5 Dog Whisperer Tips You Should Adopt

By Cheryl Campbell | Training & Behavior

Dog Whisperer Tips

Want to have successful training sessions with your puppy every time you train? Learn to master the following 5 dog whisperer tips! This “To Do” list will also put you on the road towards having a great relationship with your pup.

5 Dog Whisperer Tips You Should Adopt When Training Your Puppy

Be Patient and Consistent

The first of my dog whisperer tips is to go slow and be consistent.  It takes time to train a puppy. You should give yourself between four and six months, but some pups could take more than a full year. Trying to rush the process will not help. The motivation behind training your puppy should be to instill lasting good behavior rather than achieving short term behavior changes.

Try to Understand Your Puppy

In order to know the correct way to train your puppy, begin by getting to know them better.  What do they like; what do they dislike?  This may seem silly, but it will help you to establish three key factors:

  1. the undesirable behavior they already possesses
  2. the desirable behaviors they have achieved
  3. the motivation behind each behavior

Figuring this out will enable you discover what drives them to act a particular way. The most common causes are:

  • frustration
  • excitement
  • boredom, or
  • you

YES, YOU! I really love Doggy Dan’s The Online Dog Trainer program because he concentrates on training YOU! Most of the bad behavior we dislike is caused by us humans and what we are doing wrong. Once we acknowledge this, it’s pretty easy to fix. Again, it boils down to becoming the pack leader. If you don’t, it’s likely your dog will never change because it goes against their natural instinctive behavior.

Have a Good Plan

It is good to acquire or develop a training program to help keep track of your puppy’s development. Mostly puppy training is procedural and involves constant repetition of action-reward lessons. Enrolling in a good training program will help guide you on your journey and help you to understand doggy mentality.

Be Nice. Be Gentle.

Showing cruelty or punishing your puppy when he or she gets out of line is damaging to his development. You don’t have to yell at the puppy every time he does something wrong. And NEVER, ever hit them. If you do, I can pretty much guarantee the following:

  • your pup will fear you
  • you will break the bond between you
  • you will slow down their learning

Wouldn’t you rather have a pup that is loyal because he adores you?

Reward Good Behavior

Rewarding your puppy very time he or she does something good may help their learning progress faster. Positive reinforcement has proven to be an effective way of training puppies. You could use rewards such as toys, games or even treats to appraise good behavior. Withdrawal of these treats may also serve as a way to reprimand misbehavior. If you decide to use food as a training tool make sure you read our article about Healthy Treats.

I personally would never consider any training program that uses negative reinforcement techniques. For one, they are counterintuitive; plus I believe they are cruel. I feel so strongly about this it’s my main motivation for writing this series and introducing you to Doggy Dan.

A Good Resource Guide

 

My Everyday Dog Training Guide is a terrific place to start.  You can pick up a free copy here.