Obedience
training is basically an education in good manners. And, just as it's
more pleasant to be around well-mannered people, so a well-behaved dog
is more warmly welcomed than his overactive, aggressive canine cousin.
Think of training as an education that will enable your dog
to cope in the real world.
In fact, obedience training is critical in nurturing the most positive
aspects of human-animal relationship. Its basic elements - sit, down,
stay, come and heel - help shape a good canine citizen.
The most important decision
you can make for your dog is to enrole in a training class as soon as
possible. Classes can start from about 12 weeks of age with a puppy
playgroup class for socialization in a controlled environment and early training. This will enable your dog to
adjust to
being around other dogs without showing any undue stress. One of
the
best ways of choosing the training club to attend is by listening to
recommendations
given by fellow dog walkers whilst out with your dog. A
recommended
training class is by far better than selecting one from browsing
through
yellow pages. Many reputable clubs will allow you to sit in and
watch
to give you a good idea of what to expect should you choose to attend.
Let your puppy enjoy as many different experiences as possible but do
it gently, These
should include meeting
lots of people (especially children) of various ages, experiencing
people on bycycles, traffic, the refuse collections truck etc, in fact
everything that goes on in normal everyday life, as well as meeting
other dogs frequently (after your puppy has completed its immunization
series sometime after 16 weeks old) teaching them how to acceptably
interact with other dogs. Do not allow your puppy to be
traumatized. Socializing
your puppy is imperative as it helps strengthen your dog's
confidence and reduces the chance that your dog will become shy or
fearful. Fearful dogs can become fear aggressive or fear biters. All experiences should be good
experiences as any negative experiences can result in a
fearfull, aggressive, or shy pup. Between 4-12 months, some pups can
be prone to "adolescent shyness". If the dog is well-socialized from an
early age, you can minimize many of the worries that are associated
with a shy dog.
Do not ask too much physically from a young puppy, such as jumping,
long runs, etc untill it is roughly 12-18 months. While your pup is
growing, you can damage the growth plates or exacerbate a tendency to
hip dysplasia.
One of the basic lessons you
can teach your dog is that direct eye contact is a favourable
experience. The way us humans communicate with each other is by
looking directly at the person we are speaking to, in the dog world
direct eye contact is
seen as an aggressive action so if your dog has not learnt from an
early
age that eye contact with humans is a good thing you will be in for
many
anxious moments and stressfull situations.
Gaining Trust through Eye
Contact
Have a treat in your closed
hand (make sure it is a treat that the dog really really likes) and let
your dog sniff your hand, then draw a line between the dogs nose and
yours and immediatly the dog looks into your eyes give him the treat.
Repeat this exercise as often as possible. Once the dog
has learn't to look directly at you lengthen the time direct eye
contact
is given and put in a key word such as "LOOK" or "WATCH".
Patience
is the name of the game here as it is not a natural action for a dog.
Remember
Voice for affection, contact for correction.
Show affection with your voice when your dog is calm and has done as he
is told and use contact with out voice for correction, or behaviour
interruption. Be calm at all times and lead by example. If
you verbally reward bad behaviour, that is what you will get. If
you verbally correct
bad behaviour, that is what you will get. If you reward excitement
verbally,
that is what you will get. If you reward calm and relaxed
behaviour,
that is what you will get.
