Easy to Follow Dog Obedience Tips
These dog obedience tips will help you to remember how to respond in every situation. You see, one of the main problems people have in the dog training process is not remembering to always be training. When you are trying to teach your dog obedience, it requires you to be consistent with them all the time. You can't just expect them to obey you when you are training them or when you have a treat for them.
If you do that, you won't be training them, you'll be teaching them how to do things only when they want something.
Most dog obedience tips only revolve around what you should be doing during the training sessions, but what you do the rest of the day is equally, if not more important. Keep in mind that in the wild, dogs are constantly being submissive to their leader. There aren't short periods where they get to be the leader for a while.
That's the number one thing you need to remember!
Dog Obedience Tips Between Training Sessions
1. Be Consistent - I know, I've mentioned this before, and I always say it on every page of this site, but do you understand why? I'm being consistent in an effort to drive the point home! That's exactly how you need to be with your dog. When you are consistent about what you expect of them, it is impossible to misunderstand. This is how dogs instinctively act and learn.2. Be Mindful - If you want your dog to be obedient to you, it is very important to be very mindful about how you act towards them. One of the biggest mistakes people make is accidentally rewarding a dog when they are misbehaving. If you are mindful and constantly have a training mindset, you will avoid giving your dog attention and praise when they don't deserve it.
3. Be Patient - This is crucial when you are trying to teach your puppy to be obedient. Since they don't have any knowledge about what is right and wrong, and since they are just babies, they are going to take a long time to understand what you are trying to teach them. If you are patient, they will feel confident around you. If you are not patient, you'll cause your puppy to feel fearful and you'll probably quit trying to train them due to frustration.
4. Give Your Dog What They Need - In between training sessions, you should be exercising your dog, whether that is with walks or games of fetch. You should also be giving them healthy dog food, grooming them weekly, and checking them for any problems. Do all these things, and your dog will be in tip-top shape for their training sessions. If you don't do those, how can you expect your dog to do well in their obedience training?
Dog Obedience Tips During Training Sessions
1. Make Eye Contact - You need to make sure that you get your dog's attention when you are trying to teach them a command like sit, stay, come, or lie down. If they are not looking at you, they are probably distracted by something else. Call their name and make sure they are ready before practicing any command and you'll see much better results.2. Take Little Steps - No matter what obedience command you are working on, building on little steps is how you get your dog to learn. When you get your dog to do something right, practice it until they have it mastered. At that point, you can slowly build on it and do something a little more challenging. If you try to do it all at once, your dog won't pick it up as quickly.
3. Don't Rely on Rewards - It is important to use treats and a lot of praise when you are first teaching your dog obedience commands, but you slowly have to stop using them. If you continue to use treats during your training sessions and every time you ask your dog to do something, it will teach them that they only have to be obedient if they are getting something out of the deal.
4. Use Distractions - When you are first teaching your dog a command or a trick, you need to practice in an area with little to no distractions. Your dog will learn much more quickly this way. When they get to the point where it seems like they have mastered the command however, you should start to bring in distractions to really test your dog or go to a public place like a park. If they can continue to be obedient without the promise of treats (see #3) and while there are distractions all around them, you will know they have truly mastered a command.
5. Expect Mistakes - This is especially true if you are trying to teach a puppy obedience. Since they don't automatically know what is expected of them, they are going to make mistakes. Simply correct them and try the command again.
6. Don't Get Mad - If your dog is taking a little bit longer to master a command, you can't get mad at them. If you do get mad, you'll hurt their confidence and they'll do even worse. Instead, think about mixing up the training and trying something new.
7. Keep it Short and Sweet - Dogs are like humans and get bored of doing the same things over and over. Keep your training sessions short, sweet, and fun, and your dog will respond a lot better to them. If you drag them out you will notice your dog get bored and antsy. They will stop being as receptive, and they will also stop looking forward to training sessions.
Those are the most important dog obedience tips!
Those are the most important dog obedience tips, but they are not the only ones! As you train your dogs more and more, you will start to learn new things about your pup. You will learn things that apply especially to their breed, and you will develop your own tips. Feel free to share those with us when you do!
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