Although dogs can be fun to hang out with, when they’re reactive and rebellious, dealing with them can become a burden. As a dog owner, you must be aware of these circumstances, and take your time to train it correctly. To us, a well-behaved dog is easier to love.
New owners are kind of lost when dealing with this, and most of them end up with disastrous dogs who can’t even behave at their own place. If you’re starting to train your dog, these principles will help you and save you some time before seeing any real results.
Reaction Time
You have to be aware of the time it takes for your dog to comply with your orders when training it. According to science, any reward or consequence you give your dog after any cue shouldn’t be after 1.3 seconds.
If you take longer than that to reward it or punish it, the dog won’t even understand the connection between the cue and the consequence. This is a key part of dog training.
Try to Be Consistent
This is the second most important rule when it comes to dog training. Your dog is smart, but it isn’t as smart as a human, and its training will be a much slower process. In order to reap those benefits, you must be consistent.
Don’t just perform training drills every now and then, try to train your dog 2-3 times a week and you’ll see amazing results. People often lose motivation, but when you start seeing results faster, you get excited and motivated.
Be Positive
While corrections can be used when training your dog, it’s easier just to use positive reinforcement when performing training drills. These should be tangible things and treats or petting.
When your dog does anything positive, you should quickly reward its behavior every time until this knowledge gets integrated. This is fundamental for faster results, as we all like praise instead of negativity.
Know How to Command
This refers to how do you act and move your body around your dog during the training drills. Your movements should be simple and commanding, as your dog will likely understand what do you want from it.
With good commands, training will be pain-free for the dog, as complicated signs and gestures will just stress it. This also decreases the training period in a huge way.
Good Triggers
This correlates with the last rule and it includes every type of action to reinforce cues around your dog. Something like a whistle can do the trick, but any sound can be used, you just have to be creative.
Something like clapping while calling its name is a great start. Accustom your dog to different triggers for different actions. A dog with perfectly defined triggers can be an amazing spectacle. People will love your pet.
With time and some effort, your dog can become the best-behaved dog you’ve ever seen. It can be surprising even for some owners to see the results so fast when they apply these rules.
So, if you’re a new owner, don’t be lazy. Start training your dog from the get-go and be consistent.
