Joanna Wilson
The majority of individuals adore their canine pals. When your dog isn’t educated to act in specified ways or avoid unpleasant behaviors, however, not every moment is enjoyable.
Many tactics have been passed down from unknown origins that tell you how to get your dog to stop doing something. But which way is the most effective, and how can you put these techniques to use?
Learn the most frequent ways for training your dog, as well as which ones should be avoided.
Table of Contents
How Should You Train Your Dog?
A dog can be trained in one of two ways.
The aversive-based strategy is the first. The second strategy is the one that is based on rewards. When you combine positive punishment and negative reinforcement tactics with your dog, you are doing aversive-based (discipline) training. Only the behaviors you want your dog to follow are rewarded in reward-based systems.
To encourage your dog to behave the way you want, aversive-based training employs strategies such as loud, unpleasant noises, physical punishments, and severe scoldings. Reward-based training, on the other hand, uses treats to motivate your dog to accomplish what you want. To reinforce that a behavior was excellent, treats, belly rubs, or other dog-pleasing actions are used.
Various experts favor one way over another. It is entirely up to you which one you use.
Some individuals believe that using a rewards-based strategy for training your dog creates a “event sequence” in which your dog associates you with good sensations when they follow your commands. Aversive-based techniques, on the other hand, make them fear you. Because of this dread, your dog will do whatever is asked of them in order to prevent bad feelings.
Understand How Your Dog Learns
Dogs, like tiny kids, learn a lot. They have the IQ of a two-year-old human. They just care about the immediate implications. They begin to understand our words as they get older. Some intelligence breeds can respond to up to 250 different stimuli! Despite this, every dog responds more to the tone of our voice than to the words themselves.
Scientists have identified three forms of dog intelligence:
- Instinctive
- Adaptive
- Working and obedience
When your dog learns the habits that were bred into them, this is known as instinctive learning. Adaptive learning refers to your dog’s ability to solve difficulties by learning from their surroundings and the environment around them. Working and obedience refer to their ability to learn the jobs and directions you give them.
You should focus on training that incorporates obedience tactics and the exact actions you want from your dog to get them to be obedient. Aversive and reward-based training have both been shown to be effective. If you want your dog to be a loving pet, though, you should use reward-based obedience training. Your dog will not acquire fear-based responses as a result of this strategy. It actually strengthens your affectionate bond with them.
Obedience Training Rewards
Dogs are intelligent enough to pick up on your desired behaviour. They’re also clever enough to figure out how much they can get away with.
Giving a dog rewards, praise, or affection is one of the most best methods to train a dog to perform a specific activity. Above all, the best reward is the one they desire the most. Treats may be preferable than praise if they are driven by food. If kids crave your attention, the best reward may be affection.
The most important thing to remember is to continuously reward your dog for the desired action. Rewarding undesirable conduct is not a good idea. When your dog exhibits the desired behavior, he or she should be rewarded. They become perplexed if you order them to lie down and then refuse to give them a treat until they stand up. They won’t be able to tell which conduct was rewarded.
Control Consequences Effectively
When you use reward-based training, your dog must understand that behaving in a way you don’t like has repercussions. When they do something wrong, the repercussions are withholding their prize.
A dog that jumps up to welcome their humans as they enter the house, for example, can be dangerous to an elderly person. If they jump up at you, don’t greet them or pay attention to them to teach them not to. Turn around and walk back out the door, repeating this process until the dog does not leap up. While you’re doing this, keep a treat in your palm.
Give the treat when the dog doesn’t jump up, and continue the activity until your dog doesn’t leap up when you come in. You should try it with everyone your dog is pleased to see when they walk into your house. This guarantees that they reward your dog for good behavior.
Training New Skills
Remember that your dog has the attention span and IQ of a two-year-old while you’re teaching him anything new. Your workouts should be brief and to the point. Keep them under 15 minutes. So that they don’t get confused, focus on one task or behavior at a time.
Make sure that you’re using the same commands for the behaviors that you want. If you use the same word but insert it into sentences differently every time you say it, your dog may not understand. For instance, if you want to train your dog to lie down, you will confuse them if you say “Lie down” one session and then say “Fido, lie down or no treat” later in the day. They might not know what to do.
Basic Obedience Dog Training
The American Kennel Club recognizes five basic commands that every dog should know. They are:
- Come
- Heel
- Sit
- Stay
- Down
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