Posted on 10-02-10, under PET.
When it comes to training your new dog, what sort of equipment should you use? Are plain old treats and a stern voice enough? Or do you need more specialized items if you want your dog to be fully trained? It all depends on how much you want to teach your dog as well as how serious you are about it.
As said earlier, there is no need to buy special items for training simple task; the dog will simply follow by practice. But if you want your dog to participate in dog shows, and want it to learn some tricks, it is better to be prepared with some equipments which are meant for training for specific purpose.
Sit, Roll Over and Stay
There are many things you can teach a dog to do. The most common tricks that people try to teach their dogs, besides how to be housetrained, is how to sit, stay and roll over. There are also tricks such as shaking the paw, playing dead and so on, but those are harder to teach than the basic three. To start, even if you just want to teach a few tricks, you should get some dog training equipment. You should get a choke collar.
That’s a collar that’s made of chain that loops through itself. When the dog pulls on it, it sort of chokes them. It doesn’t hurt the dog but it does teach it not to pull on the leash. You’ll also want to get dog training equipment such as a leash, some treats and a clicker or a whistle. These will be used to reinforce the dog’s behavior.
How to train the dog?
When teaching your dog with your dog training equipment, you want to focus more on reinforcement as opposed to punishment. If your dog isn’t listening to you, that’s your fault; it’s not the dog’s. When your dog does something you like, reinforce that behavior. Give it a treat when it sits like you want it to, give it a pat and tell it good boy or girl when it rolls over like you want.
These tricks will help to keep the interest level of the dog and communicate and make them understand what exactly you want it to do. On the other hand if you punish your dog it may not understand the reason for punishment and might get confused. That is exactly why one should use reinforcements that are positive along with equipments that are used for teaching the dog for better training.
Training Your Dog
Start with the choke chain and the leash as the basic learning process of the dog training. Set up some goals with it, so that your dog knows the boundaries and does not stray away. Not letting it out of the training ground is the first lesson to be taught to a dog. The whistle does the job of catching the attention of the dog towards you. The clicker also sends the message to your dog about what you would like it to do. Instructing becomes easier with the use of whistle or a clicker. After doing the trick successfully, remember to treat him regularly so that it encourages the dog to perform better and better and obey your orders. The vital aspects of training are to be consistent and determined. Training a dog takes time; it cannot be achieved in a day or two. The training can last about a few weeks or more depending on the dog’s nature, after such vigorous training you can say that the dog is trained.
Who knows, you may be able to work with dog agility training equipment so that it can do real tricks like a police or circus dog. That will be way in the future, however. For now, you’d better stick to the basics so as not to confuse your new best friend.
You need proper dog training supplies to train your dog. Finding a low priced and used dog training equipment of best quality is very easier than you thought.
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