Dogs are often considered man's best friend. They can be a great addition to any family - they provide companionship, security, and unconditional love. Dogs also require training and care in order to facilitate their behaviour.
We do recommend starting training early as a well-trained dog will save you a lot of time down the track, will have a stronger bond with you and will also be less likely to develop behavioural problems or have accidents or other mishaps. Below are some benefits of using dog treats as research shows using reward-based positive reinforcement training is the most effective and humane type of dog training. This training is also recommended by the RSPCA.
There are many techniques for reward-based dog training; however this article will focus on food lure training and provides a simple method of teaching your puppy how you would like him/her to behave. Puppies can be trained from birth however simple commands such as sit, down and stay occur at around the 8 week mark.
Following the simple steps below can assist your reward-based training program and give your puppy a great start on their obedience training.
Step One: Be sure your dog is hungry (but not starving). If he is too full or sick from eating recently, food rewards may have little effect.
Step Two: Show the puppy a dog treat. If they try to eat it from your open palm, close fingers around the treat so that only a sliver is showing. For example, food held up over the puppy's nose and moved slowly backwards should get a 'sit' response; food drawn down to the floor should get a 'down' response; food brought back up should get a 'stand' response.
Once the puppy has performed the task, add in verbal praise and an affectionate pat, if the puppy does not obey, keep repeating the command on and off through the day, the puppy will eventually learn the desired response.
Step three: Slowly reward your puppy with positive reinforcement words and limit the food to random times. It is important to use secondary reinforcement because you will not always have food with you when you need your pet to obey.
Step Four: Have patience!! New puppies have short attention spans, and we suggest no longer than five minutes in training sessions to begin with.
If you are struggling with training your young pup professional trainers can demonstrate techniques and help guide you through the steps in training. They can help advise you on puppy training problems and assist you with reward-based training methods that suit your breed of dog.
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