Keeping Your Dog Motivated
Keeping the attention of your dog while training is not always an easy task. Dogs are very easily distracted, and it is important to not allow the dog training sessions to be ruined by boredom. Making dog training fun for the dog and the human alike is essential to making a happy, well-balanced and well-trained dog.
You should provide random positive stimuli throughout the day in order to maintain the interest of your dog. Doing things the dog enjoys, like walking in the park, riding in the car, and playing with other dogs, are good ways to keep the dog’s attention, but you must give him rewards for his successes.
For example, in order to reward the dog for coming to you when you call him, ask the dog to come to you, without giving any clues about going for a walk, a car ride, or other treats.
After your dog has come to you and obediently sat down, attach the leash and start the reward. This can be either the afore-mentioned walk in the park, ride in the car, or anything else the dog likes to do.
Providing some kind of reward, whether a treat, a special outing, or just a scratch behind the ears, every time the dog does something you want, is a good way to maintain your dog’s motivation while you are dog training.
If your dog knows something great is going to happen every time he follows your command, he will be more motivated to please you every time.
Distraction training.
When training any dog, it is important to not allow distractions spoil the training. The dog must be taught to ignore distractions, such as other people, other dogs, other animals and loud noises, and focus on what is being taught These types of distractions can even be used as rewards when training the dog to come when told.
For example, if your dog like playing with other dogs, whether in the local park or with the neighbour’s dogs, let him play freely with those other dogs. Then go into the park or yard and call your dog.
When he comes to you, give him lots of praise, treats and other rewards, then immediately let the dog to go back to playing with his pals. Do this a few times and praise the dog every time he comes to you.
The dog will soon learn that coming to you means good things (treats and praise) and not bad ones (being removed from the park).
So-called distraction training is one of the hardest things to teach, because dogs are naturally social animals, and breaking away from the pack is one of the most difficult things you can ask your dog to do. Most dogs will be understandably unwilling to leave their canine companions, but it is important to persist in dog training.
Training the dog to come to you may take some creativity on your part at first. For instance, waving a favourite toy, or a lure, is a good way to get your dog’s attention and put the focus back on you. If your dog has been clicker trained, a quick click can be a good motivator too when you are training your dog.
Once your dog starts to become used to coming when called, you can start to reduce and then stop the visual cues and focus on making the dog respond to just your voice. It is important that your dog obeys voice commands alone, as you will not always have a toy or lure to hand.
Does your dog need training? If you need more information on dog training, then visit our website entitled Successful Dog Training
