There
are a few pointers I think you will find useful when
beginning to train your dog or your puppy.
State
of mind
First of all, only train when you are in a good mood.
If you have a head ache, if you are tired, in a bad mood,
or upset in any other way, then leave the training for
another day. You want to be able to focus on the task
at hand with 150% of your attention.
Book
off enough time
When you set out to do a bit of dog training, don't have
alternative motives with your trip out - going to the news
agent for the paper, visiting a friend, taking the bottles
to the recycling bank, etc. The problem with alternative
motives is that you can easily get stressed and loose your
training mode, if the training doesn't progress as fast
as you had expected.
If you for example have booked off 20 minutes to teach your
dog to walk nicely on lead, whilst going to the news agent
for the morning paper, and know the trip to the news agents
normally takes 10 minutes, so you thought giving your dog
double that time would be sufficient... when 20 minutes
have passed and you have only got half way, I wouldn't be
surprised if you'll start building up a bit of an attitude
to your dog. But it isn't your dogs fault, it is yours for
having a second motive with your trip. If you had set off
on your walk, with the sole intent to train your dog not
to pull on lead, then maybe you would be getting somewhere
and you'd be able to keep your temper.
Short
repeated sessions
You are more likely to be successful in your training if
you do lots of short sessions. Training for 2 minutes, 5
times per day will bring you to a result much quicker than
training for an hour once a week.
The
right reward
Do you know what your dog finds rewarding? If your dog normally likes Schmackoes
when you are training in the back garden, but he will not even sniff them when
you are out on a walk, your reward isn't high value enough for the situation.
Have
you tried pieces of ham, chicken, mackrel, cheese? Maybe your dog is more mad
about balls than he is about food?
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