The principles of dog command training
I believe many owners have wanted to teach their dogs some skills, but in reality, many dogs always seem to fall short or lack consistency after learning the actions.
This is because some steps in the training process are not well established. Here, I will break down the training into 6 steps. This principle applies to most command training, making it easier for you to identify and strengthen the missing parts in your practice.
01
The premise of training
The premise of training is to have a certain degree of affinity with the dog. When unfamiliar strangers give commands, the dog will not respond.
Dogs can feel love in the process of interaction, including feeding, interactive games, and taking the dog out for walks and exercise.
The more time the owner spends on the dog, the more feedback they can get, and the dog is also more willing to cooperate in the training process.
So, when the owner has a furry child and wants to start training, the most important task is to make the dog familiar with and fall in love with you.
The number of single training sessions for a dog doesn’t need to be high, 2 to 3 times per session is sufficient when the results are good. However, it can be repeated multiple times throughout the day, with the principle being that the number of repetitions should not make the dog or the person feel annoyed.
When learning skills, keep the dog in an excited state. This can be achieved by raising the tone of your voice or by playing with the dog for a moment.
When the dog’s practice results are not good, don’t end in a state of frustration. Please go back to the simplest stage that the dog can easily complete. Let the dog complete the task, get a reward, and give it a perfect ending. This way, the dog will look forward to the next training session.
02
The principle of command training
Below, I will use the “sit down” skill as an example.
(1) Form the action
Here we use the easiest way to start with food guidance, but food is not the only way to guide.
You can also think about what might interest your dog and induce them to naturally form the required action. You will find a lot of fun in the process.
Move the food slowly from above the dog’s head towards the tail. As the dog looks up, it will automatically sit down.
(2) As soon as the action is completed, reward the dog immediately to help it remember.
(3) Combine the action with food and commands
There are two types of commands: verbal and gesture, which should be used in different situations. For example: use verbal commands when it’s dark and you can’t see, use gestures in noisy places where there is sound interference.
First, give the verbal and gesture commands, so that the dog associates the commands with the action. Afterwards, when you give the verbal or gesture command, the dog will be able to perform the corresponding action.
(4) The dog’s attention is connected from food to the owner
In the early stages of training with food as a guide, dogs tend to focus only on the food. Therefore, it is necessary to shift the dog’s attention from food to the owner.
The key to the transition is when the dog sits down, let the dog gaze at the owner, and extend the gaze time to 3-5 seconds before giving a reward, to reinforce the importance of the owner in the dog’s mind.
At first, the dog won’t always gaze at the owner, so as soon as eye contact is made, you can immediately give praise and rewards. As more practice is done, extend the gaze time before giving rewards.
The message to the dog is that the owner is the one who controls the food, and in order to get the food, the dog must pay attention to the owner, not the food itself.
(5) Get the dog used to completing actions without food
In real life, we can’t always prepare food to reward dogs, and we don’t want dogs to only obey commands for food. So, sometimes they need to get used to performing actions without food rewards, only verbal or petting rewards from the owner.
But what if the lack of food rewards makes the dog lose motivation to complete the action?
The solution is to suddenly give a larger food reward after a few requests without rewards, to make the dog uncertain about your reward pattern and create an expectation for a larger reward.
(6) Make the dog have a conditioned reflex to commands
Once the dog is familiar with the command, it needs a lot of repetition to form a conditioned reflex to the command. Once the owner gives the command, the dog can execute it immediately without rewards and too much thinking.