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Why Bother With Training Your Dog?
Hi fellow dog lover, If you are like most people, you are extremely busy and some days there just doesn’t seem like enough hours to take care of yourself, let alone a dog! But, the time that you spend training your dog will reward you and your relationship for many, many years to come!
What are the 5 main benefits of Dog Training
Let’s explore each benefit in further detail shall we?
There is no better way to create a bond with your dog than through the process of training. You may think that training begins at the time you decide to try new tricks, but it actually begins at the very moment you acquire your dog. Your dog is constantly watching you and learning from your actions. He learns from the way you react to his actions. He looks to you for guidance, for food, for warmth, for comfort, and for playtime. So how do you build a healthy relationship with your dog? It depends on one essential element: mutual trust. In order for training to be effective, your dog must trust you and you must trust your dog. Without trust, neither one of you can truly depend on the other. Without trust, there will always be a twinge of fear. Without trust, there will always be an element of uncertainty. On the other hand, a relationship built on trust will instill confidence in each other. This confidence means that you trust your dog will come to you when you say “come.” Your dog will be confident that when he comes to you, he will be rewarded. When you and your dog are confident in each other, you allow each other to grow. For instance, the more that you can trust your dog to follow your commands, the more likely you are to teach him more and more commands. When you establish a bond built on trust and confidence, you will need to nourish and strengthen that bond every day. This can be achieved by constantly reinforcing the training lessons. Don’t just train a new command for a single week and then suddenly stop. Make it a habit to continually reinforce the training as often as you can. The training exercises with your dog should not only be performed often, but they should also be consistent. That means if you teach the “stay” command one particular way, you should always practice it the same way. Using different “stay” commands will only confuse your dog and could even encourage distrust in your relationship. Without a doubt, the relationship you have with your dog must be based on trust. It may take awhile to build this trust, but once you do, you will see the rewards. Your dog will want to please you with good behavior, as will you want to please your dog with love, attention, treats, and playtime!
Barking at anyone who passes by the front window, chewing up your favorite pillows, digging through your freshly planted garden, bolting out of an open door…do any of these actions look familiar to you? The second main benefit to training is that it can correct those pesky behavioral problems that your dog can’t seem to give up. For him, these behaviors are ways to release frustration, break boredom, or even provide entertainment! When you have developed a trusting bond with your dog, you can teach him how to correct these behavioral problems. He will learn by your reactions whether or not his actions are acceptable to you. No doubt, he will test his limits! The process of training gives you the appropriate platform to correct his annoying and even destructive behavior. If training is not a part of your dog’s life, you can expect the behavioral problems to continue. If training is a part of your dog’s life, you can expect behavioral problems to be replaced with desirable behavior—as well as pillows in one piece and well-manicured gardens! There are three more benefits of training we should discuss.
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