Training your dog is a must! Not only is it an important way to teach them about your expectations and boundaries so that they behave appropriately, but it’s also a great way to provide them with enjoyable stimulation and build a bond with them—provided that you do it properly.
Know Your Dog
Step one before any training project is to get to know your dog. Your dog’s personality will give you important information on how to pace their training, what kinds of things they may (or may not) enjoy learning, and what kinds of reinforcement will be most effective.
For example, if your dog has a hard time focusing on you when other people are around, you need to start your training without any other people around to distract them. In fact, you should probably be doing this anyways (see the 3 D’s), but some dogs do better on staying focused than others, and you can generally move a little faster with them.
Likewise, if your dog isn’t highly food motivated, you’ll have to figure out other forms of reinforcement to use. Pay attention to what your dog is trying to tell you and your training process will go much more smoothly. We want to work with what naturally motivates them, not try to cram them into a one-size-fits-all box.
Which leads us to our second tip…
Make Training Enjoyable
Training needs to be enjoyable for everyone involved if you want to make good progress. If all your dog finds during training sessions is frustration and punishment, they’ll quickly become averse to training. And even if they aren’t strongly averse to training, we want to keep things fun and interesting for them so we can keep them engaged and progressing.
Once your dog has the basics of whatever you’re working on down, switch things up a little for them. Vary the types of reinforcement you’re using, or try to incorporate some fun training games into the mix.
If your dog likes to play tug-o-war, incorporate that into your “drop it” training and get some exercise and enrichment accomplished while also training good manners.
Get animated (if your dog likes that kind of thing), get involved with them, and make them want to train!
Stay Consistent
Consistency is huge in training. Your dog needs to know what you’re asking for and what you expect from them, otherwise you’ll create confusion and frustration for everyone.
Stay consistent with your verbal cues and hand signals, as well as your expectations. Your dog will have trouble learning to stay off the table if you occasionally allow them to get away with being up on the table. Rules are rules and everybody in the household needs to be on the same page with them. If one person allows the dog to be on the furniture and the other doesn’t, you will cause confusion for your dog and have to do unnecessary corrections, which may damage your relationship with them.
Another big part of being consistent is making the time to train. You can’t expect to make a lot of progress if you’re only training for one day of the week and then forgetting about the rest of them. Effective training happens daily!
Training happens any time that you’re interacting with your dog, even if it’s not formal or conscious. They are paying attention to you for their behavior cues, so get on board with a training plan and stay consistent with it.
Learn When to Give it a Break
The flip-side to being consistent is knowing when to take a breather. Training can be heavy mind work for your dog, and it can be very tiring after a while. Pay attention to your dog’s focus and if they start getting sloppy, confused, or frustrated, take a break and start again later.
The same rule applies to your own focus too. If you’ve had a rough day and you’re getting frustrated with your dog, give it a break. Training sessions don’t always have to be a specific duration.
That’s the beauty of being consistent; if you’ve been on top of training and had a great five day streak, you’ll have more slack to take a rest day or do a shorter session on that sixth day, when you might not feel up for it, without severely affecting your dog’s progress. Everybody needs a little down time occasionally!
Try to Avoid Punishment
Avoiding the heavy-handed use of punishment goes hand-in-hand with pacing your training. You need to start things off easy for your dog and only progress as quickly as they allow.
If you’re trying to train your dog not to jump on guests, you don’t want to just toss them straight into a party situation without lots of practice to build up to it. Your dog will have real difficulties listening to your cues and you may end up having to correct them more than is productive.
Don’t work against yourself by getting ahead of yourself. Pace things according to your dog’s progress and set them up for success. If you end up having to punish or correct them too often, you need to take a step back.
And remember, if you’re finding that your training session is deteriorating, take a break and come back to it when everyone is feeling refreshed and motivated!
For more help with training your dog, get in touch to set up a consultation!
