by Robert Buford
Obedience Training is a very important excersize for both you and your pet. It not only gives the pet owner peace of mind, but also helps to establish a strong bond between you and your pet.
It is best to do dog obedience training after you and your dog have had a chance to bond. Obedience training doesnt solve all behavior problems, but it is the foundation for solving just about any problem.
Training a dog to obey your commands can be an ongoing and lengthy process depending on the dog, the methods used, and the skill and understanding of both the pet and its owner.
Although dogs love us, and some of them are very smart for their breed, they dont have the brain capacity of humans. And as much we treat them as our children (yes Im guilty), we have to tailor our training to a dog and not a person. The first thing to do is to choose one person to do the training, usually the master (or alpha leader in dog speak), this is the person (most probably you) who will train your best friend. If youre asking why, its simply to avoid confusion and help your puppy or dog learn to recognize your commands, inflections, and instructions.
With time, dogs have become an important part of human households, where they are seldom treated as working mates. Unlike people of the 18th century, dog owners of today consider their pets as one of their family members and go out of their way to provide the latter with the best of training, diet, grooming and care.
Your dog provides you with love and companionship, but chances are he also provides you with some unpleasant surprises from time to time-a mess on the carpet or a slobbery pair of slippers, for example. While dogs seem to offer their people love and friendship almost immediately, learning how to live by the rules of a human household does not always come so easily.
Recognize that dogs, no matter how smart for their breed, are not as intelligent as humans. And while multitasking in todays environment is expected of homosapiens, such is not the case in the dog world. Teach them one thing (thing=command) at a time, otherwise your training session may be confusing and not achieve the results youre hoping for. Realize that even if you only teach one command at a time, it will very likely require multiple training sessions.
Solving your dogs behavior problems may take a renewed commitment on your part, but it can be done. And its worth it. After all, research shows that most dogs and cats are relinquished to animal shelters-or otherwise given up-because of common behavior problems their families didnt know how to solve.
