Five Dog Training Tips

High Rate of Reinforcement

This means reward often, this mainly applies when new behaviours are first being taught. The rate of reinforcement to gradually be decreased as the behaviour becomes better understood. A high rate of reinforcement also helps to gain a dog with a good attitude towards working.

Consistency is Key

Always remember to be consistent if your consistent with your actions then your dog will be as well. A dog that’s consistent means a dog who responds to the same command in the same way every single time. A good way to keep consistent is a clicker as it always produces the same sound at the same volume every single time. Dogs love consistency and the more consistent you are the quicker your dog will learn. There's nothing worse than a confused dog that does not understand what's being asked of it.

Always Follow Through

If you ask your dog to do something then make the dog do it. Don’t keep repeating sit while the dog blankly stairs at you. If you have said sit and the dog is not immediately sitting then play with the dog and try again but do not just keep failing. If the dog knows what you want it will do it, make sure the dog understands what's being asked of it.

Don’t Push It

Make sure you don’t do to much to soon. I would not suggest teaching your dog more than one new behaviour per 48 hour period. If you teach too many things at the same time they confuse your dog and begin to merge in your dogs mind, There’s also no point, you have years with your dog why bothering trying to cram it into a few weeks.