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Dog Obedience Training - 3 Important Principles

Obedience training requires the knowledge of how to evaluate effective training from poor training that does not achieve noticeable results.

Even for well bred and domesticated breeds, dogs always need basic obedience training to allow them to be safely incorporated into a human environment.  Here are 3 important components of a proper training philosophy:

Principle One: CONSISTENCY

Be consistent - that is the first and most critical first rule in successful obedience training. Word choice, tone of voice, and the actions that accompany a word or command must be chosen and used carefully. Initially, the trainer or the dog owner must decide what is the goal of training - what you are trying to teach the dog and how will you make it happen.

A word or a phrase like COME does not make sense to a dog without an associated action. A dog is not born understanding human words and the language we use. So to make the training effective, always use verbal commands in a very consistent manner so that your dog learns to respond to the signal with the result you intend.

For example, if you are using the command COME, make sure that everyone in the household use it in a singular manner. The command COME specifically means that the dog should approach the giver of the command use it in that sense. So if you are using this command make it a point that you would not do actions that would make the command confusing for the dog.

If he does not come to you, do not force the dog to come to you or punish him. He will learn to associate punishment with that word. Under these conditions, you would naturally expect that he would not respond correctly because he does not want punishment.

Consistency also covers the use of the same command by all other people in the household. For example, if you are using the command COME, other people in the household should not replace it with words like HERE or COME HERE BOY.

Principle Two: KEEP IT SHORT

The hours devoted to training and the words used as command should be kept short. Keep in mind that the attention span of dogs is very short. Like children, keeping dogs involved in a specific learning activity for a long period of time is very difficult, if not impossible. Puppies will only react to a specific stimulus for a short period, for example chasing a moving toy car, and then quickly lose interest and move on to the next thing.

Dogs do not maintain the same level of interest they had when they are starting the activity, they become easily bored and distracted. As a result, effective training should be limited only to 10 or 15 minutes of regular training at a time.

Principle Three: DO NOT USE FORCE and PUNISHMENT

Never hurt the dog if you want him to respond to training. Never force the dog to follow the command if he is not prepared for it or punish a dog for something he did. Punishment teaches the wrong thing to a dog.

Don not push an animal too hard while training. Most dogs will not learn something instantly. And they certainly do not recognize impatience. All they know is that you are angry.

Force does not properly communicate your intention. Instead use negative reinforcement. If he knows that he is praised when he does something right, he should not be praised when he does not follow a command.

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