It’s an exciting time when a puppy joins your family. Puppies are so adorable and playful and fun that it is sometimes difficult to imagine that they will grow up to be adult dogs. If you want your puppy to grow up to be a well-behaved and responsible adult dog you need to start their training right away while they are still small.
Of course, when we think about the basics of puppy training we all think about housetraining and that may be the most crucial training we have to do. But what about leash training and training to come, sit, lie down and stay? These are also very important things for your puppy to master if he is going to become a well-mannered adult.
It is important to have your dog master these basics and there are some consistent things about dog training that always work. All animals learn better with positive reinforcement as opposed to negative reinforcement. Your dog wants to please you and make you happy and he will do anything to achieve that. However, if you give him negative reinforcement he will be fearful and less likely to react to you the way that you want him too.
As you are training your dog make sure that you reinforce the good behaviors with treats, affections, verbal praise and more. Your most oft-used reinforcement method should be verbal praise. Praise your dog almost every time but give him treats only occasionally. If he gets a treat every time he will come to expect it and too many treats can be bad for his health and your pocketbook.
Another thing is if you remember your high school science classes about classical conditioning and Pavlov’s dogs, intermittent reinforcement is more effective at confirming the behavior than consistent reinforcement. When Pavlov’s dogs got the treats every time they were less likely to exhibit the desired behavior consistently, yet when they believe they might get a treat the behavior was more consistent and reinforced deeper.
As you are teaching your dog commands you should use hand signals along with the words. As he gets better at the task, use just one or the other. Pretty soon, he will respond to either and that can make things really nice in different situations.
The least you will want to teach your dog would be to sit, lie down, come, and stay along with leash training. You may also +want to include some behavior training if you take your dog out in public frequently or if he is especially rambunctious and hyperactive. Well-behaved dogs are a joy to own and in order to be a well-behaved adult he needs to be well-trained.
Training your dog will deepen the bond between the two of you and both you and your dog will enjoy that advantage for a long time to come.
You must log in to post a comment.