And so to the training

SIT. DOWN. STAND. WAIT. STAY. COME. HEEL.

All dogs are different and some will learn quicker than others depending on breed, how much time the owner has to train and how many bad habits need to be untaught etc. A Labrador will probably learn to retrieve much quicker than a Basset Hound (in fact anything will learn anything much quicker than a Basset Hound) (Only joking!! Apologies to Basset owners) Find out as much as possible about your breed or in the case of a crossbreed about the breeds that may be his ancestors. It will help you to be patient with him during training if you know what he was originally bred for.

To avoid boredom keep training sessions short but frequent. Young puppies, whilst very capable of learning have a short attention span. Above all keep it fun.

Remembering the principle that anything a dog is rewarded for he is likely to repeat, it makes sense to reward your dog for the correct responses during training.

So what is a reward? Absolutely anything that the dog wants! The two main requirements for the survival of a species are food and reproduction. We can’t use sex but we can use food. Whilst some dogs may be happy with a toy or just your approval and praise, eating is usually the highlight of the day for most dogs. It is therefore not unreasonable to expect your dog to earn part of his daily food ration just as we have had to earn the money to buy it.

Be prepared to reward your dog for every correct response when you start teaching him something new. Once he fully understands what is required of him then rewards can be given randomly with jackpot rewards for a really good performance. What we call the fruit machine principle! You would soon get bored with playing a fruit machine if it paid out every time (assuming the pay out was lower than the stake) but with random pay outs and occasional jackpots, playing it becomes enjoyable.

Here at SCALLYWAGS, you will be shown how to teach your dog to respond to basic commands using the ‘hands off’ method.

Whilst using your hands to place your dog in a sit or a down will work with most dogs, they are doing it because they HAVE to, not because they WANT to. However gentle you are some dogs will resent being pushed, pulled and shoved and this can lead to your dog avoiding your hands and indeed you.

The ‘hands off’ method will work equally well with a 6 week old puppy, a 6 month old adolescent dog and a 6 year old adult dog.

To teach your dog to respond to your instructions you must first of all make sure that you can guarantee the response.

Try this simple experiment.

Show your dog a food treat, when he looks at you say his name and give him the treat. Repeat this several times.

Now wait for him to look away. This time say his name first and then give him the treat just for looking at you.

Don’t try this one but if you’ve done it you’ll know it works!

Say your dog’s name and when he comes to you do one of the following.

• Waggle your finger and scold him for some misdemeanour.
• Put his lead back on and terminate his free run at the park.
• Cut his nails.
• Shut him in the kitchen on his own.

Now say his name and watch him totally ignore you!

Now that you have taught your dog to respond to his name by making it rewarding, try the sit. Say his name and with a food treat in your hand raise it slowly above and over his head at his eye level. When he looks up the chances are his rear end will go down. If it does give him the reward. DO NOT PUT A VERBAL COMMAND TO IT AT THIS STAGE. When the response to your hand signal is immediate every time then add the command ‘sit’.

By using this method you can teach your dog to do anything that you would like him to do, providing he is physically capable of doing it, and it also becomes unnecessary to use any negative commands which may serve to confuse him.

By asking your dog to do something when you are not 100% certain that he will comply is simply teaching him that he doesn’t have to obey if he doesn’t want to, especially if the reward is greater for not obeying.

Beware of teaching your dog that ‘sit’ means sit if I’m holding your ball but if I say ‘sit’ whilst I’m trying to remove your lead you don’t have to. If you are certain that your dog understands the meaning of the word you simply give the instruction ONCE and then wait for him to sit before removing his lead, even if it takes an hour. Next time the response will be quicker.

BE CONSISTENT when teaching your dog. One word must mean one thing. If your dog lies down on the command ‘down’ then don’t expect him to know that ‘get down’ also means get off the settee. Think about what you are saying to your dog. Most dogs taught to obey ‘sit’, ‘stand’ & ‘down’ will also give the same response to ‘spit’, ‘hand’ & ‘brown’. Words used to instruct your dog must be short, simple and distinctive in their sounds from each other. They must also be said in a quiet, but not monotonous, tone of voice. If you constantly shout at your dog he will simply stop listening. Save the shouting for an emergency. It WILL work if it is an unusual occurrence!

Praise is very important when training your dog. If you are pleased with him then tell him so. You would find our classes boring and uninteresting if your instructor didn’t occasionally tell you how well you were doing with your dog. And if they don’t, you aren’t!

Look through our training exercises on-line.

or feel free to post any questions/comments on our message board

or ring us on 01329 833813