Friday, June 3, 2011

Understanding The Principles In Training A Dog

By David Luke


I don't know a thing about you but I'll bet that you would agree with me on this. Every pet owner would want their dogs to be obedient. Some dog owners achieve this with the help of a dog handler or even by themselves. But, unforunately, not all training are successful. Why? This is because, some things may have been overlooked. So, let's talk about dog training and issues that are linked with it.

I am sure you have tried and tested a lot of methods and techniques to train you dog. However, you have to remember one thing. You cannot expect your pet dog to listen to you the first time you command it. Why? well, you need to understand and know your dog. In other words, you need to have an understanding with your dog. That way, you can train it properly.

So what are the first steps? Simple. For new dog owners, you have to remember these three principles. They are: reinforcement, punishment and extinction. By understanding these three simple principles, you will be on your way to training your dog to be more obedient.

What do I mean by reinforcement? It is the dog's reaction to the trainer where behavior either becomes better or worst by means of specific actions. Let me explain further. There are two categories of reinforcement. They are: positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement.

Positive reinforcement is about giving rewards or praise. If your dog behaves or obeys you, then you reward or praise your pet. This good behavior remains because the dog understands it will be rewarded for as long as it obeys or behaves.

While negative reinforcement is where the trainer removes an unpleasant situation to make the dog obey, for example if you want to teach the dog to sit, you put pressure on the collar and release the pressure once the dog obeys you.

Another principle that is used in dog training is the punishment principle. This is can be about positive punishment or the negative punishment. Positive punishment is where the trainer does something unpleasant and the dog's negative behavior decreases. While on the other hand, negative punishment is about taking away something that the dog really likes or enjoys and the behavior is diminished or eliminated.

The third principle is about total elimination of a behavior. This is when behavior is not reinforced resulting to its extinction or elimination. For example, your pet dog is a constant whiner so you allow it to go outside but this time you have changed, your technique so even if the dog continues to whine a lot it is not allowed to go out anymore. Eventually the dog will learn that whining will do him no good so it stops.

For most dog lovers, they believe that positive reinforcement is the best way to train a dog. Yes, it may be for some but this might not work for the others. So before taking on any of the principles discussed, it is still better to have an assessment of your dog's behavior prior to any training. In this way, you will know which of the principles would give you the best chance of success when it comes to training your dog.




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