There seems to be a ton of different opinions and approaches when it comes to the subject of training your dog.

One good thing that has come out of this is that trainers have realized that positive reinforcement give your puppy more of an incentive to behave better than negative reinforcement (punishment)… Personally I have changed some of the way I train my dogs and have mixed feelings about giving the dog treats and too much praise during training, but these are some of the things that I have found to work over the years…

Using positive reinforcement has pretty much become the norm, with different kinds of treats, praise or even a “click” given when your dog performs what you ask them to do. For those of you wondering what the “click” refers to, I’m talking about Clicker Training (which is another subject for a different day).

These are a some basic principles to be observed if you plan on using the now, standard, postive reinforcement training with your dog during your training session:

1. Always start your training with a positive mindset with a calm confidence. Start with an easy command that you are pretty sure that the dog is able to perform. This will build confidence in your abilities which will builda positive attitude about training. By the way, if you choose to give your dogs treats during training, please use treats made for dogs… not hot dogs or table scraps (and make sure they are SMALL pieces).

2. If you are feeling down, don’t start the training session! If you’re feeling like you’re just not up to it, feel sick or are stressed out about your work or something, just put it off until you feel better. Your dog is going to pick up on it and will most likely behave accordingly. In other words, he won’t respond well to your commands because you are not projecting confidence (like an Alpha dog should).

3. This also applies if your puppy is sick, or had a stressful experience. You definitely don’t want to set your dog up to fail… you both need to be up to the task before running out and getting serious about your traniing.

4. Don’t try to force your dog to do something that obviously isn’t working. This is going to stress your dog out and it won’t go anywhere. Just go back to some of your other commands that your dog is capable of doing and try to build it into whatever behavior you want your dog to do.

5. Don’t get stressed or angry at your dog! If you feel yourself getting irritated or angry, STOP TRAINING! You don’t want your dog to associate training with negativity.

6. End the training with something easy. For instance you can review a few of the things you worked on, starting with the most difficult to the Easiest. Make sure you give them a quick praise or a treat. This will end your training with something positive.

7. After your session, have some fun with your puppy. Play fetch the ball or frisbee or something and let him run around.

Bonus Tip: By the way, I personally start a traning session with a long walk to “tire the pooch out” before we get going. If you do this, you will find that you get better results.

You will have noticed the recurring theme here: creating a positive and enjoyable atmosphere and attitude around the subject of training. Achieve that and you’re half way there - and what’s more both you and the dog are having a good time!

Tags: Dogs, Dog Training, Puppy Training, Canine Training

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