Thirty-eight percent of households in the United States include a dog. But, if a furry friend joins your new household, you’ll need to make sure that they know how to behave.
So, how do you get started? Let’s go through how to train your dog.
Start With What’s Important
You should start off by teaching your dog the most important things. These usually tend to stick with your dog the best. So, when you start training a new dog, think carefully about what command you want to begin with.
Some of the commands you might want to teach your new dog include:
- Wait there for me
- Come here
- Sit down
- Off
- Drop what you’re holding
- Heel
- Relieve yourself
- Go to bed
Teaching your dog commands also helps them learn how to be more obedient in other ways, too. This helps prevent them from developing problematic behaviors in the future.
Be Positive
Positive reinforcement always works better in the long run than negative reinforcement. Praise your dog when they remember their commands or follow your instructions, rather than scolding them when they forget.
You can also use different treats so that you can reward your pet when they make positive decisions. For example, you can praise your pet every time they use a dog door rather than scratching at the human one until they’re let outside.
Keep It Consistent
If you constantly change the rules when you’re training your dog, your dog will just end up getting confused and not learn anything. You can also use a schedule for your dog, so that your dog always knows what to expect. Try and feed your dog and take it on walks at the same time every day.
Use Crates
Crates can be a useful tool when teaching your dog how to behave, as long as you do it right. Crates can be used to help housebreak your dog so that they don’t have accidents in your home. That’s because dogs know not to use the washroom in the same place that they sleep.
But, you should never use the crate as a punishment for your dog. Don’t keep your dog in the crate for more than a few hours, especially if you have a puppy. You want your dog to form positive associations with the crate.
Send Them To School
If you’re having trouble with puppy training, you can always send your furry friend to dog obedience class. An experienced dog trainer can teach your dog how to properly socialize with other animals and humans, and help cut down on problematic behavior before it gets out of control.
How To Train Your Dog: Now You Know
So, now that you have all of the information you need about how to train your dog, you’ll have a well-behaved pooch in no time.
Do you need more tips to help your pets? Make sure that you look at some of our other helpful posts.
