Dog Training Guide - Understanding The Basic Principles

In this part of my dog training guide I attempt to outline the basics and to illustrate some of the pitfalls.

Dogs live in the present. Dogs have very little recall memory, their thoughts are almost totally based upon association. Dogs do not work things out as we do. Dogs do not think in abstract terms, it is simply action = consequence for them. As far as dogs are concerned, rewarded conduct is likely to be repeated whereas discouraged ot ignored conduct is usually avoided. This is the main principle behind any kind of dog training.

For instance, if you give your dog a treat or praise him every time he sits then eventually he will sit of his own accord so that he may receive another reward. Conversely, to stop your dog from repeating an action in the future like jumping up for attention you should completely ignore him when he does it.

To create meaningful associations you should praise behaviours that you want to encourage and ignore behaviours that you want to discourage. It all seems to be very easy doesn’t it? So why is dog obedience training such a contentious subject?

To make a successful association the time between action and reward cannot be more than about 2 seconds this can be a problem. The consequence of this is that wrong associations can easily be made by an owner who is new to dog training. For example, you are training your dog to sit but by the time you praise him he is already standing up again - you have mistakenly encouraged the stand up rather than the sit. Another example would be when you come home to find that your dog has messed on the carpet. You pull your dog back to the mess, rub his nose in it saying ‘Bad Dog’ and then push him out of the back door. All you have achieved is to teach your dog that going to the toilet is wrong.

In the home a dog can have too many masters who will completely confuse him by contradictory associations and opposing training methods. A dog should only have one master and one trainer.

In this dog training guide I have explained the fundamentals behind dog obedience training. They are simple on paper but not so easy to carry out. However, a knowledge of the fundamental principles will always be of help with any particular dog training method.

Go to www.TrainMyOwnDog.com to see more articles on dog obedience training.