A Beginner's Guide to Dog Obedience

A badly behaved dog can be bad for everyone involved, even the dog.  As follows are a few tips to get you started on how to break your dog’s bad habits, and let you live a much more enjoyable life together

The most important thing to note when it comes to training dogs is that it’s more than just changing your dog’s behavior; it’s changing your behavior. Not just in that you change the way you deal with situations when your dog misbehaves, but that you find time to train your dog and reinforce his new behavior. It’s important that you enjoy the training just as much as you will enjoy the dog’s new attitude. If you bring a positive attitude to the training, your dog will learn faster. Don’t get frustrated.

Easier said than done, I know, but you can’t fault your dog for not understanding what is wanted of him. A dog is a part of a pack, your pack, and its part of their ancestry to live in hierarchies. Your dog needs you to be the leader, and he will act much more obediently when he recognizes you as in charge. This means being calm and in a relatively good mood when you work with your dog and changing your own habits so your dog won’t slip back into his old behaviors. Still at a loss?  Try this cleanse to help you get on your way to being in a better mood, and thereby being a better dog trainer.

There are many different methods of dog obedience training out there. Some are more effective than others, and it’s important that you are comfortable with the training method you choose to use with your dog. Don’t overcomplicate things, either. Keep it short, and keep a general standard by which to live by so you don’t confuse your dog about when it’s okay to do something and when it isn’t. An example would be that if your dog is constantly jumping on your guests, and you put him in another room until he’s calm, but repeat the process only every other time he jumps, he’ll never get the picture that jumping on someone is equal to being put alone in a room. It should be all the time, no ifs, ands, or buts.

Keep in mind that your dog is a dog first. He understands body language and tone, attention and lack thereof. Petting him when he’s whining or barking or doing bad things is just telling him that it’s okay. Using a soothing voice to try and calm him when he’s freaking out or yelping like crazy is just going to encourage him to do that more. Walking behind him while you two are on a walk only reminds him that he’s supposed to be leading the pack. It’s a very different language than what we are accustomed to. So remember that your efforts to calm a dog might just be perceived as a reward for what he’s doing.

While a dog is a dog first, he’s probably a breed second. My dog is a pointer/lab mix, and she shows it with her intensity when she’s “stalking her prey” with the squirrels in our backyard. Breeds came about because humans selected the qualities they were looking for, and bred for that. So your dog has a high possibility of having those annoying traits that the breed is known for, like the intense pursuit of prey in my dog’s genealogy. Breeds can be a bad thing when training a dog, like the stubborn bulldog that won’t take no for an answer, or you can use it to your advantage in trying to figure out how best to communicate with your dog. If you have a collie, see if you have herding classes for dogs in your area so you can burn some of that energy. If you have a working dog, give it some work to do, like a back pack to carry during a walk. A dog that’s had his energy spent is a dog that will make obedience training for dogs a whole lot easier.

You’re going to find there are many choices when it comes to dog training out there. There is a reward system which only acknowledges and rewards for a dog doing a behavior you want, or there is a collar and leash method that corrects for bad behaviors. You’ll want to get with whatever method you are more comfortable with, but you’ll have to do your research first. Some methods will take more time and requires a greater commitment by you.

To give you an idea of the two types of training, we’ll use dog barking as an example.

With a rewards system, if your dog starts barking, you would immediately take him away from the situation or prevent him from viewing what he’s barking at. This would be accomplished if you’re on a walk by changing directions the moment the dog starts barking, and only going back to the source when he has gone quiet, and repeating as necessary. If you’re in an enclosed space, you might cover the window or whatever he sees the source of his barking through until he quiets down, then allow him to see what he’s barking at. The reward for being quiet, he will eventually understand, is being able to see what he’s barking at. Another reward method would be to distract him the moment you see something he may bark at, and reward him with attention and treats while he’s not barking, so that he’ll understand that what he is barking at may be a good thing, and not want to bark at it anymore. Reward methods are a preferred method by many dog owners, but usually require more time commitment.

With a leash and collar method, you would use a dog training collar, the most common one being a choke chain. A choke chain is put high on the dogs neck, and when the dog begins to bark at something, the owner will give it a quick pop. This is a correction to the dog. If done correctly, this can be a very fast and effective method to control dog problems. Many owners don’t like the idea of using choke chains or prong collars on dogs, but dogs use corrections with each other. In the wild, wolves will give each other corrections with a quick nip at the neck. As long as you use the collar correctly, not yanking or pulling, the dog should get the message. If it still seems too intense for you, a collar like the Halti could be used like a horse’s bridle, taking the dogs attention away from something he’s barking at. Dogs have short attention spans, and if you have control of where he’s looking, you can have better control of how much he’s barking. If you want to read up more about dog collars, click here.

It is beneficial to have a trainer show you how to train your dog for feedback on how you are doing, and if you are doing it correctly. You can have training one on one or join a dog obedience school. Usually, the trainer has his own preferred method to work with, so make sure you are familiar with the method before asking for his assistance, as you might not like each other’s training methods.

A benefit dog obedience classes is that your dog will get socialization. Another good thing about dog obedience schools is that your dog will also have a chance to learn with other dogs around, which is a distraction they need to learn to avoid.

Training one on one with a trainer can be expensive, but you get personalized attention all to yourself that entire time. Plus, the trainer will often come to your house, and can correct your behavior as well, as it might be encouraging the dog’s bad behavior.