While waiting on your dog to come to you can be a very useful dog training trick, many dog owners overlook this important teaching tool. Teaching your dog to wait can take up a lot of your dog’s time, but can also save you a lot of frustration and hassle. While it’s an easy way to quickly train a dog to sit or down, it’s probably not the best approach for all situations. Dogs are bred for instinctual hunting and other natural instincts, not just waiting for people to come by.
For most dog training sessions begin with potty training. Establishing good behavior early in your dog training sessions can help avoid frustrating bad behaviors later in life. Dogs that learn their potty training in a positive manner are usually more likely to be obedient and friendly toward people they encounter.
When you’re first training your dog or trying to teach him or her a new behavior, the simplest trick is to just go back to the well-mannered way you’ve been using so far. Don’t yell or punish your dog for doing something wrong. The best thing to do is simply ignore the behavior for a short period of time. Your dog will soon understand that he or she gets some attention in return for following the correct protocol.
Another useful dog training tip is to start training while your dog is watching you. Many dogs are excellent observers and are naturally attracted to human faces, even when they’re being trained. If your dog is watching you while you train, there’s no need to force the issue. Just start training, have a nice dinner, and then put the dog in his place and leave. Your dog will soon figure out that he or she can watch you if it’s comfortable to do so.
Say “Sit” as calmly as you can, and as soon as your dog starts to settle down, offer a treat. Do this several times, and after a few days, try saying the word “Sit” while holding a treat in front of him. He’ll eventually begin to look at you as though you’re ordering him to sit. Your dog will learn to look at you as though you had said the command to him, and he or she will sit when calling.
Try not to overwhelm your dog with too many training sessions. You might be tempted to do the same thing each time, leading your dog to think he’s confused. To get your dog to stop misbehaving, continue to repeat the command and reward good behavior. After enough training sessions, your dog will begin to associate the command with the action and it will become easier to control his or her behavior.
If you want to build up his or her confidence, continue to use the command and reward good behavior during training sessions. Continue to provide treats and praise when your dog responds correctly. If your dog does something incorrect, correct it before continuing to use the command. Don’t let him or her continue to misbehave because you’ll only confuse them. Instead, correct the behavior in the middle of a training session and resume training from there.
The final step is to practice what you’ve learned. Use your imagination and ask yourself what would motivate you to train your dog these particular tricks. Perhaps you could train them one a day or for a long period of time. Either way, you’ll enjoy learning how to teach them as much as your dog will.
For most dogs, the biggest incentive to learn to sit tricks is the promise of a treat. When your dog learns to sit on command, give him or her a treat immediately. This encourages him or her to repeat the behavior. As they continue to practice, you can slowly reduce the treat portion of the training, eventually eliminating the word “sit” altogether.
You can also use dog training treats like sit to teach dogs other tricks, such as how to come. To teach dogs how to come, begin by sitting down, then backing up a bit while saying “stay” and pointing to a spot on your lawn. Praise your dog when he or she stays. Over time, your dog will come to understand that it’s best not to run when called, but to stand quietly while being called. As long as you keep training fun, your dog will soon learn to do these tricks without the added incentive of a treat.
Teaching dogs can be a lot of fun, but you need to start with simple tricks so that they will be easier to teach later. Dogs that have more complex behaviors are harder to train because they’re harder to identify and train as individual pets. Once your dog has learned how to behave properly within your home, you can try to teach more complicated tricks in private, with your trainer. Dog training treats like sit will help you get started.
