LET'S GET STARTED

As a way of introducing you to some of my beliefs and concepts regarding training your dog I am including an excerpt from an earlier book I wrote which was in a recent magazine column. Hopefully it will pique your interest enough to check in occasionally and possibly share your feelings about dog training.

EXCERPTS AND UPDATES

FROM

ANYONE CAN TRAIN THEIR DOG

                                              BY ARTTHEDOGGUY

It’s said that the only thing two dog trainers can agree on is that the third guy doesn’t know what  he’s talking about. That being the case let me share with you some of the basics that work for me These are four rules that most everyone agrees on.

In order for the student to perform a task there must be a reason. This is called MOTIVATION. This can be positive or negative, but remember that in most cases the student wants to repeat the positive reasons and doesn’t want to repeat the ones associated with negative motivation.

Next is BE CONSISTENT. All signals and voice commands must be consistent and all people involved with the training process must be consistent with their expectations. We have to always stay on the same page so we don’t send mixed signals and confuse the student.

PERSISTENCE. Once we start a task it must be completed. It’s not important if it’s not to the highest standard at the outset (we improve the quality with practice) but the student must complete the task or he learns to compromise and only perform the task when he feels like it.

PATIENCE! PATIENCE! PATIENCE! Remember if the student doesn’t perform the task he’s telling us he doesn’t understand what we want so if the student didn’t learn the teacher didn’t teach.

Okay those ideas are in all the training manuals and here’s the rest of what you have to know.

Clearly identify the task which you wish to teach.

Break it into the smallest teachable, learnable, and achievable parts.

Show the dog clearly and precisely what you want done.

Give the command, signal, and/or cue.

Upon even the slightest achievement, give praise and rewards.

If necessary give correction; positive achievement earns praise and reward, negative reaction receives no response.

Make achievement a positive and rewarding experience.

Make the desired action easy to achieve and the undesired action non rewarding.

TEACH,  PRAISE,  REWARD….REPEAT

REPETITION  REWARD  PERSISTENCE

Teach only one step at  a time. Do not proceed until your dog has HAPPILY mastered the task at hand.

If your dog doesn’t do what you want, you have to assume that he doesn’t understand what you want

Never ask your dog to perform a command you cannot enforce.

The best correction is the one you only have to give once.

REMEMBER

PATIENCE  *  PERSISTENCE  *  PRAISE

Avoid getting impatient. He’s not trying to make you mad he’s simply telling you he doesn’t understand.

All the time you spend with your dog you are either teaching him or he is teaching you.

You are either teaching or unteaching.

Teaching is not repeating what he “likes” to do. You find out what he doesn’t like to do or finds difficult to do, and you teach him to do it happily with positive repetition.

If you only practice what’s easy for your dog to do, he will never improve and master new tasks.

 

TEACH   *  REWARD  *  REPEAT

REPETITION  *  REWARD  *  PERSISTENCE

 

WITH PATIENCE, PERSISTENCE, PRAISE & TIME

YOUR DOG CAN AND WILL LEARN

 

 

                   REMEMBER YOUR GOAL IS….

A DOG WHO IS AN ENTHUSIASTIC, HAPPY ACHIEVER

So there you have it! Faithfully follow and accept the above principals and philosophy and you can get the job done. If you want a few specifics watch for us next time.

LOOSE LEASHES HAPPY TAILS