How to Build A Relationship with the Dog You're Training

Video Transcript

Hi! I am Melanie McLeroy with Taurus Training for Expert Village and today we are going to talk about training dogs. A very important subject is how to properly give commands. Many people give commands in a way that really undermines the relationship with their dog and confuses them as well. In other words, when you ask your dog to sit, don’t say sit, sit, sit, sit, Rex sit, sit, sit. As you can see from Zuke’s expression, that can be kind of confusing. Instead, there are basically five guidelines to follow when you are giving commands. The first one is use to a calm confident tone of voice; there is no reason to yell. If you yell at your dog, if you yell at your kid, yell at your spouse, it actually undermines your authority. The way you give a command can really set the tone for how you want your relationship with your dog to be. So be calm and quiet. The second principle is to not repeat the command over and over. Then your dog thinks its sit, sit, sit, name, sit, name, sit and they finally do it on the seventh or eighth time, you want it to be immediate. The third principle is to set your dog up to succeed. If you are taking your new puppy to the park and there are children running around, don’t ask her to sit, it’s just too exciting. Instead work slowly and incrementally and get your dog ready to handle those really high distraction situations. The fourth principle is to be very, very quick. The second, your dog performs the command, you want to mark it with a word or a sound something special that communicates to your dog that they did the right thing and that there is a reward coming. Now this word or sound just needs to be short, bright and happy. Some people use a clicker. I like to use the word good, but said in a special way. Sit. Good. Some people use yup, some people use yes, it does not matter and the important thing is to be very consistent. The importance of this word is that it acts as a bridge between the action and the possibility of a reward. Finally make sure that your dog performs on your terms instead of hers. If you say sit or down and it takes your dog five minutes to perform the command, they are testing you. You need to figure out a way to motivate them to move a little bit more quickly. If you tell your dog to sit, and she always flops into a down, she is waiting to see what you are going to do about it. Just like kids our dogs try to figure out what they can do to push our buttons. There is nothing spiteful about it; it is just what they do. So let us review those; do not yell, do not repeat, set your dog up to succeed, be very quick to mark that your dog did the right thing and finally make sure your dog is working on your terms instead of theirs.

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