Puppy obedience training is something that you can either conduct yourself or hire somebody to do, depending on your preference. Remember, training them right away after getting them is critically important.
If you wait to start and then attempt to change their actions later on you will be simply sending mixed signals, and they won’t know what they did wrong. Often times people who first get a dog find their behavior problems cute and they let them slide.
When they try and crack down on them down the road the dog gets confused because they used to be allowed to do those things-why not know?
So what is the right way to do puppy obedience training? Should you hire a professional or attempt to DIY? The truth is, it just isn’t that hard to train your dog when using the right techniques, and doing so yourself can save you some serious cash.
Consistency is key
Keep in mind that the most important part of puppy training is consistency. Make sure to use the same commands each and every time, because if you don’t your dog will not understand what to do.
For instance, don’t say “come” one time and “heel” the next, as your dog will not know what to do. Sounds obvious, but an important point nonetheless.
Avoid giving treats
Also remember to use some method to show them they’ve done something good. A common method is giving them a treat, but this isn’t very effective because they will often times only obey you because they want the reward.
If you don’t have a treat then they won’t obey. For this reason clicker training is something many people like to do, because instead of giving them food you just click the clicker every time they do something good.
This works because the dog will come to associate the clicker with something good, and pretty soon will only look for that sound as opposed to a treat. The reason this is more effective than just praising them is that dogs hear you talking all the time, and therefore they won’t necessarily associate you praising them with something good.
However, since they will only hear the clicker when they’ve done something right, they will instantly know it’s a good thing and will start to listen for it after obeying; it basically takes the place of a treat. Sounds a little far-fetched, but using a clicker is very popular for one reason-it works.
Be positive
Be certain to stay positive with your dog. Don’t ever be overly harsh because this rarely produces the results you want and they will come to resent you.
Make sure not to go too long per session, and a couple brief sessions work more effectively than having 1 long one with puppy obedience training. Younger dogs don’t have much of an attention span and keeping it short helps them focus better.
