Dog Obedience Training - Why Should I?
- It is your responsibility as the pack leader to curb any natural aggression and socialize your dog from an early age.
- Training your dog sets down the boundaries so they can become a well mannered companion.
- Obedience training gives a dog leadership and guidance.
- Many dog behavioral problems that include (barking, digging and biting) are normally a result of an unsocialization, untrained dog.
- Setting the boundaries and guidance early helps to prevent any unacceptable problem behavior.
Things you should remember when training:
You should not expect your dog to instantly know what he is doing. You will need to constantly repeat the commands until your dog is doing what you ask.
Reward and praise your dog whenever he does something that you have asked.
You and your family should always be consistent. If you have chosen a specific command when you want him to go outside - use the same command every time.
Be straight forward with your dog – remember black and white - this will make things clearer and make obedience training easier for both of you.
Be realistic in your expectations, if your dog does something that you have not yet made clear is wrong don't punish him, as you have not shown him that it is wrong or unacceptable behavior.
Dog obedience training sessions should be short and fun.
After you have trained your dog with a specific command you should test your dog in different environments, different situations with different distractions.
Only correct your dog if you catch him in the act.
Set aside time every day for obedience training, even if it is only for 5 minutes.
Start by using simple and basic dog training commands such as the 'sit' command before you move onto the next training command.
There are many different dog obedience training techniques including...
- Dog whispering,
- Clicker training,
- Positive reinforcement,
- Negative reinforcement,
- Marker training, and
- Reward training
Which obedience training techniques you decide to use is up to you, as we are ultimately after the same thing, and that is to get a well trained and obedient dog whose behavior you can anticipate and trust.
How Dogs Learn
Dogs learn in black & white not shades of gray, give clear, simple commands.
Repetition and Consistency – means showing the dog what you expect the same way each time until you have the correct action from your dog each time.
Immediate action either reward/correction directly related to their behaviors.
Training success is based on the clarity in the message, consistency and repetition. Variables to success are: motivation, timing, expectations, attitude, consistency, persistence, environment, and the owner and dog's physical capabilities.
Types of Reinforcement-
- Rewards:
- Rewards strengthen behaviors. (Examples: Food, play, praise with a happy tone of voice, petting, giving your dog access to anything specifically motivating like Toys or food.)
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Neutral Reinforcement:
- Neutral reinforcements to behavior neither increase nor decrease the display of a behavior, but the lack of feedback does not mean the behavior will or will not be repeated.
- Corrections:
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Experiencing something unpleasant as a result of a behavior will cause the dog to avoid that behavior again.
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A verbal correction "ah-ah!" or "no!" in a firm tone of voice, frown, lack of attention, aversive sound, spatial pressure or slight leash correction.
- Note: the simple lack of a reward is communication and considered a correction to your dog. Corrections do not require pain or fear.
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Learn to Read Your Dog's Reactions to reinforcements and decide whether he likes, dislikes or is neutral to your response of his behavior. If you are training your dog with food, but he doesn't like what you are feeding him try something special (I use either hotdogs or cheese). Only use this food specifically for training. If they are not food motivated and would rather play, you can use a short play time of throwing a ball as a reward for good behavior. Rewards motivate a dog's efforts in learning. Be flexible and creative.
Using Reward Schedules – As your dog learns a behavior start giving the reward less, when given the correct response only reward say 1 out 5 correct responses, then only 1 in every 7 or 10 responses are rewarded. Do not use continuous reinforcement for a long time or your dog will expect a treat every time you say a command. Reward variably and then randomly for the best results.
Corrections should not be used to inflict pain or fearful behavior to effectively decrease a behavior from occurring but rather calm and consistent. When we follow through and enforce with persistence and patience then we create an opportunity to shape behaviors and build better obedience.
Competing Motivations, Distractions and Using Them to Communicate and Train - Dogs find things motivating in different degrees and that affects their perception of a consequence. For example, jumping up on people may be more motivating than the correction the owner delivers to deter the behavior. A dog may think "I want to jump more than I want to avoid a loud verbal correction." The correction's intensity must be more than the behavior's intensity in order to stop it. This also applies to rewards and handler engagement. If a dog is not listening or doesn't want the reward in a distracting situation, then the reward and method of instruction is not motivating enough. The solution would be to use a higher value reward and a happier tone of voice and enthusiasm to encourage your dog to comply. For instance, if a dog wants to jump to get attention, we withhold all attention until he stops jumping. As a result, the dog may exhibit: barking at you, clawing at you, sitting down politely, or he may try to outlast your patience and continue jumping. We prefer the dog to sit politely, so when the dog offers this behavior, we reward with attention. We have motivated the dog to offer another behavior besides jumping to seek the attention he wants.
Using Marker or clicker Training to Teach - Marker training is a modern method of animal training that increases success, speeds up training and is fun for the owner and dog. You can apply it in any dog training situation. Marker or clicker training uses the word "Yes!" or "click" to tell the dog when he preformed the exact behavior you want. Your dog understands that the marker or clicker means two things: 1) a treat is coming! 2) It is from the exact behavior I performed when I heard it! Now the dog more clearly knows what behavior to repeat to get a reward. If you want the dog to sit, the exact behavior you want is for the dog to place his bottom on the ground. You mark or click the exact moment this happens with "Yes!" or "click" and reward the dog with a treat. We can't always place a treat in our dog's mouth at the instant he succeeds, but the marker can be said and this extends or bridges the time between the behavior and the treat delivery. You have several seconds (or more) to give the reward after the marker. Remember, always give a treat when you use the marker or clicker, and only use the marker word or clicker once. Timing is crucial, so watch your dog closely. After your dog begins to understand what you want you can drop the marker and just use rewards then only random rewards.
The Marker Training Equation:
- Get the behavior you want (by luring, targeting, capturing) + "Yes!" or click + reward = Dog learns faster and more accurate.
- Fade any lures quickly and use a gesture + Add the verbal cue until dog is fluent in the command.
- Drop the marker and begin using a random ratio of reinforcement.
- Slowly test the commands in different environments, distractions, and add corrections, if needed. Don't forget to raise your reward value if trying a more difficult task with your dog. You may use less rewards in some environments, but not others.
