Teaching your dog to understand words
It is so important to have a clear line of communication with your dog. To many owners lose their patience with a dog that does not listen or react the way they would like, when infact its often a case of misunderstanding.
Many dogs find them selves literally in the dog box and labeled as bad dogs. In truth it’s just that no one has taken the time to teach them to understand commands, manners and boundaries.
The key is to take the time to teach you dog a language, a series of words, that if directed clearly and calmly to your dog – he will understand.
Its easy, and it can make a wealth of difference to your relationship with your dog. All it requires is a little time, patience and perseverance.
A fun way to teach you dog is through a technique called “Conditioned Response Training”; one form of this is “clicker training”.
Clicker training is a fun, quick and rewarding way to tweak your dog’s behaviour. Its can be taught by anyone, any where and the true value of this training system is that it will result in you dog looking to you as a fun and worthwhile leader, that he can understand.
If any of you remember Pavlov’s theory from your 5th form Biology days, this is the concept from which Clicker training was born. In essence the animals relates a certain sound as a praise and or reward for carrying out a command correctly.
In Clicker training a small party clicker can be used as the rewarding sound. The idea is to give the dog a command. If the dog obeys you give a click. It is important you click the second the dog obeys the command not a moment later, this way the dog will know which action he is being rewarded for. Then you can physically reward your dog. The reward it’s self may be a verbal “good boy”, a pat or a small treat.
It is important to fully understand the principles and techniques of this positive reinforcement system before you get started with your dog. Other wise you may just get him and yourself confused! So look for you local Clicker training club or check out this link – your dog will love you for it!
Some Bullet points
- Positive reinforcement training is a fun way to train manners and boundaries.
- It open the lines of communication between you & your dog
- It is a fast and simple way to train
- Any positive training is mentally stimulating for your dog.
- It can help alleviate boredom.
- Make sure you learn the correct techniques before starting.