Avoid The Biggest Mistake Dog Owners Make And Use Positive Reinforcement Instead

A common mistake that many people make when training their dogs, whether house training, obedience training, or teaching them entertaining tricks, is using various forms of punishment when the animal doesn’t do what they want. The types of punishment exhibited by misinformed dog owners are things such as hitting the dog or even locking it away in solitary confinement.

This is very detrimental to the pet-owner relationship, and to the dog’s emotional wellbeing. Using these forms of punishment when training your dog only serve to make the dog frightened of you, weakening the trusting bond that you’ve worked so hard to build. Many owners obtain their dogs from shelters and as these dogs often have a bad history of neglect can struggle building up the respect and trust that is required.

Not only is punishment damaging to your relationship and your pet’s emotional health, it’s not effective either. More often than not, punishing your dog leads to defensive, aggressive behaviors. Behaviors of this sort, once set it, will take some work to rectify. Utilising positive reinforcement will get you and your dog to where you want to be faster.

Instead of punishing your dog for unwanted behaviors, reward them for good behaviors. This is a great technique which will be very effective in many different circumstances. For instance, if you see your pet going to the toilet on your floor then take it outside as soon as you have firmly told it "no". Make sure that you watch your dog closely. Your dog has a short memory so when its goes to toilet in the correct place you have to reward and praise immediately.

It won’t take long for your dog to make the connection between the bad behavior and your disapproval, and the good behavior and your praise. Dogs naturally want to please humans and look to you as their leader. This genetic hardwiring of your dog to make you happy works for you in the process of training.

The same principle applies to any situation, be it unnecessary barking, chewing on furniture or objects, jumping on or licking people, or any other of a host of annoying and potentially dangerous habits. At all times you have to be prepared to remain calm, consistent and patient. Putting in the time will result in you seeing quick results