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I found this video today. This is a prime example of a well trained dog. While everyone may not think they need their dog to be this well-behaved, you should at least make sure your dogs adhere to important commands this well.
Important commands, such as sit, stay, or come should be done by your dog without any hesitation. This is for both your protection and the dogs. So strive for perfection on at least those three commands. Everything else will be a bonus.
By now you know that there are many different factors that will affect your pet’s training. Such factors as your own consistency, where you bring your pet, and the interaction of other people will likely give you some pause as to whether or not training is right for you and your pet. However, do not get discouraged.
This next lesson will show you exactly what you can do that will go a long way to insure your pet training success. This lesson is all about Pet Training Goals.
We all hopefully know what goals are and how to set them in our own lives. But our pet cannot set their own goals. This means that we need to set them ourselves and we need to do it properly.
If you have not done so yet, this is the perfect time to consider starting a pet training log or journal. A simple notebook or paper pad will do but I prefer a hardcover journal. These are available at Wal Mart or any local bookstore. They have a hard cover to withstand abuse and many come with a ribbon page marker for help locating your last entry.
Setting Pet Training Goals
Lets first take a quick look at the key principles of goal setting and how to apply it to your pet training.
Goal Setting Steps:
Be sure your goals are valid
Do not have Contradicting Goals
Choose Specific Goals
Make sure goals are high but attainable
Word goals in a positive nature
Write Goals on paper in detail
Above are the basic goal setting structures for any aspect of life, so why not use them for puppy training? There is no reason not to apply these rules. So lets do just that.
Pet Training Goal – Gentle and well behaved dog behavior when people visit
Pet should sit and wait patiently when people enter the door – A valid goal
This goal does not contradict desired calm, gentle, and desired behavior – check
Specific goals -
Pet should sit on command
pet should stay on command
pet should not move when door opens
pet should not move when person enters
pet should move only on command
Goal is high as this will require long-term training depending on pet, but very attainable with consistent practice.
Positive Goal – Our pet will behave in a calm, pleasant, well-behaved manner when people are greeted at the door. Pet will sit patiently until allowed to move.
Detailed Writing – Abie, our presently hyper active GSD normally likes to run and jump when there is someone at the door. By training her not to react in this manner we will be able to allow her to greet people safely when they come to visit. Her training will consist of repeated attempts to have her sit at the door, then told to stay, while someone opens the door. If she moves, the door will be closed and the process started over again. This will be repeated until the desired behavior of sitting and staying until told is achieved.
The above example is not merely some made up scenario but is in fact the actual routine used with our dog Abie. This is one of the exact behaviors we have working on her with as this is a most destructive behavior.
Tracking Pet Training Goals
Once you have written your above pet training goals into your pet training journal the next step will be to start tracking your progress. This can be done quite easily and with a little time you will notice improvements in your pets behavior.
To start I generally keep track of the following items.
number of times a command is said before response. You should not use a command repeatedly if possible. But it does happen. The general rule is say once, wait a few seconds. Then repeat.
How long the stay duration lasted. Once seated and told to stay, movement or lack of concentration can cause the dog to move. The longer the better.
What if any distractions were there.
These criteria will change depending on what you are training. But these are good basics, as they record command attempts, time, and potential problems.
The normal behavior pattern should also be recorded as a starting point. So what I can do is make a time line.
Abie Door Training Start -
Start – normal pattern – Abie runs to door when any motion made toward the door. Waits until first door opens, then pushes through storm door.
Day 1 Session 1 – Abie told to sit, took 3 tries. Abie told to stay. Abie will stay if no movement or distractions arise.
Open Door causes Abie to rise and go towards door
Repeat
Day 1 Session 2 – As inner door seems to trigger reaction to move, training consisted of working this one problem for several minutes until door no longer triggers reaction
day 1 Session 3 – Abie told to sit, took 2 tries. Abie told to stay. No movement on first door.
Opening handle to outer door causes reaction to move. Repeat
repeat several attempts with outer door until outer door no longer causes her to react
Day 2 session 4 – Abie will now sit on first command. Sits well. told to stay. Abie stayed until I was standing with both doors fully open. She did twitch twice as if to move, but a second stay command kept her still. Told to release allows her to come out the door.
As you can see within 1 day a noticeable change has taken place. All of these sessions did not take place one after the other and each took about 10-15 minutes before she would move to the next step. Just like walking you have to take one step at a time. Within a few days she was willing to sit at the door and wait for us.
When Abie decided she was going to move because of the door I simply closed the door and restarted. This shows the dog that the door opening was not the proper time to get up. Same with the second door or any other distraction. If someone comes in the room, repeat the entire process if your dog breaks the stay.
Tracking your pets goals is very important. Otherwise how will you really know if they are making any progress. Track it the way you want to, as long as you are tracking it. Write down what steps you take, what reaction occurred, and what corrections needed to be done. Setting and tracking your pet training goals will be the next building block to actually succeeding where others fails.
Next Post Preview: Knowing What Type Of Pet Training You Are Trying To Train Your Pet For.
In your first two lessons we covered what things you have to do in order to prepare yourself for pet training. Many people will find that lessons 1 and 2 are going to be the absolute hardest part of a pet training process. If you are not consistent in your approach then your dog will not be consistent in their learning. Also, since you will find that other people do not like being told what to do, even if it is your pet, your training, and your desire to have a happy, well-training pet.
Luckily the next step is relatively easy compared to those lessons. Let take a look at the basic stuff we will need to do to pick a location for pet training success. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
The other day we talked about how important it is for you to remain consistent with your puppy training techniques. We cannot over-state the important of keeping your level of consistency, well consistent. The more repetitive you are, the quicker your pet will learn, and the more readily your pet will listen.
Today we are going to discuss one of the biggest setbacks a beginner pet trainer will encounter. Unfortunately this is a real pain to have to deal with, and can often get you in trouble. That is the problem of having “too many trainers”.
There are many reasons to train your pets. Most of all it will make your pets life better. A properly trained pet is less likely to disobey your commands, will be less likely to get into trouble, and will also be less likely to be punished. This provides a better quality of life for both you and your pets.
Unfortunately, many people do not train their pets properly. How come? Well, mostly because they simply do not know enough about how to properly train themselves. You thought I was going to say their pets, didn’t you. Well, the truth is, before you can even think to train your pets, you have to take steps to insure that you have a proper foundation to work with.
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