Thursday, August 14, 2008

Dog Behavior Questions - Is Your Behavior Ruining Your Training?

By Lee Dobbins


Contrary to popular belief there are not as many training styles as there are trainers and one of the most interesting dog behavior questions that arise is how the trainers attitude affects the training process. The despite an individual differences people handling dogs fall into clearly recognizable categories. And no matter your an individual style or that of your dog there remain certain truisms.

Training your dog is one of the most difficult and possibly frustrating tasks you can undertake. The only activity that requires more patience is raising human children. Many people don't have enough patience in themselves to train their dogs. Therefore, while you are training your dog, you may have to train yourself to be patient as well.

When training your dog, keep in mind that daily sessions are needed to reinforce the desired behavior you want. Half an hour to an hour time slots will be most rewarding. Remember that no matter how much time has gone by, if you are starting to lose your control or your patience you must end your training session.

Strive to length that 'time to boiling point' a little an each day. Remind yourself you are dealing with a dog. Even the most an easily trained breeds or individual dogs an understand at roughly the level of an average two-year old persons. Of course there are those rare an exceptions.

In nature, dogs live in a hierarchical social structure, and many dog behavior questions can be answered by this. In their society, there is typically 1 leader in the "pack" - the alpha dog. In your house, you are the leader of the back. You must remember this when training and not let the dog take a leadership role.

When giving commands, be firm, but do not yell. Do not get angry with your dog when they do not obey. Rather than becoming frustrated with your dog, persist in your practice. Also, do not let the dog become the alpha of your pack. Your goal in training should not be to stroke your ego or to feel like you have power over your dog. The goal should be to have a safer environment for your dog and your family.

Teaching your dog to listen may not be easy. Your dog may be a natural alpha and may not want to take orders. However, it is possible. In wild packs of dogs, the role of alpha will change among pack members when one becomes more assertive than the current alpha. Consistently act as a leader to your dog and repeat these training techniques, and your dog will learn to respect you as alpha and will follow your commands.

No matter how well you train your dog, your dog still has a mind of its own and won't always follow the commands you issue. You and your dog will get frustrated if you expect him to learn a command with too few repetitions or to always perfectly follow one that you taught him before. Your dog does not have the same memory as a human. It is even different from very young humans. Get to know your dog. Acknowledge your dog's unique qualities, his learning capability, and any limitations he may have.

Remember when training your dog to take his breed into consideration along with his age. All dogs are unique and have their own personality. You need to work with your dogs traits whether he is naturally lazy, inattentive, or a youthful pup.

Working against your dog's nature is never a good idea. Treat your dog kindly, but firmly and work at building his trust and training will be a good experience for both of you!

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