Basic Obedience tips for dog owners

We all want our dogs to behave as we’d like, so teaching them some obedience tricks is a good idea. The earlier you start training your dog, the better. If you want to reinforce good behavior and stop bad behavior in your pet there are a number of things you can do to help your dog become an obedient member of your family.

1. Work out several single syllable commands you will use with your dog. Dogs don’t speak English so you need to keep your commands simple and consistent throughout the family. Words such as “heel”, “go”, “stay”, “down”, “off” are all common terms used when teaching dogs obedience.
2. Use a firm, kind voice when training your dog. Their hearing is much more acute than ours so yelling at your dog will not make him do things any better.
3. Always use positive reinforcement when your dog does the right thing. When teaching them obedience commands such as “sit” or “stay”, reward them with affection, encouraging words such as “good boy”, food treats or play.
4. Dogs love games, so if possible, employ game playing into your obedience training sessions. This way, your training sessions will become their favorite time of the day.
5. Start each obedience training session with your dog sitting on the left hand side, in the “heel” position. When your dog has mastered this command, he will be ready to try a new one.
6. Don’t train your dog for longer than fifteen minutes at a time. Like a child, a dog’s concentration span is shorter than an adult’s.
7. When you give your dog a command, don’t reward him until he does the right thing. Reward him immediately he gives the correct response.
8. Be patient with your dog. It may take quite a few practice runs for him to do the things you want him to do.
9. If you need to punish your dog for incorrect behavior, you must give the punishment immediately after the act has taken place. If you leave it a few seconds to give the punishment, your dog won’t know what he is being disciplined for. He will not link his bad act with the punishment and will become confused and even fearful.

Giving your dog obedience training will not only make him a better behaved pet, but it will also help in socializing him. Directing your dog in a positive way gives your pet a ‘job’ and helps him expend some of his mental energy.