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How to be a good teacher to your dog
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Ari is ready for his first lesson. Photo Credit: Dima's Dog School.
Welcome to Scottsdale’s DOG HOUSE…
One of the most valuable things I learned about dog training when I ‘studied’ under Dima Yeremenko in London is how to be a good teacher to your dog. Many of you are likely paw-deep in training right now, as the weather conditions are perfect! Yeah for living in Scottsdale, where the sun is always shining! (For those of your reading in cooler climes, sorry for gloating...) Grab those leashes, get out there and have some fun!
Here are the golden rules of being a good teacher as taken from Dima’s Dog School: The Foolproof New Way to Train Your Dog.
- Use Your Dog’s Name. It is important to ‘condition-use’ your dog’s name to the required task. There is no point in trying to come up with some other name or nickname if he’s never heard it before in training. If you are calling your dog ‘Suzy,’ don’t call her ‘Suz,’ or Sweetie-pie, or anything else. Stick to one name only. Much later you can start adding in variations as her vocabulary expands. But in the beginning, keep it simple.
- Follow Your Dog’s Name With a Command. It is also important to follow your dog’s name with a command or suitable gesture. It sounds obvious but many of us call our dogs without actually asking them to do something, and then we get frustrated that they didn’t read our minds and do it! So do you and your dog a favor and ask him properly for the command you wish. ‘Barney, roll over!'
- Be Consistent in Your Commands and Signals. Don’t make up different words and signals for the same thing. Your gesture and command for ‘sit’ for instance, should always be the same. It doesn’t matter what they are, as long as you use them consistently. ‘Burt, down!’ Will be far more effective than ‘Burt, dear, please lie down for mommy.’
- Be Consistent in Giving Rewards. Especially in the early stages, you’ll need to give your dog a reward for every correct response he gives, and sometimes just for half a response or even an intention to do it. Only later, when he has a firm grasp of your commands, can you begin to treat less often.
Be Proactive, Not Reactive. The more organized and knowledgeable you are about the behavior of dogs, the problems that arise, and the solutions that are available to you, the better prepared you will be to handle new training issues. Dogs change over time, especially while they are growing. Males, for instance, often begin to show domineering behavior. But if you are aware of this and know beforehand what to do when you see such behavior, you will be better equipped to tackle the problem swiftly.
The key is to prevent bad habits from forming is to get on top of them early.
It is much harder to break a dog of a bad habit than to stop it from happening in the first place, before it has become a learned behavior/response.
Watch Your Body Language. When you are asking your dog to do something, make sure your body language makes sense. For instance, when you are first teaching your dog to sit-stay, don’t go play with another dog. Wait until he knows how to sit-stay and then you can use such tricks later for distraction training.
Be Persistent in Your Training. It’s not good enough to ask your dog to do something one day and mean it, and then another day, not to mean it. You aren’t communicating to him well if you do this. ‘Harry, stay!’ should always mean ‘Harry, stay’ and not Harry can ignore you and go drink from his water bowl. If you aren’t going to be able to follow through on a command, then don’t ask!
Be Precise in Your Timing. Immediately after your dog responds in some way to your command, you must be ready to deliver an appropriate response to educate him how best to respond to the command in the future.
You’ll probably achieve a 99% success rate if you react in the first couple of seconds after he responds; 50-60% if you acknowledge his actions three to five seconds later; and somewhere between 0-20% if you react ten seconds afterward.
Command with Confidence. Just as we don’t respect a weak boss, so we must not appear weak or unconfident to our dogs. A strong voice is always helpful, but it doesn’t have to be loud to be commanding. Your dog won’t learn better just because you are saying it louder.
Never Give Up! Sometimes we get frustrated because our dogs might not pick up on a new command right away – or he understands, just doesn’t want to do it. Be patient and search for creative solutions. Training dogs is about teaching. Find a way to encourage and motivate him.
Be Kind at All Times. Never EVER loose your temper with your dog. Training by fear is no way to treat your best friend. It is cruel, abusive and not conducive to establishing a wonderful loving bond between the two of you. Don’t do it, end of conversation. Instead…
Make Training Fun. If it’s all work, work, work, where’s the pleasure and motivation for you and your dog? Training is about building a positive relationship between the two of you. Doing endless drills will not endear him to you. Break up training with games, which can be instructional, too, of course. Hide-and-seek is a great game to play to teach the ‘come’ command. While your dog isn’t looking, go hide somewhere (someplace not too difficult to start with) and call your dog, ‘Harvey, come!’ When Harvey finds you, give him a big reward! Make a huge fuss over him! Make it a party. He will love it and be learning at the same time. Fun for you and him.
Happy Training!
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