Dog Obedience Training for Man’s Best Friend
Owning a dog can bring joy, security, and companionship to both the dog owner and the pet dog. However, the need for dog obedience training is extremely necessary to cultivate the dog’s good behaviors and habits to make them more appropriate within the domestic setting.
Dog training begins virtually at birth. Dogs that are handled and petted by humans regularly during the first eight weeks of life are generally much more amenable to being trained and living in human households.
Although such training does not guarantee to rehabilitate all behavioral problems completely, it is nevertheless considered as a good foundation in knowing how to deal with the dog properly.
Puppies can begin learning tricks and commands at an early age; the only limitations are the pup’s stamina, concentration, and physical coordination. It is much easier to live with young dogs that have learned basic commands such as sit, stay, and come.
Training an English Springer Spaniel dog how to be obedient demands much patience from the owner. It can be frustrating at the beginning, but in due time, the dog can catch up and learn what is being told to do. It is important to know that dogs can be taught exactly what the master wants it to learn.
Waiting until the puppy is much older and larger and has already learned bad habits makes the owner’s training job much more difficult.
Common Obedience Training Styles
There are many styles of dog obedience training, but the most popular ones are the leash/collar training and the reward training. Even though both styles have been used in the past, many prefer the traditional leash and collar method because it is more reliable and more effective in motivating a dog to obey its master.
Leash and Collar Method
As the name implies, the traditional leash and collar method uses a leash in teaching a dog how to behave. Once the dog has grasped the command, the leash becomes an instrument for communicating or correcting the dog’s mistake or misbehavior.
It is important to establish a trust relationship between the trainer and the dog. It then becomes easy to position the dog in a stance even though the posture is against its liking. Using the leash can enable the master to safely manipulate the dog and assume the alpha role in the dog’s life. At this stage, the leash becomes a useful tool to establish the leadership role of the master.
Eventually, as the dog is able to form its good habits while the trainer acquires the skills for training a dog, the leash can be substituted with whatever appropriate tools are available at hand. Although leash training is considered an effective method to develop a strong bond between the master and the dog, it is not close enough to substitute the bond of trust that results when the pet is treated fairly.
Another dog obedience training style is the reward training.
Many are inclined to believe that reward training is only effective when a reward is given to dogs that perform well. This may be true to some extent because some treats or rewards are used to motivate the dog to demonstrate certain behavior or acts.
The reward is often used to entice the dog to behave or perform certain acts without having to resort to forceful manipulations like pulling the leash. It eliminates the odds of making a physical contact with the dog. This, in a way, is safer considering that it is the natural tendency of the dog to be defensive or agitated when touched. Dogs are generally sensitive to touch. When touched during training, a dog may pay more attention to the feeling of being touched and completely ignore everything around it.
When training an uncontrollable puppy that jumps and bites is to praise it whenever it does something that you want it to. For instance, if your puppy jumps and bites at you and you tell it no, and it listens, don’t forget to pet it and tell it good job. These actions teach your puppy that every time it does something you want, it gets lots of love. This will eventually teach your dog the difference between right and wrong. This may take time, but it’s only through repetition that your dog will learn what you expect of it.
If done correctly, dog obedience training can become a fun activity for the owner as well as for the dog. In addition, with much patience, the training can transform the dog not only into becoming a confident and well-mannered companion but also as man’s best friend.
