DOG TRAINING
UNDERSTANDING THE DOG

You would probably agree that to train a dog effectively you need to understand how the dog's mind works.

It has been said that a dog's ability to understand and respond to us is similar to that of a two year old child. But that doesn't mean that we can treat them as we would a child. A dog is a natural scavenger. He will eat all sorts of yuk stuff like dead rats or horse droppings. Even if this makes him sick, he will likely repeat the same thing on another occasion. He can't reason that because it made him sick last time, he should avoid it this time. The connection between cause and effect is definitely not there.

We have to keep this in mind when we are training our dog.

PATIENCE AND TRUST

Training a dog takes a great deal of patience. Some of us have a lot more patience than others and so how much time you spend in each training session will depend on how patient you can be and for how long. If you feel like lashing out at the dog, then it's probably time to quit that training session. It can be an easy thing for us to hit the dog out of sheer frustration. But instead of developing a feeling of trust, it brings about fear. The dog doesn't learn anything from it except mistrust. Like humans, dogs more willingly follow our lead if they trust us.

TRAINING OURSELVES FIRST

Patience is something that a lot of us are sadly lacking in. So in many cases, we are the ones who will benefit from a bit of training first, before we embark on a training course for our dog.

A little knowledge can go a long way. Instead of jumping in at the deep end, why not take some time to investigate how professional dog trainers handle different aspects of training. Arm yourself with some basics of dog training and get a real advantage when you start the practical training.

CHASING

Even after thousands of years of domestication, dogs still retain some of their wild ancestry. For example -- wild dogs have to hunt to survive and the only way they can do this is to chase their prey. So chasing things is an evident remnant of a dog's survival instinct.

This is probably most noticable in young dogs and can result in them developing the tendency to roar off in pursuit of cars,other dogs or cats, even children. This is not a desirable thing and can end up with either your dog getting harmed or another person getting hurt.

VOICE COMMAND TRAINING

Training your dog to respond to voice commands means that the likelihood of such incidents is greatly reduced.

Obviously,your dog isn't going to learn these things without some imput or training from you. You are most likely going to have to use a leash at first. This will enable you to suddenly pull the dog to the side while at the same time verbally commanding him to stop and then come. At the same time you should be careful that you do not yank the leash back as this could result in the dog's throat being hurt. Eventually he will learn to obey the voice command alone.

Some of the advantages of having this kind of control over your dog are:

• The dog will not take off after other dogs or more aggressive dogs that could get him into a fight.
• He will not get into the habit of chasing vehicles.
• There won't be the worry of your pet frightening children or other animals.
• He will have the security of knowing his proper place in the family (pack).

Then you and your dog will be able to enjoy the fun things about chasing. Things like...

• Throwing a ball in the countryside.
• Playing with a frisbee on holiday
• Chasing, finding and retreiving a stick in the water.

You and your pet can have lots of fun and healthy exersize without the worry and uncertainty of whether he will run off after something and be out of control.

To learn more we recommend you look at this Dog Training E-Book or you may prefer to watch a dog Dog Training Video

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