When your puppy chews your slippers for the umpteenth time, you’ll wish you had gone through training with them! There’s no doubt that the correct type of training is of vital importance to ensure, at minimum, that your dog leaves those slippers alone!
Train your dog by using operant conditioning, body language, and giving your dog a job. This is essential because it will keep your dog safe and obedient. Other important aspects of training include housetraining and overcoming separation anxiety. Insider tip: K9TI (Free Workshop Available) is one of the best training solutions.
Moreover, training is essential to ensure your beloved fur baby’s safety and to ensure that they fit into your family and the community. If you’d like to know the best way to go about this – read on!
Why Dog Training Is Essential
Training your dog is not only beneficial to your dog but also saves you many headaches, chewed slippers, and affronted guests. Proper training sure would have been beneficial for that time my dog jumped on my great aunt!
A great deal of benefits arises from training your dog, including that your dog can then be left alone to wreak havoc. You can also be more assured of your dog’s safety. Training teaches them obedience, and their chances of running off and getting lost significantly lessen.
Training your dog will allow you to understand its behavior better. That way, you will be able to bond better with your dog and ensure you can eradicate any behavioral problems.
Effective Dog Training Techniques
Now that we’ve covered “why” it is so important to train your dog, the next step is understanding its ” how. ” The techniques detailed below will help you transform your dog from a four-legged terror to a pup with model behavior.
How To Train Your Dog Using Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning is a concept used in behavioral psychology and can be unbelievably helpful in training your dog. The term may sound very intimidating, but the concept is straightforward once you get your head around it.
Operant conditioning can be split into four quadrants: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive discouragement, and negative discouragement.
It is important to note that positive and negative words don’t mean anything inherently good or bad. Instead, they mean adding or subtracting something from the situation.
Positive reinforcement is what most trainers focus on, but there are other techniques to train your dog. For example, positive reinforcement is used to reinforce correct behavior. So, when your dog sits, you can give them a treat.
However, there are other techniques you can use to train your dog. For example, positive discouragement can also be used after your dog displays undesirable behavior such as biting or nipping. In addition, you can add something they don’t like to the situation, including tapping them lightly.
You can also take something away. Negative reinforcement occurs when you take something unpleasant away as soon as your dog does what you instruct them to do. An example of this is releasing pressure on a choke chain when your dog does what you want.
Removing something your dog likes to discourage undesirable behavior is called positive reinforcement. For example, when you take away your dog’s toy when they misbehave. This is the technique you should focus on the most after positive reinforcement.
These aspects of operant conditioning must all be used at the right time, and the workshops discussed below will show you when to do just that!
Why Body Language Is So Important
Using verbal commands alone is less effective than using body language as well. However, your dog will pay attention to your body language, even when it says something completely different from what you’re saying.
It’s no wonder, then, that your dog doesn’t listen to your commands to stop whatever destructive thing they’re doing. Especially when you’re laughing at the mess they have created. Your body language and verbal commands must align – which doesn’t necessarily imply what you think it does!
For example, when your dog jumps on you to greet you, giving your canine companion direct eye contact may encourage them. Looking away from your dog as they jump and folding your arms may help you discourage them from that unwanted behavior.
Once your dog is sitting, you can calmly give them attention once again. You can show your dog that its behavior is unacceptable through your body language. Make sure to praise your pet once their behavior is what it should be again, using the principles of operant conditioning.
Why You Should Give Your Dog A Job
Dogs can get rather listless if they don’t have a purpose. Dogs were bred to work with people, such as herd sheep or act as guard dogs. When you let your dog live in the lap of luxury without any responsibilities, it’s possible for them to get bored and act out.
However, one way to combat this is by giving them jobs around the house. This way, your dog won’t be so focused on chewing everything in sight but will gain a sense of purpose in knowing they are protecting you and fulfilling their duties.
For example, you can instruct your dog to search the house for intruders or even clean up their toys. If your dog barks every time you have visitors and you don’t want them to do that, for example, you can instead teach them to sit on their bed every time the doorbell rings.
Free Online Masterclasses – Service Dog Trainer’s Best Secrets – Try Free Online Dog Training Course
Training Dogs At Home: Tips And Tricks
Some of the most critical issues around training your dog are centered around how they are at home. So, here is the best way to housetrain your dog, help them overcome their separation anxiety, and safely interact with kids.
How To Housetrain Your Dog Successfully
The best way to housetrain a dog is to start early. However, even if your dog is not a puppy when you house train them, all hope is not lost. You can still make a substantial difference to an older dog’s training.
You have to factor in the general rule that the number of months puppies have lived is roughly the number of hours puppies can typically hold in their bowel movements. This should inform how frequently you let them out to pee or poo.
It is prudent to choose a spot where your dog can do their business if you’re not going to get up to let them out. You can mark this with pee pads to make the cleanup easier or use a doggy litter box.
You can use an odor neutralizer like vinegar to stop your puppy from leaving accidents in undesirable spots again. There is no point in criticizing your dog for an accident if your scolding doesn’t occur immediately after the accident occurs. Your dog won’t realize what the problem is.
So, try to let your dog out at night to do its business before bed. Once your dog is older, they can hold it in more, and you will clean up fewer accidents. But the faster you establish how things should be, the fewer nasty cleanups you’ll have, so it’s essential to be consistent.
How To Address Separation Anxiety
Separation anxiety can be addressed by gradually and slowly allowing your dog to get used to being left alone at home. This is called systematic desensitization. You can do this by first stepping outside for a few minutes and then gradually increasing it.
However, suppose your dog has separation anxiety because of boredom. In that case, you can play games with them, walk with your dog to tire them out, or provide toys for them to play with when you’re gone.
What To Do To Get Your Kids And Your Dog To Get Along
Training your dog to get along with kids is critical, even if you don’t have kids. There will always be kids around, especially in the park where you walk your dog.
It is essential not to leave young children and dogs together unsupervised. In addition, several other principles are prudent to observe when your dog interacts with children. For a start, you should always tell children to approach your dog cautiously.
Let your dog first sniff the child’s hand before you let the child pet them. Also, suppose your dog seems particularly nervous. In that case, you can always instead not allow the interaction to ensure the child’s safety and your dog’s peace of mind.
Moreover, while supervising the interaction, ensure that the child knows it’s not okay for them to pull on the dog’s ears or tail or hug the dog. In addition, you must show the child how to properly pet your dog.
If the child gets frightened by your dog, tell them not to run away, as your dog may see it as a game and want to hunt down the child. They should also avoid shouting. With these tips in mind, it is possible to ensure that any interaction between kids and your dog will go smoothly!
The Best Dog Training Online Classes
There are several options for training your dog. However, not all of them use effective techniques as outlined above. Therefore, weighing up the pros and cons of each one is essential, and I will help you do just that!
K9 Training Institute (Free Workshop)
The K9 Training Institute (K9TI) is run by Dr. Alexa Diaz. She has trained hundreds of service dogs and has a Ph.D. in animal behavior. The lead trainer of the K9TI is Eric Presnall, who hosted the successful TV show “Who Let the Dog Out” on Animal Planet.
The K9TI are massive proponents of the above mentioned techniques, including using your body language to train your dog instead of merely verbal commands. Using the free workshop (sign up here), you can train your dog to be as well-behaved as a service dog!
The workshop gives you tips on the training techniques as found above. In addition, the free workshop helped me teach my dog to walk with a loose leash, as the operant conditioning I learned was super helpful.
All you really need is 10-15 minutes a day of training, and you will end up with a perfectly behaved dog! As a bonus, the K9TI gives you extra tips on how to train your dog at home if you buy their Masterclass. That sounds like a tremendous deal to me!
Dunbar Academy
Dunbar Academy is another dog training course with free options. The course was founded by Dr. Ian Dunbar, who is also an animal behaviorist. They offer several classes, ranging from programs directed at giving advice on getting a dog to advice on behavioral problems.
However, the training methodology behind Dunbar Academy is more rewards-based. This is unlike K9TI, which is focused on body language and all quadrants of operant conditioning. Instead, Dunbar Academy mainly focuses on positive reinforcement.
Train Pet Dog
Another potential class you can consider is Train Pet Dog. This course is well known for its help in training puppies, but dogs of all ages have had great success.
Although there are free classes available for you to try out, the masterclass is what really helps get the job done. You can see a few more options available in the online dog training review.
The Final Verdict
Having experimented with all the abovementioned training programs. I can attest that K9TI was the most user-friendly program, as my dog responded incredibly well to the training techniques.
K9TI’s most outstanding feature is that your dog is equipped with the skills to lead a fulfilling life full of exciting tasks to keep them physically and mentally stimulated. Just like a service dog, my dog now has a job to perform. And I have noticed a dramatic behavioral improvement due to the highly effective K9TI methods. We highly recommend taking action and signing up for their FREE Training Workshop as seats fill up fast!
Conclusion
Training your dog doesn’t have to be an arduous task. With help from the experts, your dog can become as well-behaved and fulfilled as a service dog.
Operant conditioning, body language, and giving your dog a job can vastly improve their behavior. In addition, even old dogs can learn new tricks!
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