THIS IS AWESOME! My favorite dog trainer and dog whisperer of all time has just released a free video online explaining how to eliminate 94% of all unwanted behavior in ANY dog. Her name is Krista Cantrell and I absolutely LOVE the way she teaches. Click on the video to watch. You'll be glad you did...

This article serves as an introduction to my dog training guide by explaining the basic principles behind all dog training practices and some of the pitfalls that need to be overcome.

Dogs live in the present. Dogs remember things by association not by recall. Dogs do not work things out as we do. They think in concrete terms, it is very much action = consequence for them. As far as dogs are concerned, rewarded conduct is likely to be repeated whereas discouraged ot ignored conduct is usually avoided. This is what all dog training is based upon.

To take a simple example, if your dog sits and you promptly provide a treat or give verbal praise then he will begin to sit on his own in order to receive another reward. Conversely, if your dog jumps up for attention and you completely ignore him, this is a negative consequence and your dog will be less likely to repeat this behaviour in future.

To create meaningful associations you should praise behaviours that you want to encourage and ignore behaviours that you want to discourage. It all seems to be very easy doesn’t it? So why is dog obedience training such a contentious subject?

You only have about two seconds between action and reward to make an association this can be a problem. The consequence of this is that wrong associations can easily be made by an owner who is new to dog training. For example, your dog sits but by the time you give him his treat and verbal praise he is standing up – you have inadvertently praised the stand up rather than the sit. Another scenario would be to find that your dog has messed on the carpet when you come home. Having dragged him back to the crime scene and rubbed his nose in it probably saying ‘Bad Dog’, you throw him outside. All you have succeeded in doing is teach your dog that going to the toilet is wrong.

Another problem is that in the home environment a dog can have too many masters and can end up totally confused by conflicting associations and inconsistent training methods. A dog should only have one master and one trainer.

In this dog training guide I have explained the fundamentals behind dog obedience training. They are very simple but as the saying goes, easier said than done. However, a knowledge of the fundamental principles will always be of help with any particular dog training method.

Go to www.TrainMyOwnDog.com to see more articles on dog obedience training.

No TweetBacks yet. (Be the first to Tweet this post)

Technorati Tags: ,

Tagged with: •

Filed under: General Dogs Discussion

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!