Unleash Your Dog's Potential:
Essential Training Tips
First and foremost, I am not a professional dog trainer. However, I have had seven dogs throughout my life, with the last four being the most stubborn of them all—Northern breeds. We've gone through beginner and advanced obedience training with several dogs, and our husky, Ruger, passed all courses to receive his AKC K9 Good Citizen certificate. The most important thing to remember is that the training is more for you than your pooch. Our actions and behaviors dictate the responses from our dogs. Many things we do may feel good to us in the moment, but could be creating poor and even even anxious behaviors in your dog. Predictable routines and consistent training can reduce anxiety in dogs. They learn to anticipate what will happen next, which can make them feel more comfortable and less stressed. Just like with humans, dogs learn new things throughout their life. So make training a part of your everyday interactions.
Do's
Stay Calm When Arriving Home: I can't emphasize this one enough. When you come home, try to stay calm and avoid making a big fuss over your dog. In fact, I would ignore your dog for the first five minutes. This helps prevent them from developing anxious attachment and teaches them that your comings and goings are a normal part of the day.
Be Consistent: Dogs learn through repetition. Using the same commands and rewards helps your dog understand what is expected of them and helps build trust between you and your dog. For example, my dogs know that they have to sit before we will give them their food. They now do it without command.
Use Positive Reinforcement: By rewarding your dog for good behavior, you reinforce that behavior, making it more likely to be repeated. This helps your dog understand what is expected of them and promotes effective learning. Do this consistently throughout the day, not just during specific training sessions. Good behavior should always be recognized and rewarded.
Keep Training Sessions Short: When teaching your dog a new trick or command, aim for 5-10 minute sessions. Long sessions can lead to frustration for both you and your dog. Short, positive sessions ensure that training remains enjoyable and productive.
End on a Positive Note: Finish training sessions with a success. Positive endings make training sessions enjoyable, keeping your dog motivated and eager for the next session
Don'ts
Don't Overexcite Your Dog: When you come home, avoid overly enthusiastic greetings. This can help prevent reinforcing anxiety and making your dog overly dependent on your presence. If you shower your dog with affection and excitement the moment you walk in, they'll start to anticipate it every time you leave, leading to hours of anxious waiting and stress.
Don't Use Physical Punishment: Never hit or physically punish your dog. This can lead to a breakdown in the trust between you and your dog and make them fearful and aggressive. All of which can result in dangerous behaviors towards you or others.
Don't Punish After the Fact: Dogs have a limited ability to connect past actions with current consequences. If you punish them hours after they've done something wrong, they won't understand what behavior is being corrected and it could lead to other behaviors you don't want. It is important to only correct behaviors while they are occuring.
Don't Overwhelm Your Dog: Avoid trying to teach too many commands at once. When too many commands are taught at once, your dog might mix them up or respond inconsistently. This can make training less effective and more frustrating for both you and your dog.
Don't Train When You're Frustrated: Training when you're frustrated can negatively impact your dog's learning. Dogs can sense your emotions, and frustration can lead to confusion, fear, and a lack of trust. It's best to take a break and resume training when you're calm and positive.
Training the Beast
Having successfully trained Ruger (our husky) and Moose (our first malamute), I thought training Bear would be a breeze. We had all the tools, the do's and don't, but Bear was by far the most challenging dog to train. I don't mean the commands themselves (sit, shake, down, come, etc), he learned most before he was ten weeks old. In fact, he'd do almost anything inside the walls of our home. The problem was as soon as we took him to a public setting, all was lost. What do you do when a dog is not motivated by treats in public? When he cares more about the other dogs and playing than he does you? After attending an entire course of obedience training at PetSmart with little progress, we were at a loss and turned to the professionals at Innovative K9 Academy in Utah. They transformed Bear into an obedient well mannered dog that can heal off leash, come, stay, and everything else you can think of. After all, not being able to control a 140 pound dog in public spaces is not safe for me or Bear. If you are dealing with a similar situation, I recommend seeking out the professionals. The tools K9 Academy gave us will help with future stubborn dogs like Bear.
Bear at one of his first jobs - a photoshoot in Provo, UT. Several photographers came out to grab photos for their portfolio with many different props, all including dogs. Bear just happened to be the "wolf" in Red Riding Hood.