Basic Dog Training Strategies

Successful dog training is as much about strategy as it is about determination.  The way you communicate with your dog, and how you approach training sessions will have a significant impact on the success of your efforts. You have to make sure that your dog understands your wishes.  Conversely, it is also important that you understand how your dog thinks and communicates.  Here are some basic dog training tips to get started on the right foot.

Reward Good Behavior
It is so important to praise your dog when he does something correctly.  It is easy to forget all of the things your dog does right once you begin to expect it, but positive reinforcement will make your dog more willing to learn other tasks in the future.

Don’t Use Mixed Signals
In order to effectively communicate with your dog, you need to understand how they perceive things.  In the beginning, all they understand is praise and punishment.  Be careful not to mix the two under any circumstances.  You have to reward or punish your dog immediately after their actions if you want to reinforce them.  Waiting even a few minutes is enough to confuse the dog about what you are saying.

Emphasize Your Commands
In order to maintain your authority status as an owner, you need to follow through with your commands.  Don’t give your dog a command that you are not serious about, and never let your pet ignore your commands.  It is also advisable to not overuse your instructions.  The key is to build an importance level with your commands.  The dog should perceive your instructions as something that needs to be done right accurately and right away.

Disrupt Bad Behavior
Just as it is important to follow through with your commands, it is just as vital to stop bad behavior swiftly.  Immediately interrupt your dogs activities as soon as you notice them beginning to do something wrong.  Never let them finish bad behavior while you watch.  Dogs will assume that anything they do is acceptable as long as you don’t correct them.  By reacting quickly to the start of bad behavior, you can make the process uncomfortable for them.

Using these basic dog training strategies will quickly build an effective line of communication between your and your pet.  Once your dog clearly understands what you expect of them, you can then move on to conquer more advanced training topics.  Dog obedience training is a cumulative process that grows from a strong foundation.  By being patient and getting the basics down first, you will make the rest of the process much easier.

Start training your dog the right way with expert advice.  Click here for more information on our recommended dog training books.