How to Train Your Dog With Positive Reinforcement
A well trained dog can be a wonderful part of your family. A well trained dog fits well in your family if he understands the basic house rules regarding where he should ´go to the bathroom´ where he can and cannot lay, and what he can and cannot chew or eat. Establishing these rules can make owning a dog an easy thing. But it´s not only important what you train your dog to do; in order to have a healthy, long lasting relationship with your pet its also important how you train your dog.
A dog is incredibly sensitive and learns quickly who the boss is in your home. If a dog is trained with harsh words, yelling and hitting then he will learn to fear you instead of love you. You want to establish a bond with your dog, so that your dog will trust you as a loving caregiver. If the dog expects you to react with anger and physical punishment then you cannot expect to have a loving relationship with a dog who wants to be your companion.
And the most incredible thing is, when it comes to training your dog, that your dog will be trained faster and easier if you use positive reinforcement as apposed to negative reinforcement. Your dog wants to please you and win your affection, and as soon as he figures out what pleases you then he will work very hard to do those tasks.
Training your dog with positive reinforcement means that instead of punishing your dog when he does something wrong, you shower your dog with love and affection when he does something right.
If your dog has an accident on the carpet then you don´t beat him or yell at him. Clean it up without any reaction at all (in fact it´s best to not even let him see you clean it up, because then he might start to think that that is your job.) Give the dog no attention if he has an accident. Giving your dog no attention is punishment enough because your pet lives for love and attention from you.
But when you see your dog go ´to the bathroom´ where hes supposed to, then shower him with love and affection. He will soon learn that doing his business outside pleases you and he will go out of his way to make it outside whenever possible.
When training your dog using the positive reinforcement technique, make sure you set your dog up to succeed and not fail. Your dog can´t hold his need to ´go´ for hours at a time, especially when hes young. Make sure you allow your dog plenty of opportunity to go outside so that he can establish the good habit of always making it in time.
A dog needs tons of attention. If a dog is left alone for too many hours they will feel stressed with pent up energy and are more likely to get into mischief. Make sure you give your dog enough attention and enough physical exercise and your dog is more likely to follow the rules of the house.
Mirjam shows people how to deal with dog behavioral problems by offering advice on dog training solutions and other topics.
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