Basic training principles

Training your dog requires a good deal of persistence to be both an enjoyable and successful for you and your four legged friend. Here are some straightforward dog training ideas and tips to help guide you towards doing the job right.

Get your dog's full attention

Before you can start the actual physical process of training your dog, you must first ensure that you have his (or her) full and undivided attention.

This can be achieved by simply talking to him and offering him a mini treat at the same time. If need be, try feeding him his dinner piece-by-piece a few times to get him to focus on you.

Be generous with your praise

Always heap praise upon your dog when he succeeds in mastering a new command.

Clear signals and tone of voice

Always use the same "command" for a specific task you require of your dog. Don’t confuse him by using different command for the same task. Hand signals should be used at the same time as the voice command to help the dog understand.

Tone of voice is important and should be matched to the occasion. A happy, lilting tone is used to encourage the dog, a calm, firm tone for 'stays', a more sharp tone for 'no'.

Timing

Timing is critical to successful training. Praise your dog whenever he is doing something right. The praise or reward must happen immediately or the dog will not know which action earned the reward.

Be consistent

Consistency is very important for successful training.

Once you’ve establish a rule such as not jumping up on people or coming when called, you must, enforce it consistently. If the dog learns that he can get away with it now and then, your previous efforts will go down the drain.

Do not give a command that you can't enforce as you just end up 'training' the dog that he doesn't have to obey.

Find time to play with your dog
There is nothing that a dog (particularly a youngster) enjoys more than playing with you, and such an exercise is an excellent way of building a bond between you. Any such understanding that is built in this way is in itself an extremely useful aid to your future dog training and obedience regime.

A little bit of training every day

Try not to rush your efforts to teach your pet. Take it one day and one command at a time and, in particular, never give up on teaching that one command until you are absolutely sure that your dog understands exactly what is required of him.

Be patient, take one step at a time, and never try to push your training program along too quickly.

Short sessions of just 5-10 minutes work best. Daily or even twice daily sessions will give the best results. You can practice in your kitchen, backyard or include a session at the start of your daily walk, followed by the usual more relaxed walk. Try to train in different locations to give variety.

Be patient when things are not going well.

Even if your dog seems to be learning too slowly, or does not seem to be able to understand what it is that you require, never lose your patience or temper. Keep calm, and move along at a pace that your dog can handle, even if you believe that he should be making must swifter progress.

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