What are the secrets to dog training?

There are in fact no ‘secrets’ as such, but there are some things that are commonly overlooked in dog training that can make the world of difference to the way in which you train your dog.

Here are five “secrets” that can make the world of difference and which many people overlook.

“Secret #1″ Start as you mean to continue.  You need to assert your leadership role with your dog, not the other way round.  It’s great trying to be your dog’s best friend and vice versa but you need to be aware that your dog will sense any weakness or lack of control on your part and will develop and then make a meal of bad habits – barking, digging, jumping, leash-pulling.

Remember that dogs are essentially pack animals and have their territorial rights, as they see them.  You need to assert very quickly that the home is your territory and they will respect you for that and understand how they fit into it.

“Secret #2″ Be consistent.  You need to start with a good, consistent training program and continue with it – that is one of the key secrets to dog training and one you should learn straight away.Don’t try and alter your routine with your dog or in your reaction to bad behaviour or things you’re trying to train it to do.  Your dog wants consistency, even if he or she doesn’t realize it!  If there is leash pulling, then command the dog to “stop!” or whatever the command might be with even-handedness and consistency.

If you lapse in the early training stages in particular then your dog will sense that it’s fine to behave in any way it thinks, which leads to the wrong messages and the wrong behaviour patterns becoming ingrained.

“Secret #3″ Reward, don’t punish.  You dog needs affection.

“Secret #4” Know your dog’s personality.  Dogs are individuals just like us.  They are essentially simple, although we make things complicated for them, and they want the same basic things that we do.  However they also come with their own personalities – they may be shy, aggressive, sociable . . whatever.   You need to know what sort of dog you have and how best to train him or her given the personality of the animal.

Make sure you dog finds its own way through the whole socialization thing.  Don’t force the dog to be friendly with every other dog it meets because that’s not the way things work.  You don’t, nor should your dog.  But get it used to accepting the presence of other dogs and other people.  Identify with your dog’s unique personality and train it accordingly.

“Secret “5″