1. BE POSITIVE!
Dogs learn much faster and are more reliable if they learn to feel good when
they do what you ask. You'll have a much better behaved dog if you learn
to use positive reinforcement rather than forcing your dog into a behavior.
2. LEARN TO "SPEAK DOG"
Dogs don't come speaking English, and they don't read minds. Communicate
less with your voice and more with your body (like dogs do), and your dog
will understand you better.
3. BE A BENEVOLENT LEADER TO YOUR DOG
Your dog is dependent on you, and needs to know she can count on you to be
responsible. That doesn't mean you should be a tough taskmaster, far from
it. Think of the best teacher you ever had, and try to emulate that with
your dog.
4. LEARN ABOUT LEARNING
Training animals isn't intuitive, and we're not taught how to do it in school.
Don't assume you know how just because you love your dog!
5. LEARN TO "READ DOG"
Dogs have remarkably expressive faces, but we often fail to pay attention
to what they're trying to tell us. Look for relaxed bodies and open mouths
on happy dogs, and stiff bodies and closed mouths on dogs who are, at best,
concerned about something.
6. TRAIN THROUGHOUT THE DAY
Avoid long training sessions every evening by scattering training exercises
throughout the day. That way you'll always have time to train your dog, and
your dog will learn to listen wherever and whenever you ask.
7. MASTER A FEW EXERCISES
You're much better off teaching your dog a few, simple exercises and practicing
them in a variety of contexts, than teaching your dogs lots of signals that
only work if he's not distracted.
8. BE CONSISTENT
Don't say "Ginger Come!" in the morning, and "C'm 'ere, Ginger" at night.
Our dogs are trying to learn a foreign language, and we just confuse them
if we keep changing the words!
9. TEACH GOOD BEHAVIOR
If your dog consistently does something you don't like, figure out what you
DO want him to do, and teach him to do it, rather than correcting him for
doing what's wrong.
10. LAUGH A LOT! Why not? Training should be just as fun for you as
it should be for your dog. You'll both do better if you make it all into
a game and have fun with it.
