Content
- Educating dogs or training dogs?
- Frequent themes in dog education
- Things to consider when raising puppies
educate dogs it's a simple task when you know how to do it and when it's not very advanced. However, educating a dog can seem like an impossible task if you follow the wrong advice.
There are currently two main lines of dog education, traditional training and training with positive reinforcement. Although these terms are sometimes used in a derogatory way, in this PeritoAnimal article they are simply used to indicate the differences between these lines of thought regarding the education of puppies.
Traditional dog training is primarily based on negative reinforcement and punishment. However, this does not mean that traditional trainers hurt puppies, if carried out correctly, it means that in this type of dog education corrections predominate when the puppy does not respond in the expected way. Positive canine training, on the other hand, is mainly based on positive reinforcement to educate puppies, although other methods can also be used to correct inappropriate behavior.
Traditional training is usually harder and more coercive than positive training, so we don't recommend using this method if you're not professional. Keep reading and discover our advice for raising dogs.
Educating dogs or training dogs?
If you have read any traditional training book, you may have found the dichotomy between educate dogs and train dogs. Historically, in traditional training, the education of the dog was separated from the formal training of young and adult dogs. According to this differentiation, the education of the dog must be done differently from the training of the adult dog.
This dichotomy is based on two factors:
- Puppies do not have the same attention span as an adult dog.
- Traditional training tools (strangle collar) can very easily injure a dog's neck.
However, in the positive training does not make this distinction, since the methods used are effective to educate puppies of any age. Also, no strangulation collars are used, so the tools used cannot harm the dogs. Despite this, the limited attention of puppies is recognized and they do not have the same requirements as in adult dogs. On the other hand, we always recommend the use of training with positive reinforcement, as with it we will achieve effective results without the need to hurt the animal or subject it to unpleasant situations.
Frequent themes in dog education
Although you can teach your puppies many things, there are frequent themes in any dog's education. These themes include the good manners of a companion dog and the basic obedience that every dog must have.
Good canine manners are necessary for any dog and understand what can be called basic canine training. As a general rule include:
- dog socialization
- The inhibition of the bite
- Educate the dog to go to the "bathroom"
- Educate the dog to use the travel cage
- Educate the dog to politely greet people
- Educate the dog to use the collar and guide
- teach the dog to pay attention
- Teach the dog to stop during the walk
- Educate the dog to ride a car
- Educate the dog to ignore objects
- Educate the dog to control barking
- Teach the dog not to bite the furniture
Competitive canine obedience, on the other hand, is not really necessary for a companion dog, but it can be of great benefit. In fact, anyone who has had a dog trained in obedience cannot conceive of the idea of having another dog without this type of training. Basic canine obedience comprises the following exercises:
- obey the call
- sit down
- Lies down
- Still
- together
Things to consider when raising puppies
If the purpose of your research is to become a professional canine trained person, it is recommended that you consult the schools that offer dog training and education courses so that you can better inform yourself and obtain the necessary title to dedicate yourself to this activity in a good way. professional. If, on the contrary, you need advice for raising dogs because you've just adopted one and are looking for a little guide, the above topics can help you know where to start and what to look out for. In addition, you should consider the following tips to get the best results:
- Be patient, raising a dog takes time. As with the learning process in humans, it takes time to get the animal to internalize commands or correct bad behavior.
- be constant. For good results, patience must go hand in hand with constancy. If you don't carry out training sessions frequently and schedule certain times, your dog will never internalize commands and orders. By this we don't mean that you have to put pressure on the animal or that you have to do excessively long sessions, in fact, both of these things are counterproductive. We should do sessions of 10 minutes at most and repeat them regularly every day.
- Set the rules from the start. Once dog education rules are established, don't change them. If you live with more people, it will be essential that you make them participatory and inform them about the rules defined so that everyone educates the animal in the same way. A simple example: if you educate the dog to learn to sit through the command "sit" and someone else uses the word "Sit", the dog will never learn.
- use positive reinforcement. A lovingly brought up dog, who receives congratulations and awards for good behavior, will always learn much faster.
- have fun with your dog. Undoubtedly, another key to effectively educating puppies is having fun with them while educating them. If the dog notices that we get bored or we turn training sessions into a routine that doesn't interest us, he will notice and will adopt the same attitude. Make various games and games with the dog so that he