Insight To Help You Teach Your Dog Obedience
A new pet dog is a great addition to your family, but it is important that they learn the rules and adapt some acceptable behaviors to live in your home. Here are some ways you can teach your dog to be obedient so they can be a great addition to your family.
Determine What Motivates Them
One of the first rules to begin teaching your dog obedience is to learn what motivates them. It is helpful to reward your dog when they learn the rules by giving them positive rewards, however, you can also discipline them by telling them "no" firmly or tapping them on the nose. As a positive way to reinforce their learning, you might use treats and other food or petting and rubbing their belly. As you work with your dog on your own or with an obedience trainer, select some ways you can reward them for their progress.
Know Their Attention Span
Your dog is going to have instincts and intelligence within them already based on their breed and their own personality. However, it is important to understand that your dog is going to have a short attention span, and when you are training them on new commands and house rules, you need to keep their training sessions short.
It is a good rule of thumb to not spend more than a few minutes at a time teaching them new rules, as dogs can only have an attention span similar to a toddler. And when you spend time working on commands and obedience, keep your training to only one command at a time. For example, work on teaching your dog to not jump up onto you when you arrive in the house after being gone. Only work on this issue at one teaching opportunity so you don't confuse them with other rules. Then, when they master that rule, you can move onto the next.
Get Everyone On Board
When you are working to house train your dog, it is important that everyone in the household is on the same page and knows the rules. Your dog may listen to commands and learn tricks that you teach them, but if someone else in the household gives them a command, the results should be the same. Even though your dog is yours, you will want your dog to know that everyone else in the home can give them instructions and help them stay on track with the rules.
For this reason, be sure you include other family members in your dog's training. This allows your dog to understand that if a command comes from you or your teenager, they still need to obey. Then, when you are away from the home and your dog is acting out, someone there can get the situation under control with the right commands. It is also a good reinforcement when your dog understands the rules are the same no matter who is at home with them.
For additional tips, check out available dog obedience lessons in your area.