Training a Dog for non-Professionals: Pretend Your Pet is Your Child

I have seen many dog trainers, on-and-off, through the years, and everyone has the same end goal: A dog that behaves as instructed. The difference is the style of the trainer. Professional dog trainers have learned what works and does not, through many hours of training. You, on the other hand, are not going to have all the time a professional trainer has, so you need to get the professional mind set without putting many hours in. The professional trainer will always do a better job, because it is their job. Just as if you are a investment banker, a dog trainer would not know all the information on how to do your job either.

Now, lets get started. This is about you and your mind set. You have to prepare yourself for many hours of repeating the same moves over, over, over again. If you don't have this mind set you will already be at a disadvantage. Just as you did not learn to be a expert in your field over night, nor will your dog learn to be a highly trained pet either. The mind set is where it is all based. Many people become frustrated right away because after telling the dog to sit twice they think it should know this and move on. It does not work like this at all. A puppy is just like a small child taking in all they can about their new world that they are in. We have domesticated are dogs and tamed them from the wild but they are still just that, animals. We have come to expect these beautiful fuzzy friends to act and do as we please from the time we get them. A dog is a animal that becomes a friend, family member or companion to many. These expectations that we place upon can be to high from the start.

When starting keep the mind set that you are working with a small child. You would not take a small child's diaper off and rub their nose in it and say what did you do in a loud screaming voice, would you? This is why I say the training is the mind set first, then going through all training motions. The puppy at this stage of its life is again just like a child, it will remember the bad and scary times you put it through. You may not have meant to create this problem, but to many times of yelling or bad tones as the puppy sees it will last a life time. We all hear the stories about abused animals the dog that would pee all over the floor when ever someone picked up a news paper to read it only. Now, you know why this happens, that same news paper many years back was rolled up and used to hit the dog when ever the dog performed badly. Not the best training technique. The newspaper training style of yesterday shows in the way a dog acts today. Remember you did not even touch or look at the dog and it pees on the floor because it heard the sound of the newspaper being moved around.

The tones of your voice and body movements are what your new puppy reacts to. When you rush at a puppy screaming No! it is going to react all right, by running away or rolling over onto its back in a animal like instinct surrendering to you. You want to train your dog, not scare them into submission. Many people take the loud commands and turn them into screams instant of a stern short command. You may think a dog knows the English words because they react to what you have said, they understand sounds and tones of words. Your tone and sounds is what that animal will be conditioned to react to. Remember again training a puppy is just like training a child and for many the puppy/animal becomes just that their child. This concept is much harder for first time dog owners, who did not have dogs with them as they grew up. The fuzzy family member can bring many joys and frustrations just like any other family member in the house hold. Many dog training books deal with the dog and the techniques for training the dog, not the new owner. Go to the library and look under dog training and there will be hundreds of books from every training style and person out there. Look for the one that has about you as the trainer and what you need to do,to train your dog. I am not just talking about the one line in the front of the book that always states "talk to your dog in a calm and clear voice" ,either, every decent dog training book out there is going to say that.

Right from the day you pick up your new fuzzy friend it all starts. You will grow and learn about each other. Your dog will have a personality of its own, just as you do. You have to learn who they are and what they are about. I can't say it enough, it is all about a total mind set, what is going on in your mind and your fuzzy friends mind also. You may think your on the same track, only to find out your puppy only smells treats and could care less about siting down when told too. I think you can see how this all works together.

This short article is only to make you think about you and your dog training. I hope this helps you when it comes to you and your new friend. I am always open to any questions or if you would like to hear about certain training topics and styles, so please feel free to ask and I will answer.

Remember, always be kind to your friend.