Doing Dog Obedience Training Professionally

by Rudy Silva

There is general consensus among animal psychologists and other professionals in the field of dog obedience training that positive reinforcement training is the best way to train your dog. Positive reinforcement training is all about providing rewards for good dog behavior. When rewards are consistent over a long period of time dog training will be accomplished.

Using positive training is the only way to train your dog with lasting effects. Your dog will remember what you taught him for a long time. Giving your dog pain to behave and learn new behaviors is now outdated.

The fact is that positive reinforcement works with dogs. Your dog wants to make you happy, meaning that positive reinforcement works better with dogs and is better remembered.

These are some ideas to use when you are training your dog. Remember be positive when you first start. Dogs can sense your mood and will react to it, so be positive not negative.

1. Do dog training with good rewards. While your dog does like being praised and getting a pat on the head, this will only go so far in training your dog to behave well. To really keep your dog’s attention, you need to use food rewards. These are what dog trainers call “primary incentives” – and every dog owner knows how food-motivated a dog can be!

2. When should a reward be given? The time to give a reward needs to be exact. In training your dog, a reward is given immediate after you tell your dog to do something and he does it. Give the reward right away. Don’t wait and give another command to do the same thing again. Give a reward each time your dog does what it was told.

Many people use a clicker for dog training. A clicker is a small metal device which makes a click-click sound. Click your clicker at the exact moment that your dog obeys a command, followed immediately by a treat. Your dog learns to associate the action, click and the treat.

You can also use your voice as a marker. Say “yes” in a friendly, excited tone of voice when your dog performs a desirable behavior. Follow this immediately with a treat and use the same verbal cue every single time. You have to be consistent in order to teach your dog to follow these desirable behavioral patterns.

When trying to get your dog to learn a new command, during your dog obedience training, decide beforehand which verbal cue you’ll be using when training your dog. Use this cue consistently throughout your training. For instance, if you want to teach your dog to quit jumping on you when you get home, always use a specific command, such as “no jump.” Keep to this command and never change it other phrases like “get off” get down” and so on.

No matter how smart your dog may be, they have a very limited capacity to understand human speech. They can learn, but you’ll need to use consistent repetition of the markers and rewards with the associated action in order to cement this positive behavior in your dogs’ mind.

As long as you can stick with the basics of dog obedience training and with the ideas of positive reinforcement training, your dog will learn and the both of you will come through the training process unscathed. You will have a dog that other people will like and, of course, will like you for having such a behaved dog.