By The long quarantine period has brought with it a lot of quality time with pets. Our fur babies need some sort of mental and physical activities to keep their minds sharp. It is also a good time to have some dog training sessions with them and stimulate their mind in a positive way. Which is why, today, we will talk about how to effectively use some dog training commands that are easily executable and will help you discipline your dog in a simple but effective manner.
It is vital that before you start training your dog, you keep in mind that training a puppy is slightly different from training a full-grown dog. A puppy is more excited at the time of training and food can be a very good motivator for the same. But when it comes to full-grown dogs, you have to be a little patient with them. But it is never late to start with some basic rules of training as dogs inherently need pack leaders and if they don’t have one, they might turn more towards destructive activities.
It is also important to be gentle with them. If you want your dog to listen to you, it is important that you practice with him daily. Make reward a part of your training as it will positively reinforce the habits. Do not be hard on them if they don’t do it properly. This is not a competition, this is his life. It is also important that you make this a fun activity and not something that he dreads. We would like to give you instructions and dog training videos to make you understand these commands well.
Effective Dog Training Commands for Your Pooch:
Sit & Down:
You can start with the ‘Sit’ command as this is extremely easy to execute and requires a handful of treats. You can start by showing him a small treat in your hand and bringing it near his nose so that he naturally comes into a sitting position while you keep repeating the command ‘Sit’. Sometimes, if your dog doesn’t understand it well, you can very subtly push his back down into a sitting position. Repeat it daily and reward him with treats and appreciative words every time he listens to you.
The sit command can be followed by the ‘Down’ command. In this command, you put the treat on the floor so that your dog goes down on the floor by smelling the treat. Once he goes down then you can reward him with a treat.
Stay – Leave it:
With this dog training command, you can make him sit first and once he sits with the help of the treat, you need to go further away. If he stays for a longer period of time, you need to keep saying stay. If your dog listens to the command well then you can reward him with the treat.
The Stay command can be followed by the ‘Leave It’ Command. Here, if your dog listens to the stay command successfully then you need to put down the treat and keep telling leave it. If he doesn’t eat it then you can reward him with the treat.
Shake Hand:
For this command, you need your dog’s complete attention. You need to make him sit first. Once he does that, you need to wave the treat in front of his nose and nudge his hand in a way that he raises it towards you. Once he raises his hand multiple times on cue, you need to reiterate the shake hand command and give him his reward. When he keeps doing it regularly, you can do the same thing for his other paw.
Speak:
Now, this technique depends on the probability of how much your dog is vocal. You need to make him bark first. Observe the occasions on which he barks. Maybe if someone comes home or when you give him a treat or pat him. Whenever he barks, you keep reiterating the word speak and reward him with treats. This way, he will know how to bark on cue.
Roll Over:
This command on dog training needs a lot of your attention. You first need to make your dog sit and go down. Once he does that, you need to make him follow your cue with the help of the treat. You can make him follow the treat around the shoulder while smelling the treat. You can slowly make him turn on his back and eventually on his stomach again. All this while you keep using the command ‘Roll Over’. Once he listens to the cues successfully, you can reward him with the treat.
We hope that these steps and the dog videos have helped you in understand how to effectively train your dog. If you liked this blog post and would like to know other ways to keep your dog busy then read our blog post on how to keep your pets busy in the time of quarantine.
