Dog Training Secrets

3 Secrets to Successfully Training Your Dog
By Jon Leger


If you want to successfully train your dog, there are three key components that you must use. This article will discuss each one, and why it is so vital to your dog training success.

Bonding

If you don't get this one right, your training efforts will always be a struggle. You have got to have a good bond with your dog. He has got to trust you, and want your good favor.

Think about it like this: when your dog first meets a stranger, he probably growls, or hides, or otherwise expresses his disfavor with that stranger. How effective do you think it would be if that stranger started attempting to train your dog without first bonding with him to set your dog at ease?

You already have some bond with your dog, so he won't hide from you or growl at you. But the stronger you can make that bond, the more your dog will desire your favor, and the harder he will work to make you happy.

That is the nature of dogs, and it must be respected to be successful.

To have a strong bond with your dog, talk to him, play with him, and take him on walks. Treat him as the "best friend" he's meant to be, and his trust in you will grow, making him easier to train.

Consistency and Repetition

In most of my articles I say this, but it warrants repeating: what is true of children is often true of dogs. You must be consistent in both your praise and your discipline of your dog so that he knows exactly what kind of a reaction he is going to get every time. You cannot blow hot and cold, or give it an enthusiastic attempt one time and a lukewarm one the next. You must be consistent or it will confuse your dog.

Consistency and repetition go hand in hand. You must give the same responses, both good and bad, and you must give them regularly. That continued repetition helps your dog to know that he is going to be expected to behave in certain ways on a regular basis.

Always End Sessions With Praise

No matter how badly your dog performs in each session, always end your training with play time. That way he will see the training as a good time, knowing it will end in a fun play session with you.

I can't emphasize this enough. If you end your training sessions on a bad note, it will backfire on you and short-circuit your training efforts. So always end with play time.

If you keep these three keys in mind at all times while training your dog, you will find that your efforts will go much further, and that the training sessions will be a joy both for you and for your "best friend".

You can learn to train your dog with Jonathan's free easy dog training lessons