As a new dog owner, you may be overwhelmed with the amount of work it takes to make sure your dog is both healthy and well behaved. This article will give you tips regarding as a new dog owner, and ways that you can successfully train your dog.
If you want to have a well behaved dog, make sure that you are filling their most basic needs. They need to have water, food, shelter and love. These are essential to a happy and healthy pet, and only then will they want to or have the energy to let you tell them what to do.
Treats are not the mainstay for rewarding your pet when training. Dogs will learn that if you give them a treat for a response they should expect it always. This is not necessary and should be reserved for occasional rewards. Dogs see loving, physical contact as a reward as well and will enjoy it much more than a treat that is gone in a split second.
Play with your dog often. In order to train your dog efficiently, it is important to develop and nurture a bond between the two of you. Make sure you are taking the time out of your day to play with your dog. It will be fun and stress-reducing for both of you.
Dogs are creatures of habit. If you customarily take them out for their walk at the same time every night, they will grow to expect that walk, even to depend on it. Missing the scheduled date by even just a few minutes can result in an accident for the younger dog and even for the older one.
Show your dog that you love them and are proud of them. It’s easy in dog training to focus on the negative and try to show your dog that what they are doing is wrong. Make sure that you also work to accentuate the positive and praise them when they are doing well.
Do not ever use a shock collar to train your dog. They are often scams and, in any case, are completely unnecessary to proper dog training. Plus, shock collars can discourage your dog from behaving properly. The negative training causes negative outcomes.
While dog training with a leash, make sure that you are keeping the collar snug, yet a little bit loose. When the collar is too tight, it can actually make the dog want to pull you. A little slack can go a long way when you are dog training with a leash.
Pay attention to how much time you spend training in one session. If you try to focus for a long period of time on one command, your dog will show signs of boredom and begin to get antsy. Training sessions should be limited to about 10 minutes of time or less.
If your canine jumps on top of you, gently grab their paws and squeeze them; this will tell them that they cannot jump. This will not hurt him, but it is quite uncomfortable. It won’t take long for your dog to associate the unpleasant sensation with the act of jumping up, and he will quickly stop doing so.
A good dog training tip is to be consistent with the words you use when you communicate with your dog. English is a foreign language to dogs and they’re constantly trying to decipher what you’re saying. By being consistent with your words, your dog will be more likely to learn.
Only give commands you are prepared to follow through with, or the dog will learn that it is all right to ignore you. If you give the command to sit, the dog must sit immediately or you will enforce the command with a finger pushing down on the lower back. Never give a command and allow the dog to choose whether to obey you or not unless you want to let the dog be the one in charge.
Be sure to give your dog lots of attention and love. By not doing so, your dog will eventually intentionally misbehave. In their minds, any attention is better than none at all. Plus, your dog is a living creature and needs love just as much as any human does.
Does your pet strain and pull every time you put him on a leash? Pulling is very common and very easy to cure. Go to your local pet store and purchase a cheap harness. A harness can significantly reduce pulling, which will cause your walks to be more fun.
Choose a consistent command or sound to use when training your dog not to bark. Make sure everyone in the household knows the command or sound to use and applies it consistently. Dogs learn better with consistency and when everyone in the dog’s household gives a consistent message, unwanted barking can be eliminated faster.
Stop your dog from eating poop! For some reason, certain dogs tend to eat feces, either because it tastes good or they are bored. Another theory is that a dog will eat its feces because it sees the owner cleaning it up, and is trying to imitate that behavior. If you see your dog doing this, use the basic ‘leave it’ command. If your dog already knows this command, it will work immediately. Reward desired behavior. One last thing – dogs will eventually grow out of this habit on their own, so don’t worry too much about it.
As a new dog owner, you are faced with many challenges. Hopefully if you follow the steps presented in this article, you will be much closer to being able to successfully train your new dog and have a better understanding of what goes into dog ownership and training.
