Dog Training: The Six Common Mistakes To Avoid
When new trainers start training, they tend to make a lot of mistakes in their approach and methods in their training process. There are some mistakes that are common among most trainers.
High Expectation- The individual who makes this mistake is a true dog lover. The problem arises only when they start watching the tricks their neighbor's dog can do or watch some well trained pets in their favorite sitcoms. Also sometimes when they go to park, they would have come across people who would have been enjoying the company of their dogs that are obedient and well trained. At that moment, they tend to forget all the time, money and patience that has gone into training these dogs.
Giving Up- This is also a common mistake done by novice dog trainers. Just because the dog cannot learn to play Frisbee in an hour or so, the owners conclude that the dog would just not learn at all.
Positive reinforcement- Many frustrated trainers go home with deprived results because they forget to reward their dogs for doing well. Rewards must be consistent, just like the training. The dog which always receive only correction and never gets rewarded will get frustrated.
Negative reinforcement- Trainer who spends his whole day during the training process will be looking for the dog to make a mistake, so that they can be corrected. This is a major mistake done by novice trainers because when you focus only in finding the mistakes of your dog, you will then fail to identify and reward all the good behaviors.
Apathy- Often a dog trainer says I hate this or that about the dog but its too difficult to change it. Changes can be made and if your dog sees that they bring rewards they will respond much quicker to a direct approach.
The major mistake the trainer makes is by thinking that the training is over. Training is a learning process and it doesn't have an end. Your dog may learn some commands and know it well. So why do you stop there? Your dog loves to learn and you are a good trainer. Train your dog something new and enjoy your day forever.
With the knowledge of these mistakes trainers often make, you can recognize some of the common feelings which you might have encountered for yourself. You can now stem these mistakes before they become a problem.
"Dog Training: The Six Common Mistakes To Avoid", was submitted 04/17/2008 under category Pet.
dog training dog health puppy training basics dog commands dog nutrition