Is training your puppy essential to their well-being? The short answer is YES!!
Imagine if you never learned to read or write, add or subtract, dress yourself or any other basic life skill. It would be hard to socialize, get a job or survive on your own.
Dog’s, like people, need to learn to mature and develop. The first thing most owners teach their pup is to sit. Your pet is now offering to sit for virtually everything from attention to treats. Adding new skills like down, wait, stay, polite leash walking, and tricks will only help your pup to develop. The more things they learn, the less likely they are to offer negative behaviours.
Example 1
The dog who jumps on everyone is far less likely to get positive attention from people when out on a walk. To the average person, a pup who is pulling on their leash to get to new people looks scary and wild. The dog that sits and waits for attention is going to be better socialized.
Example 2
Your pup has discovered that counter surfing is the best thing ever. Not training your pup to keep four on the floor is dangerous. Dogs don’t differentiate so they do not understand the difference between a counter and a hot stove.
Example 3
Your puppy loves to door dash – taking off down the street is so much fun for them, and terrifying for you. There are so many dangers out the front door that they do not understand. A dog who has learned to “wait” is less likely to door dash, they have learned the life skill of waiting for permission to go through a door.
The other big advantage to training and socialization is that your pup is engaging with you. This literally builds the bond between pups and humans. Adding tricks, games and obedience training helps your dog to look up to you, respect you and, yes, understand what you want from them. Pups are learning all the time so why not help them make good choices through training. When you use Positive Reinforcement to train you pup, you create a relationship of mutual understanding and a lasting bond. Your dog will start to offer positive behaviours like sitting and waiting at a door, going to their mat instead of begging at dinner time and sitting politely to meet people and dogs.
Happy Training!!
Need help or ideas for training? Register for www.myowndogtrainer.com
Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. This article can be shared with permission from www.myowndogtrainer.com
