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Canine Obedience Training and the Importance of ConsistencyThe Resource for Everything About Dogs |
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Canine Obedience Training and the Importance of Consistencyby Skylar Jones
Many people believe dogs were created to obey their owners. Perhaps that's why they're considered to be man?s best friend. However, obedience is not an instinctual quality in dogs. That's why it's important to teach your dog how to obey commands so they'll know exactly how you want them to behave. Dog's need order in their lives. They need to know who's the master and who's the follower. You can use canine obedience training to impose control over your dog and let him know that you are the master and he is the follower. The techniques of training dogs to obey may vary in style, equipment used, or methodology implemented. However, all of these things are still focused on one thing: making your dog obey you. But how exactly do trainers of these techniques make the dogs obey their masters? What is the reason that lies beneath the idea considering the fact that dogs are not humans and cannot logically understand why they have to obey? The answer is consistency. Consistency is the most crucial thing in any canine obedience training system. As noted previously, dogs cannot think logically. They just don't understand why they have to obey you or what you want them to do. That's why you have to let them know what it's OK for them to do, what they should do and what they should never do. But what exactly does it mean to be consistent? The dictionary defines consistency as "keeping to a style or pattern" but when we are talking about training our dogs we really need to expand on that definition a bit. In our case consistency means that we always respond in the same way to a given action. For example, if you want to break your dog from chewing on your sandals you need to catch the dog in the act every time he chews on them and correct him for the transgression. This means that you have to keep an eye on the dog or puppy at all times and correct him as soon as he performs the undesired action. And if you can't keep an eye on him put him in his crate where he does not have the ability to misbehave. If you are not consistent your dog will be confused and not understand that it is a bad thing to chew on sandals. He will come to the conclusion that it is a bad thing to chew on sandals only when you are watching him. By using consistency you will equate chewing on sandals to unpleasant consequences no matter if you see him do it or not. To that end you must be consistent in teaching you dog what can be done and what it should not do. Dogs are not like humans and we shouldn't expect them to act like humans. That's why Canine Obedience Training requires consistency and patience. And a little compassion thrown in for good measure! One side note about the importance of nutrition: Sometimes dogs will display certain undesirable behaviors because of poor nutrition. Digging, for example, can sometimes be directly related to a nutrient deficiency known as pica. Dogs sometimes eat the dirt they dig to supplement their health. To prevent this make sure your dog eats a good quality dog food. And, of course, keep an eye on the pet food recall list. Here is a link with more info about the recall: http://www.squidoo.com/dog_food_recall_list
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