Dog Owner’s Guide: Introduction to Obedience Training
There are a few essential commands that you should make an effort to teach your dog. Even if you teach him nothing else, he should return to you as soon as you call his name, be able to sit on command, lie down, walk to heel and be able to walk on calmly when he is off the lead.
This level of basic training will give you the confidence that you can control your dog in any situation. A happy dog loves learning something new: the mental stimulation helps to keep life interesting for him, and he too will gain confidence from his training.
Happy Dog Tip
If you have a toy breed, don’t think he is too cute to bother with obedience training. Toy breeds can be highly intelligent dogs and they enjoy learning quite complicated commands and tricks.
Clicker Training
A clicker is a plastic box with a metal tongue inside. When pressed with the thumb, this makes a distinctive double clicking sound. The clicker is small enough to hide in one hand.
The idea is that the dog soon associates the clicking sound with a reward, and once he makes this connection it is easy to get him to repeat a behavior. The clicker can be gradually phased out once a behavior has been learned, but is invaluable when training begins.
Introducing the Clicker
Accurate timing is the key to successful clicker training. Practice until you are confident that you can use one with pinpoint accuracy. Test yourself by throwing a ball into the air and clicking before it hits the ground, or throwing it against a wall and clicking before it reaches the wall.
You will also need very tasty treats to offer the dog as soon as you have used the clicker. Begin by throwing down a treat and clicking just before the dog eats the treat and returns to you. Only click once and avoid holding the clicker close to his head or ears. Repeat this exercise several times. This will begin to create an association between the clicker and the treat.
Some people, (particularly those with less nimble fingers) prefer to keep both hands free and hide the clicker under one of their feet.
Training Teaching Recall
For your dog to come as soon as you call him, he needs to make the connection that returning to you is always a positive experience and worth leaving whatever interesting thing he may be doing. Here’s how to teach recall:
- When your dog is a little way away from you, call his name in an excited high-pitched voice. Call his name only once, as you want him to respond immediately. You can also get his attention by rattling a treat pot.
- As soon as the dog turns to face you, click. When he walks towards you, reward him instantly with a treat.
- Repeat this exercise several times, making sure you reward him generously with treats or a few seconds of play with a high-value toy each time. Once your dog returns to you quickly, you can say his name and introduce a verbal command such as ‘come’. Click as he starts to walk towards you and reward him as soon as he get back to you.
Never punish your dog for not returning to you. He will simply associate coming to you with an unpleasant experience and be even more reluctant next time. You should also avoid chasing after him, as he will think this is a great game!
December 20th, 2007 at 3:55 am
[…] Bloglines Search: "Dog Obedience" wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptHappy Dog Tip If you have a toy breed, don’t think he is too cute to bother with obedience training. […]
December 21st, 2007 at 4:45 am
The last point is really important, and something a lot of people don’t get.
If your dog takes a while to come to you, but eventually does and gets hit for it (for taking too long…), it’s going to associate coming to you with being hit. Not clever.
December 21st, 2007 at 6:27 am
Dog Owner?s Guide: Introduction to Obedience Training…
[…]There are a few essential commands that you should make an effort to teach your dog. Even if you teach him nothing else, he should return to you as soon as you call his name, be able to sit on command, lie down, walk to heel and be able to walk on…
December 21st, 2007 at 9:36 am
Ok so here’s what I’ve never understood. You first tell me not to call the name of the dog more than once, don’t punish the dog for coming to you and do not chase after the dog or it will think this is a game. So then what the hell are you supposed to do when you call the dog’s name ONCE and she doesn’t respond?
That’s the biggest problem I’ve ran into with my dog is that she doesn’t follow the book as far as her part in the training. If I use treats then she gets over excited and trying to train her anything is futile. If there are no treats then it’s not worth her time.
I hate dog training.
December 21st, 2007 at 12:28 pm
I’ve always trained in an enclosed environment, especially for stubborn dogs. This way you can reward good behavior (coming on command) with a treat, and punish bad behavior without having to chase, (a small slap). I would avoid punishment for a young animal though and only reserve it for an older puppy if a reward system alone doesn’t work.
I’ve never tried a clicker before and would like to do that with my next dog but that will be many many years from now. Unfortunately I have an extremely stubborn dog, while she associated coming to me with a treat and being a positive experience sometimes she felt that biting the cat was more important.
December 21st, 2007 at 4:54 pm
How do you train a dog that isn’t food driven?
December 21st, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Paul, We have found that small pieces of dried mango are irresistible to our miniature poodle.
January 14th, 2008 at 3:07 am
Paul; good and fair question! Whatever technique you are using, one must know their dog, and what the DOG considers rewarding. If they aren’t food motivated, sometimes a special favored toy can be used only as a reward (not left about the house). Activities can be used as rewards. Going for a walk, playing together, etc. Know your dog, know (or discover) what really turns them on, & use that as a reward. But since for so many things a food treat can be very handy, I personally continue to experiment with different treats to see if I can find one the dog likes, just to have another option. The more unpredictable & varied the rewards, the better.
The other big thing as far as I’m concerned is that you don’t punish until you have carefully taught the dog what you WANT - how to be RIGHT. That’s not to say you can’t tell your dog “no”-stop that behavior; but if you’re trying to teach something, you’ve got to get lots of repetitions rewarded so the dog understands what to do to get the reward before you start getting on them about being “wrong”.
Justin:
no reason you can’t experiment with the clicker with your present dog. Can be a fantastic learning experience, and many times it works super for independent/”stubborn” dogs; learn to work with them rather than pushing them (to which they just push back). It is such a CLEAR way of communicating, which makes sense to dogs, who think so black & white.
Hallsey:
Keep the treats out of sight until your dog has come, & you have a hold of her collar. THEN, while you are praising, give a treat. You have to remember the dog’s history, & what you may have inadvertently taught. Dogs get better at what they practice, so you don’t want to practice calling & having them ignore you. Get a new word/cue & start at square 1. Many dogs learn that even if they don’t get punished for coming, at the very least their fun is over. So call, reward, release, & do it LOTS. There are good booklets/DVD’s for teaching reliable recalls-check out dogwise.com
January 14th, 2008 at 3:30 am
I agree completely.
Dogs pick up on vibes, and if theres yelling, and very uniform, they don’t enjoy it, and that carrys into the home.
Pets should be fun! And training is an important part of making them that special part of the family.
January 28th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I completely agree, terrific article. They definitely know more about what’s going on than what a lot of people give them credit for. If you’re down - they know it. If you’re mad, then definitely know it…
Jeff W.