Training a dog to obey can be fun or frustrating, depending on how you go about it. Probably the most effective and important thing you can do during training is to be consistent in your actions and words so your dog knows what to expect each time it obeys your commands.
Training for an adult dog is handled differently than training a puppy. Dog obedience training for adult dogs covers all aspects of dog training whether your dog is disobedient, overly aggressive, begins biting people, starts chewing on your shoes or furniture, starts attacking small children, or is not properly house trained.
There are many books available on training an adult dog and you can find easily find exactly what you need with a quick scan of the dog sections in Barnes and Noble, Borders, or even your public library which usually carries a wide choice of books on training dogs.
If your dog jumps on you or someone else and you want the behavior to stop, don’t yell at it, push it or kick it. Your dog won’t understand these actions because all it sees is that you’re paying attention to it, talking and touching it, which is exactly what it wants from you.
Instead, shake your head and keep repeating “No!” each time the dog exhibits this behavior. If your dog is barking non-stop, get up and leave the room but don’t yell at your dog because this just reinforces the bad behavior.
Dog owners feel that their dogs “know they’ve done something wrong” because they “act guilty.” The reality is dogs don’t realize what they’ve done wrong unless you catch them in the act. Punishing a dog minutes after an unwanted behavior does not work. Your dog is “acting guilty” because your body language is interpreted as being angry, and dogs are very perceptive of a human’s body language.
Even if you are able to catch your dog at the time bad behavior is being demonstrated, it may not understand why you are punishing it.
Training a dog to obey you requires good communication from you. Dogs do not understand situations the way humans do, so it’s important to relate to a dog on its own level. Always be sure you’re not unintentionally rewarding bad behavior. Instead, teach your dog what you want it do and reward that behavior.
