Dog obedience training requires the use of some principles which differentiate effective training from training without results. Many dog training and dog behavior schools use these rules. These are:

Principle One: The first rule in obedience training is to be consistent. You must be consistent in the use of words, the tone of your voice and your actions, that go with your command. During the beginning of the training, the trainer or the dog owner must decide what should be the parameters of training- what you are trying to teach the dog and how to do it. Words do not make sense to a dog. Your dog does not understand our language, nor does he understand or think, the way we do.

For the training to be understandable, the command must be used in a consistent manner so he can recognize the meaning to the word and tone. For example, if you are using the command ‘come’, make sure that everyone in the household use it in a singular manner. The command ‘Come’ specifically means that the dog should approach the giver of the command and use it in that sense. If your dog does not come to you instantly, do not punish him when he does. Your dog would attribute the command with the punishment.

What could you expect next?-If the command leads to punishment he will not follow it next time. The same command used, by all people, must be consistent. For example, if you use the words ‘come’ make sure everyone in your family uses that word also, not ‘come here’.

Principle Two:The hours devoted to training and the words used as command should be kept short. Keep in mind that the attention span of dogs is very short that making them engrossed with a specific activity would be very hard, if not impossible. Combining children with your puppy obedience training is an example of keeping your training sessions short as they would lose interest very quickly, so it is best to move on to the next thing.

Your dog becomes easily bored and their interest at the beginning soon fades. The same thing happens in training therefore, it should be limited only to 10 minutes to 15 minutes of regular training.

Principle Three: Do not use force and punishment to hurt your dog when training. Also, never force the dog to follow the command if he is not prepared for it or punish a dog for something he did. Don’t push the animal too hard while training.

The dog does not understand that he should learn things instantly and he does not realize that you are becoming impatient with the speed he is picking up the training. All he knows is that you are mad. Using force does not convey your meaning correctly whereas negative reinforcement does. Do not send him mixed signals, by making him feel praised for doing something wrong, only when he obeys the command, should he feel praised.

You have to be patient and understanding, especially during your dog obedience training sessions. The outcome will be a very responsive and well trained dog.