Dog Gone Doggies

Sometimes, it can be hard to know the proper ways to train your dog. The best way to ensure that you are doing everything you can to train your dog and build on your relationship with your dog, is to learn as much as you can about dog training. Look at this article with care, as it is geared towards helping you.

The basics of training your dog involve rationing food and physically showing the dog what to do. By rationing the food your dog gets throughout the day, you can use treats during training more effectively. By physically moving the dog you can "force" the dog to understand what you intend the dog to do, in response to a certain command.

Start slowly if you have an aggressive dog. A sudden change in your behavior can be seen as a challenge if your dog already considers himself to be the alpha dog in the pack. Make sure that you don't approach with aggressive behavior or it will take a lot longer to get your dog in an accepting, learning mindset.

Food and treats can be your ally in training your dog to seek out his crate. Allow your dog to find strategically placed bits of food and a few treats every once in awhile when he returns to his crate. He will make it a habit of checking the crate out more regularly just in case something else has miraculously appeared there.

When training your dog to stay, take baby steps. First tell her to sit or lie down. When she has held that position for a couple of seconds, tell her to stay. If she stays longer, give her a treat. Allow her to move again, and repeat the process, rewarding her after she stays a bit longer with each repetition.

When you are approaching an unfamiliar dog, be sure to approach slowly and offer the dog the back of your hand to sniff. This allows the dog to get used to your scent and makes him much more likely to trust you. Once the dog recognizes your scent, he will not be afraid of you and will be more likely to follow your commands.

When you have gotten a new dog and you are working on training a key thing to remember is that you must always enforce the commands that you give your dog. Do not let the dog ignore you, and do not say the command over and over. If you are not going to be strong enough to enforce what you are saying, you might as well not waste your time.

Encourage your dog's cooperation in training by rewarding good behavior. Dogs respond to a calm, confident leader who earns respect. When your dog responds to commands make sure you reward him with play or food, and make sure you reward easy commands as well as harder ones to build his confidence.

One tip to keep in mind when training your dog, is to be sure to never discipline your dog for bad behavior when he is ill. This will only confuse your dog and might cause him to not respond to discipline in the future. Examples of this would be, if your dog vomits or defecates in a manner that is not typical to his normal behavior.

Always end a training session with your dog on a positive note, even if you have to manipulate the scenario to make your dog successful. Ending a training session immediately after a disciplinary action will mean that your dog will remember the session as being about punishment, not about training.

When training your dog, you should never punish any good behavior that your dog displays. If your dog thinks that it has done something bad even when it has done something good, the dog will not repeat the good behavior. Sometimes, you may not even realize that you are punishing your dog. For example, if your dog goes outside to use the restroom, you should not leave it alone because it will think it did something bad.

With all of the information you have just read, you should have a better idea about how you want to train your dog, now. The only way you are going to see success with your dog is if you actually apply the knowledge you have learned. Try to the best of your ability to do just that and you should see results