Top Ten Dog Training Tips
1) Praise the good, ignore the bad
Puppies are learning all the time and from the minute you get them home. It is very easy to inadvertently train the dog to do the wrong thing: this is called accidental reinforcement. A typical example of this is your dog jumping up. One minute all is quiet, the dog jumps up at you and immediately you start interacting with him. Eye contact, voice, touch: all of this is reinforcement to your dog. Now the dog knows that to get your attention, all he has to do is jump up. The best way is to totally ignore attention seeking or undesirable behaviour and to reward desirable behaviours: it is much better to focus on what you want the dog to do and always remember to reward the right behaviours.
2) Practice little and often
Puppies can only take so much training in one go. They can get tired and therefore distracted. Short sessions (5 to 10 minutes at a time, 3 times a day as a guide) is what will get the message across successfully.
3) Be consistent
Make decisions about your dog and stick to them. Dogs are very black and white creatures and if you change your mind about what is acceptable and what isn't, it will be very difficult for your dog to understand what behaviour you expect of him.
Make sure all members of the family are following the same rules and use the same command words to achieve the same results.
4) Be clear
Dogs are not born speaking fluent English or programmed to do a sit on command! Initially, dogs have to be shown what to do, not told what to do.
5) Be quiet
This is the less is more rule of training. Dogs do not find words easy to understand. The more words we say, the trickier it is for the dog to work out what we mean. "Fido, sit!" is more effective than "Now Fido, will you do a sit for me".
Also, repeating the command louder does not mean your dog will comply. Puppies have very good sharp hearing, your puppy heard you the first time round, the likelihood is, he just didn't know what you meant.
6) Build up progressively
Don't expect too much too soon. It is infinitely better to get an easy command right 100% of the time rather than to get a difficult exercise right only 50% of the time. Repetition of the correct behaviour is how your dog remembers.
Don't jump steps either: if your dog does a perfect "stay" with you in sight for one minute, it doesn't mean that he will do a perfect stay with you out of sight. Take your time, don't run before you can walk and consolidate on the basics.
7) Location, location, location
Choose lots of them with increasing difficulty. Dogs learn by cues associated with particular situations and locations. This means that if you only practice in one place, in the house for instance, the dog will associate compliance to training with that particular location. if you decide to change the location, you have to teach the command again in that new location. As time goes on, the dog will learn more quickly every time a new place is added.
8) Give the dog a chance to get it right
Although your training must be done in a realistic location, there is no point in starting in a place where there are too many distractions for him to concentrate on your training. Train somewhere quiet and easy first and build up distractions gradually.
9) Get your dog's attention before you ask him to do anything
If your dog is distracted by something, the likelihood is that he will not comply when you say the command word. To say "Fido sit" to a dog busy following a scent is doomed to failure. If you repeat the command again and the dog still doesn't comply, all you are teaching the dog is to ignore you. Instead call his name cheerfully when you know he is listening then say the command word.
10) Know your breed
What makes your dog tick and what job was he bred for? most of our dogs are working breeds, bred for a specific job and purpose. Some behaviours are very much hard wired and will be almost impossible to eradicate. Understanding this and using your dog's strengths to train and control him will be much more effective than trying to make him what he is not.