remposting rempostingive learned to start referring to dog training as dog teaching, or education. i know it sounds silly, but it serves my purpose a lot better.
in reality, i think that its really valuable to start thinking of teaching dogs when and how to behave as teaching instead of training.
they can be better friends, and better students, too. if theres anything ive learned from my latest reading of Love Is All You Need by jennifer arnold,
its that a dog is completely willing to learn whatever you put in front of them if you show them that you love them.
for me, this perfectly explains a lot of things! when that part was explained, a few things clicked into place for me.
as usual, i started connecting it with how the teaching method could be applied to humans, but my friends usually object to these ideas so i left it alone.
anyways, the first step to teaching your dog manners is to teach them that you love them a lot.
you can play with them, share food and eat with them regularly, cuddle with them, groom them, or go on walks together!
there are so many things to do to teach a dog trust, and they tend to do it naturally.. dogs have a lot of love in them already, so it isnt too hard.
i would say that the other most important thing that ive learned is that a dog should never hear their name shouted or in any negative tone.
i dont think that i have to explain the general dangers of punishment based training, but, yes. please don't ever hit or yell at a dog!
its so bad. please. the brain of a dog ranges from being like a human toddler to an eight year old. theyre still really young, and they also don't know english.
they really really dont know english. and its not easy for them to learn. i was surprised at how many words a dog can actually learn, but theres really no way i could say that dogs will understand what they did wrong when youre yelling at them to stop doing something.
other stuff i would suggest is to think of teaching them in a way that makes it less like a command and more like a request.
to properly teach a dog that you love and respect them, you still need to give them freedom to do what they want. and if they love you, and understand that you love them, they will absolutely trust whatever you ask them to do.
okay! well, i usually like to start with the first word learned being Sit. its just really easy and fun to teach.
for sit, you can use a treat and raise it slowly above the dogs head.
as the dog looks up to sniff the treat, they will have to end up sitting down for their nose to go up.
if the dog ends up just standing or jumping to get the treat, then just try again. if they jump up too many times, then i try to take a break before doing it again.
the reason for this is that i dont want them to think that i want them to jump, so we have to get that out of their heads.
luckly, dogs are really fast learners, and for the most part, very food motivated. i understand. i also love food.
by the time a dog realises what the word Sit means, theyll be really quick to do it. i usually end up seeing dogs sitting whenever i pull out a treat
if ive taught them successfully.
