Be sure to think through and decide on house rules, meaning what dogs can and can’t do. Are they allowed on beds or the furniture? Are parts of the house off limits? If rules are solidly determined, it can avoid confusion for everyone involved.
- Play The Odds: Set dogs up for success by not asking too quickly for behaviors that aren't likely to happen.
- Don’t Repeat Yourself: Repeating the same cue over and over in rapid succession can be counterproductive when training dogs. Change order of commands to ensure dogs are truly understanding them, not just an expected routine.
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Be Generous With Rewards: The more difficult the request, the higher the 'paycheck.' Remember dogs decide what true rewards should be, whether that's food, praise, free run time, head pats, special toy or snuggles.
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No Positive Punishment: Reward-based training has been scientifically proven to increase the rate of learning, encourages dogs to work harder for rewards, eliminates the need for forceful or aversive training tools, and fosters a human-canine bond built upon mutual trust and respect, rather than one on a dog’s desire to avoid fear, pain or punishment.
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Give Pups Choices: People control learning conditions, but remember that behavior is conditional.
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Train On Dog Time: Puppies and dogs live in the moment. Two minutes after they’ve done something, they’ve already forgotten it. So when a pup is doing something undesired, use the chosen training technique right away so they have a chance to associate between the behavior and the correction.
