there is an alpha dog or leader. When training your dog remember you are the boss or alpha dog. Remember in order for your training to work you must assert yourself as the leader and not the other way around.

When giving commands, be firm, but do not yell. Do not get angry with your dog when they do not obey. Rather than becoming frustrated with your dog, persist in your practice. Also, do not let the dog become the alpha of your pack. Your goal in training should not be to stroke your ego or to feel like you have power over your dog. The goal should be to have a safer environment for your dog and your family.

Teaching your dog to listen may not be easy. Your dog may be a natural alpha and may not want to take orders. However, it is possible. In wild packs of dogs, the role of alpha will change among pack members when one becomes more assertive than the current alpha. Consistently act as a leader to your dog and repeat these training techniques, and your dog will learn to respect you as alpha and will follow your commands.

No matter how well you train your dog, your dog still has a mind of its own and won’t always follow the commands you issue. You and your dog will get frustrated if you expect him to learn a command with too few repetitions or to always perfectly follow one that you taught him before. Your dog does not have the same memory as a human. It is even different from very young humans. Get to know your dog. Acknowledge your dog’s unique qualities, his learning capability, and any limitations he may have.

Breeds vary in their ability to be trained as do individual dogs. There are dogs more energetic and spirited by nature such as terriers, retrievers and Dalmatians. Some are more calm like basset hounds and collies. Age plays an important role too. A ten-week old puppy will not pay attention the same way a three-year old dog will.

The best way to train your dog is by working with their unique personality traits. Do not yell at your dog needlessly or use strong physical punishment whenever they don’t immediately obey. This will not help train your dog. In the end, training is about building trust with your dog so that he will obey you by choice rather than through fear.