Dog Training For Beginners

“How does your dog sit when you tell him to and mine doesn’t?", “How can your dog heel to you like that?", “Wow! He follows you when instructed" - now I'll bet this sounds like a familiar conversation between dog owners? If this is familiar, then why don't you start looking into learning the basics of dog training. It is critical to start training a dog from an early age. Doing this will ensure that you have the greatest influence on your dog's behaviour in the future.

The most basic of dog training is to get the dog to sit and come. Teaching him those commands are essential for him to learn. These commands are used for various different reasons, if you are in competition, if your dog jumps making him sit will immediately get him off and "come" is the all important one. If you take your dog for a walk, you let him off the leash and you expect him to come back to you, not run around the park with you chasing after him shouting at him to “get here right this instance”. That has to be just down right embarrassing!

Teaching your dog to come is largely a simple thing to achieve, just requiring much practice. One technique which is very simple for both owner and dog is to simply walk away from the dog with a toy in your hand. Then, when you are an appropriate distance away, call your dog back to you and reward him with a treat. Don't over-do this method though as the dog may become bored of it!

Now, getting your dog to sit is slighty tougher. When you have mastered the come command call him to you, place your hand on the end of his back and say "sit" while gently pushing down on his backside, when he sits his bottom down give him a treat and a lot of praise. A way to ensure he stays sat for longer is to feed him whilst he is sat.

Should you look into dog training you will find it to be largely extremely simple to learn and teach your dog. However, you should also bear in mind that it must be fun, especially for the dog. So try not to work on training your dog for hours each and ever day. Don’t forget to reward your dog and yourself for all the “hard” work though!!