Your dog will have a happier life if you put it through dog training, and you will be happier too. When your dog is trained, both of you know what you can expect. With a trained dog, you won’t worry when you’re together in public, you have visitors or he is home without you. While the process takes considerable time and effort, training your dog to respect commands, do tricks, and behave properly will make it all worthwhile.

If you are training your dog to do a complex behavior, break it down for him. One example might be to teach him to fetch your daily newspaper. The first thing he must know how to do is hold an object in his mouth. Next, your dog will need to learn the object’s name. Then, he needs to be taught to pick up the object. Finally, your dog should learn to bring an object to you on command. Breaking a task into small steps will make the information your dog has to process much more digestible and consequently, more easily accomplished.

Have several different treats available as rewards for your dog so he doesn’t get bored. Your dog can’t think that the treats you are giving out are just ordinary and not associated with his actions. If you use unusual treats from the very beginning, your dog is more likely to pay attention to you.

It is vitally important that your dog is treated in the same manner, given the same commands and rewarded similarly by every member of your family. This is the only way to ensure the training sticks. Employing reliable and expected methods will create the desired response from your dog. If more than one person is trying to train your dog, he may become confused about how to act.

Dogs are just like people; they love hearing the sound of their own names and the use of the name will call them to attention. Do this consistently during the first several weeks to get your dog to pay attention to you. It’s best to stick with shorter names, one’s that are distinguishable from other words.

Understanding the underlying motivations to your dog’s behavior is crucial to successful training. It might take a little while to really get to know your dogs likes, but don’t get discouraged. It doesn’t matter the reason you want to train your dog, you need to offer a variety of exercises along with positive reinforcement. Training will be most successful when the dog is happy.

Dog training is mostly about being consistent with your pooch and setting the rules of your relationship. Once those are set, you’ll find you both enjoy your time together even more! The most important thing is to use positive reinforcement to remind your dog what he has learned. Provide refresher courses when needed and continue to correct bad behavior. After you have laid the groundwork with your dog, the sky is the limit.