Читать книгу It’s Me or the Dog: How to have the Perfect Pet - Victoria Stilwell - Страница 7

My top ten rules for raising and training a dog

1 Think dog

Understand how dogs learn and what makes them tick as a species. Dogs are not humans, but many people treat them like they are.

2 Talk dog

Learn how to communicate effectively in dog language. Dogs can’t speak English, or any other human language. You, however, can learn to talk dog.

3 Top dog

Who’s in charge? You are. You have to be a confident leader. Your dog will be much happier if he has an effective leader to follow.

4 Accentuate the positive

Reward good behavior. Good things happen when your dog does well! Ignore or correct behavior you don’t want to encourage. Sounds simple, but many people do exactly the opposite without meaning to. Never, ever use harsh punishment.

5 Perfect timing

Get the timing right when rewarding or correcting. Dogs won’t associate a reward or correction with an action if you leave it too long to respond. You need to give feedback within one second of the behavior.

6 He says, she says

Be consistent at all times – and that goes for everyone in the family. Use the same commands and agree on your house rules. Can the dog sit on the sofa or not? Mixed messages confuse dogs and make them anxious because they can’t work out what they’re supposed to do.

7 Know your dog

Your dog is an individual with his own strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. Whether he’s purebred or a mixed breed, there are breed characteristics to take into account, too. Go with the flow.

8 Vary the picture

Offer a variety of different experiences to stimulate your dog’s brain and senses. Dogs like to play and they get bored, just like we do. Don’t just train in the same place or using the same posture. Teach your dog to respond to you in every situation.

9 Lifelong learning

Start training early and keep reinforcing the learning all through the dog’s life. You can, and should, teach an old dog new tricks.

10 Easy does it

Make it easy for your dog to do well and succeed. Manage his environment. Put the shoes away so he can’t chew them. When you’re training your dog, accept failure as part of the learning process. Successful training requires patience.