One of the best parts of sharing your day-to-day life with a dog is having the chance to train and teach them. Training is one of the best ways to establish a special bond with your dog, achieving a relationship along the process between owner and pet is much more satisfactory for both.
Whether your dog is a puppy, young or even an adult, all dogs can learn some basic commands. If you’re looking for basic (but very useful) tricks like sit, down, stay and go, we’ve some tips for you below.
Although you may be surprised, teaching your dog basic obedience, such as sit, wait and come back when you call him, will give your canine companion the freedom to do the things he loves most, like running without a leash and coming to you when you want him to with the assurance that he will.
Because dogs are very intelligent animals and most of them love to learn and interact with their owner, training can be a good way to keep our furry companions from getting bored. Just keep in mind that your dog can get tired, so limit your training sessions to one hour a day at the most.
The most basic dog training is based on giving rewards. The strategy is to give your dog something he really likes, such as dog treats, toys or praise when he exhibits a certain behavior.
It is important to find out what your dog really likes and what his favorite things are. You don’t need to use for example dog treats, pieces of a sausage may be more than enough. Keep in mind that the better the reward, the more your dog will enjoy training and learning.
If you call your dog and he comes, if he gives you a paw or if he sits, don’t hesitate right after to reward him, so that he associates that command with a positive reward. In this way, with time you will make it more and more likely that when you command your dog to do something (we do not assure you that it will happen the first time) he will obey you.
This is the first thing you can teach your dog and it is the most natural concept for most animals. So much so that it is one of the easiest for them to learn, so you will be able to teach it easily even if you have only had a few training sessions with your dog.
This command is especially useful to control a dog in any kind of situation (when entering the house, when going out, when a visitor comes in or even in the street). It is also a very good transition command from or to the sit command.
A dog that knows how to stay still will not run out into the street if he gets loose, so this is one of the most important skills for any dog to learn. If you are lucky enough to have a puppy, make this the first command he learns, especially when the puppy is tired and hungry so he doesn’t get too hyper to concentrate.
One of the most useful commands, whether indoors or outdoors is when a dog comes when the owner asks him to. This way your dog will always be safer in any kind of situation and will save us from having to run after him.