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Do You Make These 7 Common Dog or Puppy Training Mistakes?Page 1 | Page 2 Did you know that you really only need to train for 5 to 10 minutes at a time? Even a 2 minute Remember mistake #1? We discovered that dogs do what works for them. Any behavior that is repeated has been reinforced. It may be self-reinforcing, but more often someone or some thing is reinforcing that behavior. The most common mistake is for owners to pay attention to the behavior they don't want, which can reinforce that very behavior. Imagine your dog is scratching at the door to be let in, if you were to yell "cut it out", or worse, let your dog inside at that point, then you will more than likely get more of this unwanted 'scratching at the door' behavior. By completely ignoring this behavior, then waiting until it stops before paying attention, you end up reinforcing a much better behavior.
This is one I see time and time again, dogs who are not effectively trained to come when called being punished when they do finally return to their owners. Why would a dog want to come back for a scolding? Even if your dog has totally ignored you for the last 10 minutes, it's far better to reward him for finally coming back than to punish him for it. Even Only ask a dog to come when you are 80% sure he will. If you're not at least 80% sure, well, see mistake #3! Only let your dog off leash in safe areas where you can afford to wait if he doesn't come when called. If you aren't 80% sure he will come, wait until you are. Wait for a quieter time, maybe he has been playing with another dog and the other dog leaves, maybe he has been following a scent and then finally gets bored with it. At that point, start walking away, then try calling. Always reward your dog for coming when called. By avoiding these 7 common dog training mistakes, you will be well on your way to having a happy and well behaved dog. Page 1 | Page 2
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Aidan Bindoff is Editor of www.PositivePetzine.com, a free ezine for people training their own dogs. Each edition has easy to use training advice based on positive reinforcement methods. Subscribers have access to a large archive of back-issues they can consult for just about any behavior or behavior problem.
This document last modified Saturday, 01-Mar-2008 22:03:34 EST | ||
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Tidbits & Stuff was born on Thursday, March 9, 2006
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training session will be more valuable than a 20 minute training session. Dogs, and in particular, puppies, start to lose interest or start to fatigue after a short time and work below their best. If you are reinforcing this "below their best" behavior, then that's what you will get more of. Therefore, it makes sense to have shorter training sessions. You can have several of these shorter training sessions in a day.
better not to put him in a situation where he can fail, remember mistake #4?
