Five Golden Rules of Dog Training

There are many ways that you can train your dog. As a professional dog trainer I do have 5 golden rules that I follow when advising dog owners. Every trainer is different and these are just my opinions. These five golden rules of dog training have helped me help others with their dogs. 

Resist Repetition 

This is one of the biggest issues I see with owners and why their dogs do not listen. Repeating yourself is counter productive when training your dog. Dogs learn by association and we as their humans need to help them associate certain words and body behavior with what we expect from them. The simpler the better. Once we set the dog up to succeed we increase the rate of learning and success of wanted behaviors. 

Play the Odds

Always set your dog up for success. This means never ask for a behavior that is not going to happen. A great example is Recall. If your dog will not come when called DO NOT call them. Go get them or keep them on a leash. Use trial and error to best guess and increase the likelihood for success. If you still need help contact me or a local trainer for help. 

You Pay for what you get 

Every time your dog behaves, make sure to pay them for it. A behavior they know may pay with a simple treat. A new and bog behavior pays with a high value, mix and match to get success. Every behavior has a price, but the price for a single behavior may vary from dog-to-dog

No Pace for Punishment 

We just learned in training that the dog determines the value of a reward, not us. The converse of this is also true. The learner (dog) determines what is punishing, as well. While we may find yelling to be run of the mill behavior as humans, a dog may find it to be aversive. This is why we can never overlook the potential consequences of our actions as teachers.

Let the Dog Choose 

Empowering dogs to make choices in their environment allows them to feel control over it, which in turn breeds comfort, confidence and calm behavior. 

These Five Golden Rules are to set you up for success with dog training. If you need more help please contact me today!