A quality dog obedience training class might be the best thing you do for your puppy as well as for your own success as a dog owner. The class will foster good leadership skills in you and obedience in your dog so that you both can handle the wide variety of experiences that are likely to come up in the course of your dog’s life. If you cannot afford obedience classes then your job is tougher but not impossible. You can learn on your own and teach your canine pet what it needs to know. Get what information you can and start with the following essentials.
The Value of Obedience Training
The goal of obedience training is to teach your dog what is expected of it. Life is much easier for you both if your dog understands the ground rules and learns to follow them. You must learn how to be a strong, confident leader your dog will be comfortable following. This two-way street will benefit you both immensely. Work on these specific skills.
Be the Leader
Your dog needs a leader so that it feels secure in its place. Learn to be in charge with a dominant, kind attitude toward your dog. This is foundational to all the training you will do with your pet.
Teach Basic Commands
Your dog must learn to sit, heel, stay, speak and be quiet. If the two of you don’t master these basics, then major problems will developo. Your dog will run off, be rebellious, and may become unresponsive to your direction. Make it comply with these basics and the relationship for you both will be healthy.
Eliminate Biting and Minimize Barking
Dog’s must not be allowed to playfully nip or aggressively bite. Deal with such behavior summarily or risk a biting incident that may cause injury to a person or other pet and worse for your dog. Barking is less serious and there are times you want your dog to alert you to things that are happening. But it must learn to control barking at common things like neighbors passing or the mailman making his rounds. These issues are best addressed when your dog is in the formative puppy months.
Quality Walking
Most owners don’t understand the importance of walking their dog as a means to gaining healthy control. On these walks your dog will truly learn who is the leader if you handle it correctly. The dog should sit while you put on a collar or leash, wait while you open the door or gate, and only start when you tell it to go. On the walk it must never pull or strain and should stop at corners when you direct it to. If you and your dog master these basics you will have a well-behaved trustworthy companion.
These are the kinds of things you and pooch will learn in a good class. Work on them at home and if the opportunity arises to participate in a class don’t pass it up. Work on these skills at home consistently. Diligent early training will translate into a lifetime of good behavior for your dog. Remember your role as the leader and be conscientious in fulfilling your responsibility to your dog to be a leader it can trust and follow.
Ongoing Education at Home
Even if you are able to take a class together what you do at home will make the most difference. Work hard with your pooch when he or she is young. If you don’t, it is much harder to impose remedial training on an adult dog. Consistency, firmness, and lots of praise for good behavior are necessary. It is also vital that everyone in your household stick to the rules you have set for the dog, to maintain a consistent environment that doesn’t confuse your canine friend.
Dogs will respond to what they are trained to do. If you do your job with care, patience and carefulness your chances of having difficult issues with your pet are greatly reduced. Let your dog get away with bad habits and they will become ingrained. For a contented dog and happy household stick to the rules and all will be well.