Today we have owners who are too busy in his or her own “world” whether it is building a career or raising a family that they either forgot that a dog needs basic training or guidance to understand or obey its owner’s instruction. Owning a pet especially a dog needs to understand that it is also growing like a child and it is the time that we guide and train them so that they can live in harmony with society especially the owner and his family without causing problem to it.
Having some knowledge and understanding the needs of man’s best friend are some of the basic requirements of being a good pal to your dog. Each of the dog must suit into the human society requirement of that environment to be able to appreciate each other company, the dog and its owner.
We have dogs that have variety of functions and duties, however the basic necessity is to have it adequately trained and obedient enough not to create unnecessary problem to its owner, whether it is in the house or outside. To accomplish this, the dog must understand the owner’s command on the basic obedience.
We do not condone or support training of dogs by way of violence or force such as being whipped until it submit to the command of the owner. Aside from the cruelty of such practice, it will not accomplish its purpose as it will just intimidate the dog into submission rather than obedience. Our objective in training the dog is to have the dog respond to our command in a pleasant way.
Basic obedience training should be conducted in such a manner that it is a joyful encounter for both the dog and its owner. Dogs are pleased when given rewards. So treats is one of the method of rewarding the dog. Patting the dog is also an acceptable reward or praise to the dog which is conducive. However we must make known to the dog what it is and what we want the dog to do or respond to a certain command.
It is very important that when we use an instruction or command that we want the dog to obey, we should make it clear and precise. We do not want to confuse the dog as it will not be of any help to either the dog or the owner. Confusing instructions will only tired out the dog during training and frustrate the owner in training his dog. The best guide is to use a one-word instruction rather than a two or three words instructions.
When training a dog, we have to understand how a dog thinks. Dogs react to the occurrence at that instant and not something that occured say five or more minutes before. We so often heard complaints from dog owners that when they let their dogs out, the dogs kept running away when they called their pet to come back home. Only when their dogs had enough of “gallivanting” or roaming that their dogs came back home. And what they did was to reprimand their dogs, slap or beat it, immediately when their dogs come back home just to teach or train their dogs without success. Their complaint is so common and typical of an uninformed owner. This is unproductive as the dog will relate the beatings to the coming home (remember, dog respond to the immediate). This will make the dog fearful of coming home as the owner’s incorrect or rather confusing reprimand makes the situation worst. The only thing that the dog learns is that when it comes home, it will get the beatings.
We need to understand that dogs think in logic and respond to the immediate, especially an action, rather than a reasoning. So now we know that when we train or instruct a dog, we should know how the dog think not like us humans. When you understand this rule, you will find that training your dog is just a stroll in the park. Happy Training.