Basic Dog Training
11 Mar 2010
Young dogs should begin training at an early age to help develop good behaviors, but even older dogs can learn to avoid bad habits. Before training starts it is best to research the dog’s breed(s) to get an idea of its personality ingrained traits or any specific quarks the breed(s) may have when it comes to training.
Training your dog humanely is the key to establishing a healthy relationship with your dog. Good behaviors need to be rewarded, while bad ones should be ignored or corrected. You should never use physical violence, “choke chains” or other pain inducing methods to correct a behavior. Over time this can cause the dog to become skittish around people or lose the drive to please its owner. Humane corrections include using a stern voice, withholding rewards or physically moving the dog where it should go without hurting it.
The most common training commands - sit, stay, heel, come and leash walking are easily taught through incentive (reward based) learning. This early learning can be important, since otherwise a dog might develop bad habits that will be significantly harder to unlearn later on. Much like their human counterparts dogs develop personalities over time that are the result of their experiences and what they are allowed to get away with. When possible, teach your dog basic commands early to avoid this sort of problem in the future.
Dogs are eager and ready to learn animals. With a little patience and a lot of consistency, it’s not that hard to teach dogs what behaviors you like and what definitely isn’t allowed. Working from a position of confident leadership you will quickly establish yourself as the leader of the pack and have a well behaved, happy dog to show for it.
Taylor also writes on articles on dog bed selection such as large dog beds.
