Avoid Instructing Your Dog This Way
Friday, July 31st, 2009Every dog owner out there wants a dog, which is well-trained. But many dog owners have underestimated the amount of effort as well as the time which goes with training a dog properly. That is the reason why a number of totally avoidable mistakes occur which could have been done away with in the 1st place.
Dogs are definitely not furry children as some owners consider them to be. An average dog is going to have the mental capacity of a human 2-year-old, but there are not as many similarities as differences between a human and the dog. Dogs cannot follow language processing or reasoning like human beings. In the same manner, they do not understand cause and effect.
That is the reason why people get frustrated when they repeat the same command a number of times and the dog does not seem to comprehend it. In 98% of the cases the dog does not understand it, and that is why it is not necessarily ignoring that particular command. One should understand that, because it is possible that they responded to that command before but not on this particular occasion.
Many times, humans are surprised at dogs acting stubbornly. But their pet may have failed to associate yesterday’s rewards for obeying the call, “come” with today’s “come” because he did not connect the two in his mind. Some possible reasons and explanations based on how dogs learn have been suggested.
A dog trainer is going to need a lot of patience. You will need to repeat those commands continuously and again and again. Be ready not to get 100% results every time. Many dogs need more than 2 years of training to get past the simple basic and easy to understand commands.
It is of no use if you lose your temper with your dog and punish it physically. Many people think that physical punishment is the easiest way to correct your disobedient dog’s bad behavior. This is definitely not a way to inspire trust in your animal. Physical punishment has to be kept in reserve for the most unforgivable behavior.
Dogs are just like human beings in the way that they follow people they trust instead of the people they fear. Following a person they fear is a last resort option for dogs. Dogs also have different reasoning abilities than humans. They are not going to learn from physical punishment, because they do not understand the reason behind it. That is why physical punishment is not an effective training option.
This is how not to train your dog: -Treating and talking to your dog like it is a human, and able to reason like you. -Thinking that your dog can connect cause and effect, and events across different circumstances and time and reach the same conclusions as a human being. -Getting impatient with the dog, as well as frustrated, just because they are not behaving in the manner you want them to behave, and then punishing them for something they cannot understand.
These methods are completely useless and are going to result in a frustrated dog owner and an unstable and fearful pet. So, to make sure that you do not get these results, change YOUR behavior before you try changing your dog’s behavior.

