Top 5 Dog Obedience Training Tips

If you don’t train puppies to behave at an early age, it can be harder to as they get older. While you can certainly teach an old dog new tricks, it is much easier to do when they are young. There are a number of methods to train puppies to be more obedient. When it comes down to it, you could be living in a pig pen if you don’t do things like train your new dog to go to the bathroom outside and not chew on the furniture. Also, training puppies takes an incredibly amount of patience, which is why if you are considering getting a dog, that you must have the time to train them. An untrained dog could have behavioral troubles and will be incredibly hard to handle. Here are the top five dog obedience training tips.

1. Learn how to ignore. Puppies thrive on attention, which is why if they do something bad and you scold them, they could turn around and translate it as a reward. It sounds backwards, but if you were to get inside the head of a puppy, you would understand that when they are doing something bad, they are trying to illicit a response – any response. So, when they do something bad, simply ignore them – this will be punishment enough.
2. Use replacement as a form of adjusting behaviors. If your dog is chewing on the couch, a shoe or anything else in your home, you want to quickly give something to them that they can chew on, so that they know what is theirs and what isn’t. When it comes down to it, the more a puppy understands that they have designated toys that they can chew on, the more they will skip the couch and go for their own toys. When they do this, give them a treat to reinforce the behavior.
3. Positive reinforcement. Speaking of treats, if your puppy does something right – either goes outside to do his or her business, heels or is obedient, be sure to immediately hand over a treat. The more that they can differentiate good behavior and bad behavior, the more obedient they will be. With dogs, the easiest way to make this differentiation is by giving your dog a treat. What you will find is that positive reenforcement will be incredibly successful.
4. Use a professional trainer. Sometimes a professional trainer can give you advice that you can’t find anywhere else. While training your dog is full time job – seemingly – it might be wise to have your dog go through weekly classes. These classes can make sure that your dog becomes house trained and obedient faster than ever. If you are in Texas, you may want to check out ProTrain Memphis, which has had incredible success over the years training dog to be more obedient.
5. Remain calm and patient. Training a dog takes an incredible amount of patience. The moment you become frustrated or angry is the moment that your dog will become more disobedient, which will only make you angrier. However, if you keep a level head, you should be able to train your puppy to be obedient in no time at all.