Courtesy of the Niagara Frontier Veterinary Society

After providing a safe home, veterinary care, and nutritious food, the best thing a pet owner can do for a dog is provide adequate behavioral training. Often, issues that result in pet surrenders can be traced to behaviors that might have been eliminated had the dog undergone obedience training.

All dogs can benefit from learning basic commands, and successful training is a rewarding part of dog ownership. There are many things you can teach a pet and many strategies to accomplish that. These tips can help anyone successfully train their dog, leading to a an even stronger relationship between owner and pet.

  • Designate a dog trainer. If a dog resides with many people in the household, select one person as the primary trainer to establish the ground rules regarding training sessions. This avoids multiple styles that could result in inconsistencies that confuse your dog. Once the training sessions have proven successful, the trainer can share what he or she is doing with others in the home, and they can mimic the same commands and gestures.
  • Use positive reinforcement. According to the Niagara Frontier Veterinary Society, positive reinforcement training is the most effective method of training a companion animal. This type of training rewards good behavior rather than punishing bad behavior. Training is more successful when owners identify what the dog finds rewarding. Some dogs are very food-motivated, while others might be willing to work for play sessions or just verbal praise.
  • Consistency is best. Always use the same word and intonation when asking a dog to do something. Everyone in the home also needs to be on the same page with rules, which means that if one person says “no” to the dog on the furniture and another says “yes,” the dog will end up confused.
  • Patience is key. Although dogs can read human body language and gestures, they do not actually comprehend all language. It can be some time before a dog understands all training requests.
  • Start small and build up. Teach a dog commands incrementally and reward each step of the learning process. For example, reward the “stay” command even if the puppy only stays for a second or two. Later on, build up to longer durations of staying still.
  • Praise small things. It’s easy to get caught up in the end results, but little victories are equally important. Praising the pet when he or she does something right, even if it is a small thing, will keep the motivation going.
  • Finish positively. End all training sessions with something the dog knows so that the session ends on a high note.

If training does not come easily after many weeks of going it alone, pet owners may want to seek the help of a professional dog trainer. Professionals also can be helpful for those pet owners who want to break dogs out of unsavory behaviors, such as leash aggression or excessive barking. The Niagara Frontier Veterinary Society consists of 75 small animal hospitals and 200 practitioners in Erie and Niagara counties. Learn more at www.nfveterinarysociety.org.