Permanently Training Your Dog
A pet dog is indeed a man’s best friend, but only as long as the dog is well-trained. A dog with bad habits can wreck havoc in your home, during meals, sleeping hours and play time. Developing bad habits are easy for dogs, just like a child would. The dog has to be trained to work with you, not against you and cooperate with you on feeding, playing, walking, sleeping and toilet training times and methods.
Having a well-trained dog can be a great pleasure, but getting there is not very easy. It is a journey that you and your dog have to make together - trite as that sounds, it is true. First of all, make sure that everybody in the family has something to do with the dog, and is familiar with it.
Secondly, come to terms with the dog’s role in your family. Agree on where the dog will sleep, where in the house it’s not allowed, the feeding times and place, who’s responsible for dog walking etc. To make sure everyone in the family is known to the dog and a bonding takes place, it’s compulsory to involve everyone in training the dog.
Once all the details are worked out, stick to it and make a routine out of it all. Dogs are habitual creatures and when they know what’s to be expected, they are more secure and happy.
Next, set fixed feeding times. The occasional treat outside feeding time is fine, but this is also a key in toilet training. If you mess this part up, you will have a lot of messes to clean up, and you cannot really blame the dog for it.
Once the essentials are taken care of, you can move on to simple commands. Here, nothing works as well as bribery - be lavish with praise, and fairly generous with treats, and you will be amazed at how quickly he learns.
Remember that your dog loves being praised and petted, and when it does something right, tell it so, and encourage it, so that it will know what to do the next time.
A dog will make mistakes during the training period, but don’t lose your temper at that. You can’t train a gentle loving creature like a dog by putting in fear to it, so focus on treating it with love and respect and you’ll have a well-trained dog forever.
