The Five Keys To Successful Dog Training

Who knew? You don’t have to be a ‘whisperer’ to train your dog! Or your hamster. Or anything, for that matter. Training isn’t magic. In its basic form, ‘training’ is purely the result of good communication and understanding. And since we’re not hamster trainers, we’ll stick to what we know, and give you the five key elements of what we know to be good dog training. They are Motivate, Communicate, Respond, Lead, and Manage.

1. Motivate: Dogs won’t learn if they are not motivated. Find a way to get your dog to join with you in the communication process. In modern training, this usually involves treats, toys, and/or games, unlike the old days, when dogs were motivated by trying to avoid harsh corrections or swats.

2. Communicate: Develop an effective communication language. Use the same words over and over and stick to the same sequence. These days, contemporary trainers show a lot of emotion with facial expressions, to clarify the words. Smile when you are pleased, frown when you are not. Simple.

3. Respond: Heavily reward good choices and apply reasonable, low-emotion consequences to poor choices. Most of us have it backwards – we get stingy with our praise, then overreact to transgressions. Dogs tend to tune us out when we do this. Heap on the praise...better yet, admire your dog's efforts!

4. Lead: Provide consistent, educational leadership. There are no shortcuts to leadership; you either do it for your dog every day, or you don’t. Good dog training can be occasionally inconvenient. If you ask for a wait at the door, don’t go anywhere until you get it. Even if you are running late.

5. Manage: This one is probably the hardest for most families. If you don’t manager your dog successfully, you can undo all the work you did in the other four areas. Control your dog when you are not involved in direct communication. Today’s ‘whisperers’ use leash bonding, time-outs, exercise pens, crates, and long lines to provide boundaries that keep dogs from making poor choices. The tools are out there. Use ‘em.