Training for the Human
Training for You the Human!
- Ideally, training should be done daily for about 15 minutes; if you skip more than a day, you will be starting over.
- Only one person should train the dog. It cannot be a “family affair.” After the dog is trained, others can then issue commands.
- Remember that you definitely can teach old dogs new tricks. Yogi, my first dog who learned 36 tricks with hand signals alone, was 3 years old when I began training him.
- If you start with a puppy who is about 6 or so months old, you will have an easier time because the puppy will not have established habits.
- Remember your voice– you are an authority to your dog, and you will use emotion in your voice accordingly. Do not ask him, but command him.
- Always use the same tone of voice for the same things. Remember that dogs cannot understand language even though they appear as though they do, so use your tone of voice!
- Throughout training, continually praise, pet and reward your dog. If you do not use treats, your dog will not learn. If you give treats only sometimes, your dog will not learn. If you do not praise or pet, or only do these minimally, your dog will not learn. You must give continual praise, petting and treats.
- If you rush, or try to do something else during training, you will confuse your dog and she will not learn.
- Stay with the current lesson, over and over, until your dog has mastered it.
- Every day, review what your dog knows before training a new thing.