Training Your Dog Humanely Using Positive Training Techniques
A common mistake that many people make when training their dogs, whether house training, obedience training, or teaching them entertaining tricks, is using various forms of punishment when the animal doesn’t do what they want. Misinformed dog owners often use methods such as hiting the dog with a stick or locking them up on their own for ages.
This is very detrimental to the pet-owner relationship, and to the dog’s emotional wellbeing. If you persist on using these punishments whilst training then be prepared to produce a fearful and disrespectful dog who will not see you as someone to follow. Many owners obtain their dogs from shelters and as these dogs often have a bad history of neglect can struggle building up the respect and trust that is required.
Not only is punishment damaging to your relationship and your pet’s emotional health, it’s not effective either. More often than not, punishing your dog leads to defensive, aggressive behaviors. Once these behavior types are set in then you will have a job to erradicate them from you dog. Utilising positive reinforcement will get you and your dog to where you want to be faster.
Instead of punishing your dog for unwanted behaviors, reward them for good behaviors. This technique for training your dog works just great and is very effective in all types of situation. For example, if you catch your pooch urinating on the carpet, tell them “no” in a firm but gentle voice, and take them outside or place them on their puppy pad. Keeping a close watch on your dog is important. When you see your dog using the correct location for its toilet business make sure you give then loads of praise.
It won’t take long for your dog to make the connection between the bad behavior and your disapproval, and the good behavior and your praise. Pack leader status will be given to you by dogs and they just love to make us humans happy. This genetic hardwiring of your dog to make you happy works for you in the process of training.
The same principle applies to any situation, be it unnecessary barking, chewing on furniture or objects, jumping on or licking people, or any other of a host of annoying and potentially dangerous habits. If you want to be successful then you must remain patient and consistency. You will very quickly see that your efforts have paid off
Training your dog is all about experiences. Training your dog using positive experiences is an extremely fast and effective process