Canine Obedience Training - Obedience Training Tips

When you think of dog obedience training you may think of hours and hours of training and almost dread getting started. It doesn’t have to be that way. Obedience training can be relatively easy and painless. Here are a few obedience training tips to get you started:

Always begin your initial training in a quiet location with few distractions – You want your dog’s full attention. They can become easily distracted, especially when you are first beginning your training.

Use tasty treats – You want your dog’s attention and food is usually a high motivator for most dogs. You want your treats to be tiny, moist and smelly. Good options include left over meat, hot dogs, Pounce cat treats, and of course commercial training treats. Just be sure they are cut into tiny bite-sized pieces. If your dog has to concentrate on chewing the treat, he will forget why he earned it in the first place.

Practice for shorter session but more frequently – Dogs can sometimes have a hard time paying attention for long periods of time. It’s a good idea to keep the sessions short but practice more often. Several 5 minute sessions are much more effective rather than one 30 minutes session a day. At a minimum you should practice once in the morning, mid afternoon and again in the evening.

Begin your training with name attention – When you first begin your training program, it’s a good idea to do this name attention exercise. It will really help when you need your dog’s attention and also when you begin working on recalls. It’s a great foundation for any obedience program. Call your dog’s name and as soon as he turns his head to look at you, say a “marker word” and give him a treat. If your dog doesn’t respond when you call his name, do something to get his attention: Clap your hands, make kissy noises, etc. A marker word is a word that will indicate that your dog has done something right. A good word to use would be “yes” or “good.” You want to be really excited when you do this exercise so your dog thinks when you call his name there’s going to be a party.