The idea of dog training is to have a well-behaved dog who is healthy and happy. Unfortunately, poor training can leave you with a dog that is not only unhappy but also poorly behaved. To help ensure that your dog gets the most benefit from training, here are some common mistakes to avoid.
Failing to Be Consistent
When you are inconsistent in handling your dog, it can become confused and frustrated. Inconsistency also makes it far more difficult for your dog to follow your commands. No matter how much time you spend attempting to train your dog, if you are not consistent, you are wasting your time.
Before starting to train your dog, it is important that you establish rules and guidelines. Keep the rules simple and stick to them. The more consistent you are with the dog, the easier it will be for it to adapt to your rules.
Putting Off Training
Some owners fail to start training their dogs at the appropriate time. It is more difficult to train a dog that has been allowed to make its own rules for a long time. By suddenly expecting your dog to follow certain rules, you are causing confusion and frustration. Your dog might even rebel against the out-of-the-blue training.
Regardless of your dog's age, it is important that you start training it on day one. The earlier you start to impress upon your dog the importance of following certain rules, the easier it will be to train it.
Quitting Training Too Soon
Some owners makes the mistake of ending training too soon because their dogs are exhibiting good behavior. If training is ended too soon, a dog can relapse into bad behavior and forget skills that were taught. Dogs need to be refreshed on their training on a regular basis.
Once your dog is trained, you will not have to spend hours working with it each week. A few minutes daily is enough to reinforce the skills that your dog learned and to provide encouragement and affirmations to it. In addition to reviewing the basics, you can take that time to review special skills your dog has learned.
There are other mistakes that you should avoid when it comes to training your dog. Work with a professional dog training service such as The Pet Spot Pet Resort to ensure that your dog is properly trained and to learn the skills needed to keep your dog on the right track in the future.
