whats the trick to working with dogs?

Question

how to train dogs

Answer 1

learn about conditioning. you need to learn how to initialize a behavior and then how to best reinforce it. Think pavlov's dog. be patient and always be consistant. an animal will get confused if you do things first one way and then another. it is very important to consistantly show them what is expected of them.

Answer 2

Training the human is the hardest part.

Patience, consistancy, never hit or scold. Keep it simple. repetitive. Lots of love and praise. I try to avoid treats to train because some animals will not perform without the treat.

The dog is learning a foreign language. I like to teach with a word and a hand signal. Each one is for a different action.
Be careful to keep it short, simple and consistant. Don't mix the words and signals for different action. Write them down if you need to.
As soon as the dog, has learned a word and/signal, you will be surprised that they can actually respond if you combine them; as in come, sit and down all in one command. Some animals can respond to the hand signals without the words.

My dogs vocabulary is at the point he can tell the difference If I say "you can go in the car" or "you cannot go in the car" He either follows me to the door, or goes to his bed to pout. But he's a genius.

Keep in mind, you are the leader of his pack, you decide where he sleeps and where he eats and you are the provider for his pack.
Read lots of training books, most are quite good. and learn to read dog body language, or you can know what he is telling your. The position of his tail, ears, and body tells you what he is thinking.

Ears up "hi, who are you? did you come to play?"
Ears back "get your hand out of my face if you don't want to pull it back with less fingers!"
Front body down, "let's play".
Back end down "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do it, I won't do it again, now what was it I did?"
Exposed tummy, I'm deferring to your leadership. I'm giving you my most vulnerable body part.

As I said the training is mostly for the trainer not the trainee.

But good training make you a great friend not just a pet. And good training could save his life. Excuse I didn't mean to write a manual.

lyn

Answer 3

Communication and avoiding ambiguity. Each word you give the dog should sound sufficiently different from other words you tell the dog. For example, I see this all the time: Someone trains their dog to lay down. They give the command "lay down". That same person also trains their dog to get off the furniture with the word "down". Then they wonder why the dog is confused when you say "down". The trainer should have taught the dog the word "off" for getting off the furniture, as this doesn't sound like any other commands such as "sit", "speak", "lay down", etc... A dog can learn the command for just about any normal action that it takes. Once I taught my dog to hold still by saying "collar" as I try to put the collar on the dog. Before I had taught her that word, she would squirm around and just want to go. However, by issuing a command, I made her stop for a second and listen, which is usually enough for me to put her collar on her. I've seen other people say "no" or "bad dog" when they try to put the collar on the dog. Obviously this makes the dog not want to wear the collar. As you can see, the keys are to choose your words carefully, and be consistent with the words that you use. Also, if you want your dog to do something on command, the best way to teach it the word is by saying the word while the dog is doing it. If you want to teach your dog to bark, do something that makes it bark and then say "speak". Same thing for laying down, sitting, "tearing up a toy", whatever.

Answer 4

The trick is to actually like dogs and like what you're doing.
Plus you need to have a sensitivity to the dog and how it learns. Because like humans, no two dogs are the same and will learn the same way.

Answer 5

They have to understand that you are the "pack leader". Watch The Dog Whisperer. This guy gets instantaneous results with his training techniques. It comes on the National Geographic Channel.

Answer 6

It is far more effective to reward positive behaviors than to punish negative ones. Also, this reinforcement must be instant after the action, otherwise the dog might associate the reward with some other behavior.

Answer 7

My father-in-law is a prof. dog trainer and he always says it is not the dog that needs the training...its the human:-)

Dogs aren't like us, they want and need to be told who is boss. Do NOT missinterpret me, I am not saying to be aggressive with your animals, but you must be assertive and let your dog know you are their master.

Answer 8

After they compleate the command you give them give the dog a treat.. that way dog will do commands much easier..

Answer 9

You need to have lots of patience and love for the dog, and yourself.

Answer 10

they are all different, just like people. patience and repetitiveness. rewards. routine. lots of love. a dog understands words you wouldn't believe.