Well, I am now six months into my journey to becoming a dog trainer and it feels like the right time for a bit of reflection on what I have learnt. Below is a list of tips that I believe all new dog owner will find helpful. Make sure and read all ten, they are not listed in order of importance!
- There is no such thing as a naughty dog, it is your responsibility to learn how to positively reinforce good behaviour.
- Breath – yoga is free with dog training! Your dog will feed off your energy. When you feel yourself getting stressed or anxious by something your dog is doing, take a couple of deep breaths before giving an instruction.
- Praise positive behaviour and try your best to ignore the behaviours you do not want. If you do have to correct or stop your dog from doing something, be calm and avoid making a fuss. If you have a big reaction, your dog will interpret this as being praised.
- Control the way strangers interact with your dog and make sure your dog is calm before you allow people to offer attention. Do not encourage your dog to jump up on you, or anyone else! Not everyone you meet will love does and this could make them feel very uncomfortable.
- Do not drag or pull your dog by its lead to correct behaviour. This can encourage your dog to become more frustrated and wound-up. Stop, relax, breath and be patient. When your dog is calm, give praise and continue.
- Consistency – work with your partner, family or housemates to ensure consistent behaviours are reinforced – this is essential if you want your dog to be happy, content and well behaved.
- Dogs are masters at reading your body language and facial expressions. They are able to detect the smallest physical changes, which is often why we believe they can read our emotional states. Use this knowledge to help train your dog, let your dog know when it is behaving in the right way, through your smile and happy relaxed demeanour.
- Do not allow your puppy to bite you, make sure it has a toy that it can chew on and if your dog nips you, make a high pitched sound – this should startle them. Do not keep pulling your hand away, this turns into a ‘biting/chase the hand’ game!
- Squeaky toys can send your dog crazy and depending on the breed this might be something you should avoid all together. It is probably wise to steer clear of these toys when your dog is a puppy and you are using a high pitched sound to deter them from biting you. For the Jack Russell, traditionally bred to kill rats, it will not be able to stop trying to ‘kill’ the toy, until it finally manages to break the squeaking mechanism.
- And finally, I have saved the best for last. The most powerful tool you have for training your dog is ‘the look of love’! Building a strong bond and learning to read your dog’s behaviour is the most effective way to a happy relationship. Studies found that owners and dogs sharing a long mutual gaze had higher levels of oxytocin (sometimes referred to as the ‘cuddle hormone’) in their urine, than owners of dogs giving a shorter gaze!
I would like to explore a few of the topics above in a lot more detail, so more blog posts will follow that link back to this page. Do you have any tips that you would like to share with me?