What We Teach & How – Fun & Rewards
In dog training you are not a fixer – You’re a teacher
Many of us come to dog training to fix one behavioral issue or another for example the dog pees in the house, the dog barks too much, the dog won’t come when you call, the dog jumps on you or other members of the family or your guests, or your dog pulls too hard when you’re out on a walk. Dog need jobs to do. Either you give them that job or they invent it.
To ‘fix’ those issues, we must lay a foundation of major training goals in which the dog learns to pay attention to us, to do is we say, to stay on task and to have fun working with us. We teach that through foundation exercises – sit, down, stand, heel, etc. Those are the means to the major training goals.
Our training began with our own German Shepherd Dog. It now includes all breeds. Of course your dog will love you, but you also need to earn the dog’s respect for you as the dog’s leader.
Dog training is a teaching assignment. You are the dog’s teacher, the dog is your student. As the dog learns, their confidence, their eagerness to pay attention to you and their willingness to take instructions from you grow. Agility exercises are a great way to build a dog’s confidence. You must make this teaching assignment fun for both you and your student. Food can be a big motivator early in training. Teaching tricks is a remarkable way to engage your dog and build a bond with you. Another motivator is encouraging the dog to chase as a reward for good work. Part of the fun is teaching the dog to use the dog’s remarkable sense of smell.
