The Most Common Mistakes Made While Training Your Dog
As soon as you bring the new addition of your family home with you, your dog should begin their training. This is an important part of making sure that your dog's behavior is shaped at an early age. When your dog learns to respond to specific phrases, they will be better behaved. However, there are many mistakes you could make while training your dog.
Train Often and Never Stop
Even after you believe that your dog has learned their tricks, you will want to train them further. Otherwise, your dog will forget some of their tricks. Also, teaching new tricks to your dog will be great for fighting boredom.
Give a Command Only Once
If you often give your dog a command and they don't respond, they might be distracted. Then, when you give the command multiple times, you are training your dog that they do not have to respond to your command right away. To teach your dog to respond to commands immediately, get their attention first.
If Possible, Train Your Dog Several Times a Day
You might not have enough time to train your dog multiple times a day, but if you can make extra time, this is more effective than a single long training session. This means that you will want to practice in between classes.
Associate the Training With Something Positive
If you want to train your dog to be calm while putting on their leash but you only put a leash on your dog when going to the vet, you might find it difficult to train your dog. This is because the leash has become associated with something negative.
If you notice that your training method is not working, you will want to reevaluate it and come up with a new plan. Otherwise, you might cause your dog to dislike undergoing training. It could be that your dog doesn't like the treats or you might not be giving your dog treats fast enough after they perform the trick.
Not Generalizing
You will want to teach your dog a trick in a generalized way. For example, you might teach the dog to "stay" whenever you open the door and say "stay." However, when you take your dog to a dog park and order them to "stay," they might not listen.
The problem is that your dog associates "stay" with "stay in the house." They might not understand that you actually want them to not move at all anywhere when the command is issued. However, dog training classes can allow your dog to be trained in a different environment.