Dogs (and all animals) learn best when they are rewarded for what they do. Punishing a dog for what they don’t do will only make the situation worse.
To start training, use an environment with very little distraction and select a reinforcer – a clicker or marker word. Then begin to teach the desired behavior. Read on Sierra Canine for more details.
Once your dog has basic good manners (sit, down, come) mastered, it’s time to start training for more complex behaviors. A trainer can help you learn how to train your dog by showing you techniques and providing clear instructions. A trainer can also teach you how to use positive reinforcement, avoiding the misuse of aversive punishment methods like choke chains and shock collars.
A trainer can show you how to use a clicker or marker word to signal the completion of a behavior. When used correctly, the clicker or marker word is a very precise form of positive reinforcement. When used in conjunction with treats, it is very effective. Food is usually the first thing people use to reward their dogs, but a variety of other things can be used as reinforcers. Play, verbal praise, and even other people can be used to reward a dog’s performance.
During training sessions, be careful not to get frustrated. Anger and impatience won’t help you or your dog. Training is a learning process for both the human and dog, and it takes time to master a behavior. Be sure to keep sessions short and to end the session while your dog is still enjoying it.
One of the most important skills to develop during training is the ability to time your commands and corrections properly. This is a skill that takes practice and trial and error to perfect, but it’s very important to your success. An incorrectly timed correction can actually do more damage than no corrective action at all!
A fun and easy behavior to teach is the “drop it” command. This will help prevent your dog from chewing or swallowing items that can be dangerous or toxic. Begin with the behavior in an environment with few distractions. Once the dog understands what the behavior means, gradually add more distractions. Once the dog understands what to do when you say “drop it,” you can use the command in more difficult environments.
Another very important command to teach is the “leave it” command. This will help prevent your pet from running out into the street or sniffing and licking things that you don’t want them to. To teach this, hold your dog in a sit or down position and point to the object you don’t want them to investigate. Then, when they are not looking at the object anymore, give a calm and firm “leave it” command.
Tricks
Adding tricks to your dog’s training regimen helps to keep them mentally and physically stimulated, promotes bonding, and is a fun way for both of you to stay engaged. Tricks also make excellent breaks within more complex training sessions, giving your dog the opportunity to succeed and stay interested while you continue training other behaviors.
Many of the techniques used to train dogs for tricks are based on science and reinforcers that are proven effective. Some methods require more knowledge than others and may take longer to master, but all can be taught with patience, persistence, and a positive attitude.
Start with a simple behavior and gradually add to it, building up to more advanced tricks. For example, when you teach your dog to “place,” start by simply clicking and rewarding them for looking at a mat. Eventually, you’ll reward them for placing one foot on the mat and then two feet on the mat, before moving on to getting all four paws on the mat.
Another great trick to teach your dog is to spin them around by focusing their nose on the treat and moving it in a circle toward their tail and back to their nose, encouraging them to follow it by spinning. This can be an excellent calming exercise for dogs that have anxiety or fears, and it teaches them impulse control as well.
Teaching your dog to fetch is also a useful, fun trick for them to learn, as it’s important for both mental and physical stimulation, bonding, and obedience. You can begin by simply throwing a toy, saying their name, and then calling them to fetch it. Then you can move on to throwing the toy a little further away from them, encouraging them to run and retrieve it.
Using a verbal cue for this behavior is more effective than using a clicker, though some trainers still advocate the use of a clicker. However, it’s important to note that a clicker is not the only way to provide clear communication with your dog; there are many different types of markers (kinesthetic, auditory, visual, olfactory) you can use.
Games
A few great training games can do wonders for a dog. They can also work on impulse control, a huge issue for many dogs. In addition, they can help keep the dog’s mind sharp and challenge him. Using games in training is something that everyone should do. There are a lot of different games out there and it’s important to find the ones that are best for each dog.
One example of a good game is “Put your toys away.” This is a fun and effective way to get a dog to put his toys away, and it’s also good for their mental fitness. It’s a good idea to start with a simple game like this and then gradually make it harder, i.e., first in your backyard, then at a park, and eventually on a walk.
Another excellent training game is “Hand Zen.” This is a good way to teach your dog to wait patiently while you have food out. This is a really great game to play when you’re doing a lot of obedience work with your dog and it can also be helpful for working on impulse control.
To play this, simply hold your hand out with the treat inside of it. Then move it slowly towards the dog’s mouth and reward her with the treat when she reaches it. When your dog is successful with this game you can make the motions even quicker and then gradually move your hand faster until she’s able to reach it.
Similarly, you can also use this game in the yard or at home to practice impulse control with your dog. It can also be useful when you’re at a park or on a walk, so that your dog learns to control his impulses in the face of distractions. Just remember to keep your sessions short, and end on a positive note. This will prevent the dog from becoming frustrated or disinterested in the activity. A dog who becomes irritated or bored in a game can have trouble learning to perform it again later.
Socialization
Dogs are social creatures, but they are not born with the skills that let them interact safely and confidently in their environment. It’s up to us to help them become comfortable with people, other dogs and a variety of noises, sights and smells.
Ideally, you should start socializing your dog when they’re very young and continue it throughout their life. This is when they’re most impressionable and have the greatest capacity for learning. The earlier they’re exposed to new experiences, the more comfortable they will be later in life and the less likely they are to have behavioral issues.
A good trainer will work to expose your dog to the full range of situations they will encounter in their lifetime. They will do this through a process called classical conditioning, which is a form of positive reinforcement training. In this method, you will use a trigger (such as the sight of a person or a treat) to initiate a response (e.g., jumping, barking). You will then reward the behavior you want to reinforce. Over time, you will add in more and more triggers to the response until the desired behavior occurs automatically.
The opposite of classical conditioning is the punishment-based approach to training, which relies on the use of negative reinforcement and/or physical or verbal punishment to correct undesired behavior. While this can be effective with some dogs, it is often too harsh and leads to a dog that reacts defensively to people and other animals. It is also important to note that not all trainers will utilize these methods in the same way and some may fall into a middle ground between positive reinforcement and the more traditional negative/punishment-based approaches.
It’s critical to expose your dog to other dogs in a controlled setting, such as at a dog park or during supervised playdates. They need to learn how to play with other dogs in a safe manner, which includes understanding the meaning of “cut-off” signals. Without this, they might interpret every interaction with another dog as a fight and escalate into resource guarding, aggression or even aggression towards humans.