How to Find Good & Effective Dog Training Advice

Owning your first dog is an educational and enlightening experience. Each and every dog that you live with will teach you something new about the canine species.

There is a lot of dog training advice to tap into on the internet and in written publications.

Your dog

Puppy training advice will be based upon the fundamentals of house training and socialization. Turning a young puppy into a well-rounded family dog is no easy job. It is essential to research a little about how a dog learns before deciding to take on a puppy. With such a young dog you will have a blank canvas. You have the opportunity to mold a perfectly socialized dog that is well mannered and happy.

If you have a dog that is passed puppy-hood and has learned some unhelpful behavior then you may need to look into obtaining some dog training advice. Sometimes it is easy to inadvertently train your dog to behave in an unhelpful manner. If this is the case with your dog, a good trainer or behaviorist will explain what has caused the problem behavior along with giving dog training advice to improve it.

If you have rescued a dog, you will first need to deal with any unhelpful behavior that he has learned in the part of his life before he came to you. Not all rescue dogs bring problems. Many rescued dogs settle quickly and are no trouble at all.

Positive dog training

Any sound and effective dog training advice is based upon behavior modification using positive reinforcement. When looking for dog training advice you must be very careful. There are many people that are self-proclaimed dog trainers. Dog training certificates can be obtained for some by completing a short distance learning course over the internet.

When looking for dog training advice keep in mind the methods that are proven and always used by properly educated dog trainers and behaviorists. Look for the information on their training techniques and if applicable research their particular qualification.

To find a good professional look for someone that uses positive reinforcement during dog training. Reward based and behavior modification is a must when training your dog. Dogs effectively learn by motivation and kindness, just as people do. Positive dog training will reform your dog’s behavior forever. Clicker training is one of the best known positive dog training methods.

Dominance

There are many risks to look out for when finding a dog trainer. One of the biggest misconceptions is pack leadership and dominance based advice. Dated and dangerous this type of dog training bypasses any positive communication with your dog.  Dominance based dog training advice simply and wrongly assumes that your dog is trying to take over the household.

Simply put the dominance theory encourages confrontation. Dog and owner confrontation achieves nothing but misunderstanding and distrust. Particularly considering that the dominance theory has no interest in any other explanation for the behavior. The dog is a wolf and you must be his pack leader is a hollow and uneducated way to look at canine behavior modification.

Being a pack leader is still often followed up by the one cap fits all advice of the house rules of living with a dog. Eat first and pretend to eat from the dog bowl, go through doors first and don’t allow the dog on the sofa are all fruitless dog training advice given by this type of trainer.

Masking behavior

Dog training advice that is not based on kind behavior modification can often mask behavior, or even make it worse in the long term. Some trainers frequently use aversion techniques. A filled water bottle to squirt at a barking dog is a common example of this. Such treatment may stop the behavior without physically hurting the dog therefore it seems to work. It has not worked in the long term but simply masked the behavior. The feeling within the dog is still there. For example if the dog is fear barking, squirting him with water will not remove the fear. This reaction may even make the fear worse. The fear based behavior will simply manifest in another way.

Good dog training advice

Good dog training advice is based on working out the reason for the behavior then kindly helping the dog to learn a different behavior instead. A good trainer will observe before offering advice. Positive dog training will inform you as the dog’s owner why a particular behavior is manifesting and offer positive advice on modification.