Dog Obedience Training: What to Know Before You Bring Your Puppy Home

Dog obedience training can begin as soon as you bring your dog home. Young puppies are notoriously energetic, and this can make them difficult to train, but it's never too early to begin. Behind that puppyish sprightliness, there is a sponge-like mind ready to be shaped and molded. If you wait to start, you miss out on crucial opportunities to correct troublesome behaviors.

Learning to work with your dog

In the dog obedience training process, it's easy to forget that we humans have things to learn, too. Just as dogs learn to read our signals, we also have to learn to interpret the meaning of our dogs' faces, gestures, and sounds. This makes training more of a two-way communication than a purely human-guided process.

Learning to read your dog's signals takes time, and every individual dog is different. First, set aside the common misconceptions about dog body language. For example, tail wagging doesn't always mean happiness or excitement; it can also mean agitation or aggression, and an erect tail that moves in a twitchy manner often signals confidence or perceived dominance. Meanwhile, baring of teeth often does signal aggression, but in other cases it can signal joy or friendliness. If you raise your dog from a puppy, you'll learn to pick up on these subtleties over time.

Few wild canines bark in the way that domesticated dogs do, which suggests that barking has been encouraged over the years by selective breeding. Thus, a dog's bark is essentially human-oriented, usually meant to express either greeting, warning, or a need for attention. A growl, on the other hand, is unmistakable. It always signals that a dog feels threatened and is prepared to attack. If your dog obedience training goes well, then you'll probably never hear your dog growl.

Dog training techniques

Obedience training for dogs can be accomplished through various dog training techniques.There are many different dog-training philosophies, but most modern methods rely upon the principles of positive reinforcement and operant conditioning. The theory can get complex, but it basically boils down to rewarding the dog for doing what you ask and gently punishing the dog for undesirable behaviors.

Positive reinforcers involve adding something, either good or bad, to regulate behavior. For example, you might give your dog a treat for performing a trick, or you might add a mild choke chain to train the dog not to pull on his leash. Negative reinforcers, which involve taking something away, are generally considered to be less effective than positive reinforcers because they are more difficult for dogs to understand.

Hitting is usually frowned upon in modern dog-training circles, as it tends to make dogs either aggressive or excessively fearful. The attitude toward shock collars is similar; mild shock collars are effective for punishing undesirable behaviors, but for encouraging positive behaviors they are not as effective as treats, toys, and other rewards. As you get to know your puppy, you'll soon learn what types of treats he or she best responds to.

Since dogs usually associate a reward with the last action performed, it can be tricky to associate rewards with specific behaviors. That's why many modern dog trainers advocate the use of a metal clicker, which you can use at the moment when your dog does something right, before you give a treat. After repeated use, your dog will begin to associate the clicking sound with the imminent treat, and this lets you pinpoint the behaviors you want to regulate.

Unless you've trained a dog before, it's probably best to work with a professional, at least to help you get the basics. Many large pet stores have dog-training classes, and you can probably find others in your area. It's possible to do it on your own, but keep in mind that your training will affect your dog's behavior for life. Any delays or miscues in the training could lead to unwanted patterns that will become very difficult to change later on.

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