An example of poor communication is, allowing your dog up on furniture and then a couple of minutes later shouting at it for doing the same thing. Dogs don’t understand ‘sometimes’ and a large number of behaviours can be attributed to this sort of confusion.

Imagine going to a foreign land, where you don’t understanding the local language or customs. If a person smiles at you and points to a seat, you might sit down, how would you react if they suddenly become aggressive towards you. You may be confused and perhaps a little fearful; you might respond in a number different of ways depending who you are as an individual.

To address confusion and improve lines of communication we need to put some simple guidelines in place, for bothyou and your dog to follow. When you are consistent in communicating, your dog will slowly start to understand. Dogs are social animals that have a cooperative nature; providing consistency provides an environment where they can learn.

The Guidelines of Consistency.Be Consistent.

Consistent behaviour is the key to good communication, and communication is the key to understanding.

Consistent behaviour means not only showing your dog what is expected by encouraging good behaviour, but actively ensuring we don’t reward unacceptable behaviour. If right or wrong is clearly indicated then it’s easy to understand.

Your dog isn’t deaf, if it doesn’t respond; it is not because it can’t hear you. Raising your voice and shouting louder won’t make a difference other than to cause increased stress, making it less likely that it will respond positively. Use consistent calm simple one word commands, and reward success. It’s not always easy to remain calm when you have a dog bouncing and barking, but this behaviour will help your dog to understand you are in control.

Train your dog to understand you 

Dogs are not mind readers. For them to learn something new, it is important to show them that we like this new behaviour and not just expect it to understand.

Dogs develop very quickly and a young dog can learn to understand many new skills from a very early age. Reward good behaviour as soon as it happens; we can use food, games, walks and attention to provide this reward.

If you provide any rewards when your dog has shown unwanted behaviour, such as nipping or jumping and inappropriate barking then it is likely it will repeat it, in order to earn the reward again.

If this happens you have trained your dog to do the wrong thing. So ensure that in future you do not reward the unwanted behaviour; then it will diminish and go away.

All family members should be consistent 

If your dog is rewarded for unwanted behaviour by a family member he will repeat that behaviour with them and try it on with you. Encourage older children and adults to follow these guidelines.

Show and expect good manners 

Dogs are naturally good mannered, if you reward good manners and don’t reward poor manners then you will quickly see this is the case. Expect your dog to show you and other people respect, don’t allow it to:

· Jump at visitors

· Snatch or take food without permission

· Demand attention

· Jump around when putting on its lead

· Push through doorways in front of you

· Drag you down the road during walks

All of these behaviours will increase if you reward them and decrease if rewarding stops.

Your time with your dog should be positive and on your terms, jumping, nipping, barking, pulling and other attention seeking behaviour puts the attention in your dog’s court. Do not reward this behaviour or you will increase it.

Fulfil your dogs’ needs. 

Many people live busy lifestyles, this can mean the dog is not given the stimulation it needs to remain physically and emotionally healthy, dogs need activity; they are intelligent animals that need lots of exercise, play, and stimulation. This is an obligation that comes with the dog-human partnership. If you can’t do it get someone to do it for you.

· Exercise, 2 or 3 times a day for at least 30 minutes to an hour. Most of this should be off-lead if possible. Note: puppies should be exercised gently and for short periods during the first 9 months of their life.

· Stimulation, your dog needs to use its brain, so stimulate it by fun training, small doses are better than long sessions, 5 to 10 minutes, 3 or 4 times a day will have your dog and you looking forward to training.

· Play, dogs are social animals who play for the whole of their life, it is important for their wellbeing that you provide opportunity for play, teach your dog to retrieve, or sniff out an old sock and reward good play. Do not put down a bunch of toys and leave them to it, this can lead to even worse behaviour.

· Rest, dogs need time out, don’t fuss them all the time, let them rest, particularly pups. We also need some time out; don’t allow your dog to push its attention on you or others during these periods.

These guidelines are easy, follow them and your dog will understand your intentions better. You will have learned how to communicate and will have more control before long you will find your dog is a pleasure to be with.

Now we know the guidelines, how do we ensure that they are followed?

Use SMART Rewards.

SMART Rewards.

Dogs will repeat anything that is rewarding and stop doing things that are not. It is important to communicate well with your dog and ensure that only the behaviour we want to encourage is rewarded. Most inappropriate behaviour is caused through rewarding by mistake, so you will need to be aware of this when you see behaviour you don’t want. Become a SMART rewarder.

Simply put, a SMART Reward is one that is deliberately given, that stimulates your dog in a pleasurable way. You can use this to shape and improve the behaviour that you wish to develop, SMART means:

Simple, keep rewards simple don’t make it hard for yourself or your dog.

Meaningful, rewards should be offered only for behaviours you want to keep.

Achievable, ensure that your dog is able to earn the reward.

Realistic, don’t go over the top with rewards or your dog will expect it.

Timing, you should reward new behaviour when it happens.

Smart Rewarding can be broken down into several categories.

Touch, our dogs often seek physical contact as a reward, (this can be the basis for attention seeking).

Eye Contact, our dogs will look at us to make contact, returning this eye contact can provide a positive response for our dogs.

Verbal, though our dogs’ communication system is not verbal, they do respond well to familiar, pleasant sounding words and tones. Such as ‘Good Dog’.

Food, this is a survival resource and dogs will often jump through hoops for a tasty treat.

Play, play as a reward is a great way to end a session

It is the process of providing and withholding the rewards at the right time that makes a reward SMART. It takes practice, but once you understand the principle that your dog will repeat any behaviour that is rewarding and stop any behaviour that is unrewarding, then you are on the right track to being able to provide or remove this stimulus on cue.

To shape or teach the behaviour we want: we can provide any or all of the above rewards. To get the timing right use a clicker, or give a primary reward of a gently spoken “Gooood ”. Example; to teach a dog to make eye contact, take a treat, look at your dog, when he looks into your eyes, immediately click, or say, gooood and give the treat. Try it you will be surprised how quickly this behaviour is repeated. Don’t rush it, wait till your dog looks.

To stop unwanted behaviour: simply don’t reward, for example if your dog jumps up, Immediately move your arms away to prevent touch, break eye contact by turning the head away, do not talk to the dog, if it continues to try to make contact, take one step away. Do this each time the behaviour happens, when your dog does something you like, such as sitting in front of you, then reward this behaviour immediately.

It takes practice to follow the guidelines of consistency and learn to SMART reward; but it is the basis for much of the skill of behaviour modification.

Summary

Follow the Guidelines of Consistency

1. Be consistent

2. Train your dog to understand you

3. All family members should be consistent

4. Fulfil your dogs needs

5. Show and expect good manners

Keep training simple, reward good behaviour, don’t reward unwanted behaviour. Use SMART rewards. Practice, if you get it wrong don’t worry, try to get it right next time. Don’t expect too much at first from your dog or yourself.

As with all changes to your behaviour with your dogs, it will take you a little time to get the processes running consistently. If you make a mistake don’t worry, note it and try to get it right next time. You have lots of time, the more you use the principles written here, the better your communication will be with your dog.

Paul Rawlinson Cert Ed ADipCCB PAACT

K9 Dogs: www.k9dogs.co.uk

Further details are included in our training program. Click on the ‘please train me’ button below:

Any search of the web will reveal a multitude of different courses, ideas, concepts, videos, and programs aimed at obedience training for young and old dogs. Many are cutting edge and some are out of date and no longer accepted by experts as being the right way to do things.. How do you go about finding one that is right for training teaching your dog?

For many dog owners there are some very basic reasons for wanting to mold the behavior of their pet. A dog without some basic dog obedience training can be like that annoying uncle in the family who has none of the social graces, always loud and obnoxious, makes a mess of the house, always adding his opinions into other peoples business – you know the sort. You still like him but you just wish he wasn’t there so often.

Well, you should always want to be around your dog. Isn’t that why you introduced him into your home in the first place, to be your faithful friend and companion? This will happen when you find a reciprocal level of respect and understanding. This in turn grows out of discovering the right way to communicate with your dog  to make sure he fully understands what the rules are and what you expect from him or her.

Common to all good dog obedience programs should be the understanding and acceptance of the following basic principles, though they may be explained slightly differently:

* It’s essential to understand that dogs are pack animals and are much happier when there is clearly defined leadership and they know what is expected of them. This is important for you to understand how a dog’s mind works.

* It is your job to be the pack leader – consistently, repetitiously, persistently, and patiently.

* Tied in with patience is the tone of voice you use. Commands should be given firmly with no ambiguity, but with patience and with no shouting. Your dog must not be confused once he knows what it is you want him to do. There can be no refusal or ignoring of your commands.

* Rewards and corrective actions are also important concepts in any dog training or obedience course. Rewards should be in the form of praise a treat, or a ‘click’ (clicker training) while corrective action could be in the form of holding back praise, treats, a scratch, or a firm ‘No.’

It’s always good to start with the basics. Look for a program that starts with these fundamental concepts and commands:

The Come or Come Here  command is very important for control of your pet. Nobody wants a dog that ignores them nor do you want to have to mount a search party every time he is outside and off his lead.

Stand and Stay, Sit and Stay, and Down and Stay commands are very helpful especially in situations where there are groups of people and activities where your dog needs to be kept away or out from underfoot.

Walking on and off lead, sometimes called ‘heeling’ is very important training as there is nothing more unpleasant then having an uncontrollable dog pulling and tugging on the leash and lunging at other dogs, animals, and people.

In addition to these basic commands many methods will include turns, fetch and carry, back up, crawl, shake hands, catch, climb ladders etc., and all of these with hand commands as well as verbal commands.

Other behaviors or problems that will be dealt with in a well organised dog training for obedience program are house training, excessive barking, biting and nipping, chewing, digging up the yard, aggression, and jumping up on people and furniture. There may also be some discussion of the best dog obedience training equipment to use.

This is a basic idea of the things to look for in a reputable dog obedience training program. Of course a good method and system for training are key to the welfare and safety of your pet, but also to your peace of mind and enjoyment of your canine companion.

A while ago I came to the stage whilst training my dogs, that my alsatian was as good as gold when off the lead, but a nightmare on it.

Off the lead he would happily trot beside me or just in front of me without running off, never being nasty at all, and would respond to every command I gave him.

Then, on the lead he would pull like mad and drag me around wherever we went. This was a problem that had to be corrected quickly. He was still not nasty to people or other dogs, but he would not just walk alongside me, he had to pull like his life depended on getting somewhere fast.

I know I am not the only person who has come accross this problem, I see plenty of people being dragged around by their dogs every day. Although I am strong enough to restrain my dog and prevent him from dragging me in another direction I still had to sort this problem out quickly.

Do you recognise this problem? Do you have the same problem with your dog?

The answer was quite simple, but took a little bit of patience on my behalf to sort out. Before long he was happily walking alongside me without trying to drag me anywhere. Now my wife and son can also take him for a walk, whereas they never could do before.

For a simple solution to this problem and other new dog training issues, just click on the ‘please train me’  button below:

When you bring that puppy or older dog from the rescue place back home don’t assume they will settle right in and just become a family member and obey the family rules. What the dog will be looking for right away is the pack structure. Who is the pack leader?  Where is the dog’s place in the pecking order? What are the rules that the pack leader insists on?

New dog starts at the bottom of the pack

Your new dog will be happy enough to understand that he is at the bottom of the pack order, it isn’t a problem to the dog,  he just wants to understand where his place is and he will be happy enough there.

Establish the pack order early on, and make sure the dog understands that you, or whoever else will be primarily responsible for his training, is the pack leader to be followed. When that is established it will make your new dog training much easier and quicker.

How you establish who is leader doesn’t have to be complicated, and it doesn’t need to involve any shouting or punishments. Dogs will often get the opposite message to the one you are trying to give them if you do not understand the way they think.

The quickest and easiest way I have found, after many years of mistakes with various dogs, is in a new dog training guide written by Dove Cresswell. She has appeared on TV and is one of the most popular and famous dog trainers in the world. Her guide is simplicity itself and will make your life so much easier, and your dog’s life so much happer.

I have included a link to Dove’s website below:

Click here for full new dog training details