How to Train Your Dog

Owning a dog is one of the greatest joys in life. Having a pet dog to come home to, go for walks on has real benefits. Besides the companionship, having a dog for a pet has been proven to lower stress and blood pressure levels, lower the risk of depression and prolong life expectancy. BUt owning a dog can be a challenge as well. Some puppies and even older dogs can be unresponsive and difficult to control. Learning how to train your dog properly ensures that you and your dog have a positive and healthy relationship. Here are a couple of tips to help you train your dog to do just abut anything.

The first thing you need to train your dog is patience and some time. I'm sure you want to train your dog overnight, but it just doesn't work like that. A dog naturally learns through reinforced behavior; it remembers the response to any given behavior and this way learns if the behavior should be repeated or avoided. In another words, to train your dog to do a certain behavior (such as go to the bathroom outside) you should reward this behavior. To do this, the reward should come as quickly as possible after the action or behavior. Dogs have a short attention span.

To train your dog requires a lot of patience. Dogs are smart and respond well to rewards but it might take some time before the dog can really understand what it is you want from them. And remember, you demonstrate what you want from them by rewarding them when they do it! Setting aside time everyday to encourage and reward particular behaviors can help you train your dog certain useful commands.

Many peoples suggest that when you want to train your dog, you should employ the clicker training method. A clicker is a small plastic device with a button, that when pushed makes a clean and sharp click noise. The trick to using the clicker to train your dog is to make an association in the mind of the dog between the clicker and a treat. For instance, if you click and give a treat right after, they'll understand that a treat is on the way every time they hear a click. By molding certain behaviors, you can associate a trick, behavior or action with the click, which in turn is associated with the treat. Eventually, the dog will understand that the action itself is good.

The key to using the clicker training method is to gradually replace a verbal cue or command, such as "sit" or "stay" with the behavior instead of the clicker-treat combination. Clicker training is also a good mental exercise for your dog. This method to train your dog forces your dog to engage in simple problem solving. Just like you and me, dogs like being rewarded for making good choices and being a good pack member.