How to Keep Your Dog Motivated

Keeping the attention of a dog during training is not always easy. Dogs are easily distracted, and it is important to not allow the dog training sessions to be sabotaged by boredom. Making dog training fun for the dog and the human alike is essential to creating a happy, well adjusted and well trained dog.

You should provide random positive stimuli throughout the day in order to keep the attention of the dog. Doing things the dog like, like walking in the park, riding in the car, and playing with other dogs, are good methods to keep the dog’s attention, but you must reward him for small successes.

For instance, in order to reward the dog for coming to you when you call him, ask the dog to come to you, without giving any ideas about going for a walk, a car ride, or other treats.

After the dog has come over to you and obediently sat down, attach the lead and begin the reward. This can be either the afore-mentioned stroll in the park, ride in the car, or anything else the dog enjoys doing.

Providing some sort of reward, whether a treat, a special outing, or just a tickle behind the ears, every time the dog does something you want him to, is a good way to keep your dog’s motivation while you are dog training.

If the dog knows something great is going to happen every time he follows your commands, he will be more motivated to do want you tell him every time.

Distraction training.

When training a dog, it is important to not allow distractions spoil the training. The dog must be trained to ignore distractions, such as other people, other dogs, other animals and loud noises, and concentrate on what is being taught These kinds of distractions can also be used as rewards when training the dog to come when told.

For instance, if your dog enjoys playing with other dogs, whether in a local dog park or with the neighbour’s dogs, let him play freely with those other dogs. Then go into the park or garden and call your dog.

When he comes to you, give him lots of praise, treats and other rewards, then immediately let the dog to return to playing with his pals. Do this a few times and praise the dog every time he comes to you.

The dog will soon realize that coming to your call results in good things (treats and praise) and not bad ones (being taken away from the park).

This so-called distraction training is one of the hardest things for your dog to learn, because dogs are social animals by nature, and leaving the pack is one of the hardest things you can ask your dog to do. Most dogs will be understandably unwilling to leave their doggy companions, but it is vital to persist in dog training.

Training the dog to come to you when you call may require some thought on your behalf at first. For example, waving one of his favourite toys, or a lure, is a good way to get your dog’s attention and put the focus back on you. If your dog has been clicker trained, a quick click can be a good motivator as well in dog training.

Once the dog begins to get the hang of coming when called, you can begin to reduce and eliminate the visual cues and focus on getting the dog to obey your voice alone. It is vital that the dog responds to voice commands alone, since you will not always have the availability of a toy or other lure.

Related posts:

1. Keeping Your Dog Motivated
2. Superb Pet Training Guidelines For Ones Canine Friend
3. Great Pet Training Guidelines For Ones Pet
4. Stop Your Dog From Barking Excessively

Tagged with: advice • animals • classes • dog training • Dogs • family • garden • obedience classes • other • outdoors • pets • school • self help • terriers

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!