You may have heard about many dog training tips. But how do you know that the advice given is best for you and best for your dog? Also, what does ‘best’ even mean? It can vary from person to person.
This article will assist you in finding the best ways to train your dog based on the experience of experts in the dog training field.
We’ve personally interviewed world-leading veterinarians and dog trainers like Dr. Ian Dunbar. So don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when we release new interviews with the experts.
Contents:
1. What are the benefits of training my dog?
2. How do dogs learn?
3. How Should You Train Your Dog: Our Top 5 Tips?
4. Rewards For Obedience Training
5. House Training and Crate Training Your Dog
6. Leash Training Dogs and Puppies
7. How To Socialize Dogs and Puppies
8. Clicker Training for Dogs
9. Basic Dog Commands and Fun Tricks
10. Training Your Dog New Skills
11. Advanced Dog Training
12. Conclusion
What are the benefits of training my dog?
Dog training is a rewarding hobby for most, and a rewarding career for some. Training a dog is one of the best things you can do for your companion animal. There are several reasons why, including improving behavior and preventing accidents from ever happening.
Training your dog is a great way to keep them active. It will also help curb or prevent unwanted behavior such as chewing, digging, and/or excessive barking. You can teach your dog how to sit, roll over and even fetch. Moreover, you’ll develop a stronger bond with them.
Now before we get into the 5 essential dog training tips there are a few more quick things you need to know…
How do dogs learn?
Dogs learn by interacting with their environment. They are good at picking up on things that interest them and can gradually get better at it over time. By watching and listening to us, dogs learn how they should behave.
Dogs learn in many ways, including observation and imitation. One study showed that dogs could imitate a human’s behavior after seeing it done once.
The summary concludes: “Dogs can learn, retain and replay actions taught by humans after a short delay. According to a new study, this deferred imitation provides the first evidence of dogs’ cognitive ability to both encode and recall actions.”
This ability was seen in different conditions, even if they were distracted by different activities during the interval.
Related Article: Top Dog Academy By Dr Ian Dunbar Review
How Should You Train Your Dog: Our Top 5 Tips?
- Know why you want or need help with training your dog. Think about your main reason for wanting a dog in the first place. Make sure you know what kind of dog best suits your needs and lifestyle, or anything else that involves taking care of a pooch!
- Rewarding good behavior. Train with food treats that are special, tasty, and appealing to your pet. We all love food, don’t we? It’s best if you can reward them within around 1-3 seconds of their good behavior so they associate the two together: thinking ‘this is ok’! Repeat this process until it comes naturally to both of you, it’s best to keep it short and action-packed; 5 minutes is enough at first.
- Asking Your Dog To Sit On Command. While this is basic, it’s one of the most important to control their behavior. Make your dog or puppy sit whenever you ask and every time you ask. It’s best to use food treats as a reward for their good behavior, so get them sitting straight away. Do not let your dog jump up on you! This is best also for when greeting new people, especially little children. And it’s a good idea to get them used to sit before they cross a road while you’re walking your dog so they can begin to learn the dangers.
- Do not encourage bad behavior. We see this all the time. Often dog owners will try to stop their dog barking by giving him a bone, or some food, without making them behave beforehand. All this does is teach them that when they bark, they get fed. Not a good idea!!
- Be present with your dog. Your dog picks up on your energy. They are much more sensitive than we are. Always be positive, calm, and friendly. Think about your body language. If you’re angry or upset it will most likely reflect in your dog’s behavior too.
Rewards For Obedience Training
According to the RSPCA “Reward-based training is enjoyable for the dog and positively enhances the relationship between the dog and handler. Rewards may be in the form of a food treat, favorite chew toy, or verbal praise such as “good dog!” in a pleasant tone of voice, to be given when the dog performs the ‘good behavior.”
You know your dog best so use the reward that is most suitable. It’s often a good idea to mix the rewards up. Variety is the spice of life!
House Training and Crate Training Your Dog
If your dog is going to stay in the house, it is important that it has its own place for when it goes to the toilet. Your home will be much more enjoyable if there aren’t any “accidents” lying around the property.
House training also gives you more control over your dog because you set the rules of where they should do their business and then expect them to stick to these rules. This makes life much easier for those who live with dogs with behavioral problems as well as those who have smaller children in the household, especially if they are still toddlers or younger,
When it comes to using a crate to train your dog, it’s important to remember to never use it as a punishment or to isolate the dog from you. Dogs are social animals and they will take this as a negative experience.
It’s also important that you try not to leave your dog in there for too long; in fact, preferably just when they’re sleeping or if you give them a bone to chew on. This is important because it doesn’t make the crate a bad experience for your dog and they’ll be much more likely to stay in there when you want them to. This is our favorite dog crate with a few extra bonuses for free.
Leash Training Dogs and Puppies
Leash training your dog is important because if your dog is off-leash and it picks up a scent that triggers its prey drive, the dog may run after whatever it has sighted. When this happens, you may not be able to call back your dog. Leash training is great for puppy owners because it teaches your puppy to heel beside you. It also instills a level of respect for you as the owner.
Although dogs that are trained in leash training usually have a great, solid temperament, there are some breeds of dogs, such as German Shepherds which may be more difficult to train. Any breed can be difficult or easy with leash training; it depends on what method you use and how consistent you are with the pup while teaching it.
It’s always best to start your dog from an early age when it comes to leash training. Start by using the leash at home every now and then so that it gets used to walking around on a lead, then once your dog is comfortable you can go out into the world where there are many more distractions. Carry some kibble or tiny treats in your pocket to reward good behavior while on a leash. This is our favorite dog leash.
How To Socialize Dogs and Puppies
Socializing your dog is important because it helps them when they grow up. When dogs aren’t socialized, they grow up to be more aggressive towards other people and animals.
To socialize a puppy or dog, take the following steps:
- Let your dog meet new people in a safe environment.
- Introduce your dog or puppy to different types of pets such as cats and rabbits. This will help them get used to any type of pet they might come across in their lives.
- It is also important for them to be around kids because sooner or later, you will have kids over at your house. Being familiar with kids can make it easier on both you and the child if there was an accident involving a young rider trying to ride your dog by themselves.
- Take them out to different areas such as the beach, lake or park where they can meet new people and make new friends. This will also keep them in shape because you want your pet to enjoy life with you in any way possible. If they are more active, it could mean less of a chance for obesity problems down the road.
- Allow them access to other animals so that they can interact with each other in friendly ways. Depending on the type of dog you have, this step may be difficult if not impossible. But if you’ve properly trained them using the steps above then this will be much easier.
Clicker Training for Dogs
Clicker training for dogs is a method used to teach dogs a command. This is achieved by associating an action with a sound (in this case, the sound of the clicker). Clicker training for dogs works well because it allows you to reward your dog in real-time instead of waiting until he does something right and praising him afterward.
This technique was created by Karen Pryor, who called it “Clicker Training.” Here are the basics:
To begin, get yourself a clicker. We like this one. When you are ready to begin training, show your dog the clicker. There will be a lot of new things happening at once in this process; you want to make sure he is focused on the correct one.
In preparation for actually using the clicker, practice clicking it on your own first so that your dog knows what sound she should expect when she does something right. It may seem like an odd object but her brain will connect it with something good soon enough!
The next thing to do is show your dog the command you want him to learn. Your dog may have already learned that when you hold up a treat and say “sit”, he should lower his bottom onto the ground. This is great! But now you want to associate this action with the noise of your clicker so that he can figure out what the sound means and that a good thing will happen for him.
Once again, you’ll need something your dog really likes: in this case, it’s a treat. Hold up the treat and say “sit” while giving your dog eye contact; make sure she knows you’re talking to her! She won’t know why she is getting a treat right then, but soon enough she will catch on.
If your dog does what you ask and sits, click the clicker! Immediately give her the treat. After a few repetitions of this process, your dog will recognize that when she hears the sound of the clicker, she gets a reward; after only a few days of practice, she may sit just to get that click and treat! That’s how easy using a clicker is for dogs.
There are many other uses for a clicker. But we’ll leave them for another blog post. This is our favorite dog clicker.
Basic Dog Commands and Fun Tricks
Some of the most basic dog commands and tricks are:
- The Sit Command: This command is used by dog trainers to get their dogs into position for training. The one word, “sit,” when said in a calm and positive manner, will cause most dogs to automatically sit down.
- The Down Command: This is another basic command that will get the dog to lie down on its stomach or side at your feet. The command can be given by using a target stick held in front of you so you can tap your pet’s forehead if it has not already mastered this skill on its own.
- The Come Command: This is an important command that you should get your dog to learn early on. The reason you want your dog to come when you call is that it is one way of controlling the dog during a moment of excitement or distraction.
- The Stay Command: This command teaches the dog to stay in place until told otherwise by its master. It can be used by owners to get their dogs to stay in a particular area or position.
- The Heel Command: This command will teach the dog how to walk beside its owner. You can use it during walks for better control as well as public relations purposes.
- The Off or Leave It Command: This command teaches the dog that they should stop doing something.
Training Your Dog New Skills
Everybody loves an obedient dog who knows many exciting skills. The best way to continue training your dog new skills is by keeping him interested in learning how to do them.
Many dogs just love being given the opportunity to learn new things, whereas some want nothing more than to be left alone. You’ll know which type of dog you have when he is faced with a new learning experience. A dog who wants to learn will show lots of interest by using lots of his senses and making sure that there’s no doubt in his mind about what he needs to do, so that he can complete the task required for a reward.
Make sure your dog has had enough exercise before starting any training session because this gives him all the energy he needs to put into getting it right the first time!
Advanced Dog Training
There are more advanced dog training skills and techniques like clicker training, scent detection, agility, and more.
The easiest way to learn advanced dog training is from a professional. If you are interested in teaching your dog some of these more challenging skills then why not join an online dog training membership.
We’re big fans of Dr. Ian Dunbar and we encourage you to sign up for his Top Dog Academy. Use this link to learn more.
Conclusion
Training your dog is a great way to keep them happy, healthy, and engaged while spending time with you. There are many different training methods that can be used depending on the type of behavior problem you’re trying to correct or skill you want your dog to learn.
We hope this blog has helped give some direction into how best to train your pup! If it hasn’t, don’t worry we’ve provided links below for more information about our favorite tools and resources available today for helping owners find their perfect canine companion.