Dog Training: The Guiding Principles

If you’ve never trained a dog in your life, it may seem like an imposing job. Truth be told, there’s a lot to learn, so we won’t tell you you can learn everything there is to know in a single article. BUT… You can learn the basic guiding principles that will help you to understand the whole training process, to know why it works and how it works. Here are the three core principles of dog training…

Consistency

You simply cannot do one thing one day and another thing the next. If stealing food off the table gets a whap on the nose, it has to always, always, always get a whap on the nose. The only exception is when you don’t catch them doing it. Doing a trick should always result in a treat or a scratch behind the ears. It’s all about consistency. You need to treat them the same day in, day out.

Reinforcement, Positive and Negative

Don’t just punish your dog for being bad, reward them for being good. You need to include both in your training regiment in order to raise a dog who is well disciplined, loving, and who knows that they are loved. If you’re inconsistent or if you use an unbalanced training program where it’s all punishment or all reward, you wind up with one of those dogs that we like to call “a spaz”.

Show Your Dog Love

Your job is more to be your doggy’s mom or dad, not their drill sergeant. Yes you need to be a disciplinarian, but take some time to just play and have fun. Don’t just make it ALL about training. Make sure they’re well behaved, but take some time to just let them curl up at your feet while you scratch them behind the ears. Raising a dog is one half discipline and one half affection.

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