Nearly 50% of American households are a little bit brighter because they own a dog.
However, whether you’ve adopted a puppy or connected with an older animal, the truth is that training dogs can sometimes test your patience!
Of course, you’re always willing to forgive an accident, and a “sad eyed” look from your dog more than makes up for bad behavior.
Still, it would be nice for your dog to come when they’re called every once in a while.
The truth is that you’re in desperate need of some effective dog training tips.
This post will give you advice for how to achieve the perfect dog training for your four-legged friend.
From keeping it consistent to finding the right schedule, we’ve got all the dog life hacks you need.
1. Don’t let Friends Mess up the Program
We know that everyone in your life is extremely excited about the presence of a new puppy or dog in your home.
They’re dying to reward them with treats, and they’re willing to let your dog get away with anything — from face licking to jumping up on the table.
However, allowing this is only going to make your life harder.
Even if your friends don’t mind your dog’s bad behavior, no list of dog training tips should fail to mention that consistency in reinforcing what you expect from your pet is key.
In addition to making sure that your friends know — and follow — your dog training rules, instruct them not to sneak your dog any extra treats.
Yes, he’s a good boy, but you don’t want your pet to gain weight or rely on treats to do what he’s told.
2. Short Bursts are Better than Long Training Sessions
When you’re in the process of training dogs, we know that you want to teach them the rules as soon as possible.
In fact, you’re willing to spend all day training them to sit and stay, if that’s what it takes!
While this kind of commitment is impressive, it won’t actually help your dog to learn things any faster. It may actually end up frustrating them, and causing all of that training to be ineffective.
Instead, keep training sessions short and sweet.
After all, a dog’s main attention span only lasts for about two minutes!
This means you should actually aim to train your pup for no more than twenty minutes per session or trick. You can have anywhere from four to five of these mini sessions a day for the best results.
3. Potty Training Dog Life Hacks
We know that training your dog to avoid accidents and to let you know when they need to go outside can be seriously challenging.
The good news?
There are a few dog tips when it comes to their training that can make it a lot easier.
First of all, always make sure that you keep your dog’s cage as clean as possible.
Keep in mind that if your dog can smell the scent of their urine or feces in the house, they’ll think that means it’s a nice place to do their business.
Spray down their crate, your floors, or anywhere you suspect they may have had an accident as quickly as you can.
Also, when you do take your dog outside, make sure that you take them to the same place, or their spot, to use the bathroom. Your dog will let you know where they like to go!
Above all, start your training as early as possible. Additionally, be sure that you reward a puppy with smaller amounts of treats when they go outside. This is much more effective than punishing them because they’d had an accident.
For tips on making sure that your new puppy is house trained, be sure to check out this link for more dog life hacks.
4. Feeding Shouldn’t Come Before Training
The feeding schedule of your dog can make a huge difference in the overall success of their training.
For best results, no matter how much your dog begs, refuse to feed them before they complete their training session.
This has to do with common sense just as much as anything else.
When your dog knows that a meal is waiting for them around the corner, they’ll be much better behaved and more likely to accept the training process.
They’ll also make a positive association with the training sessions, which will make them more cooperative in the first place.
Plus, you’ll also be able to make sure that you avoid over-feeding your pet. Especially when you use treats as a reward, it can be easy to accidentally give your dog too much. However, when you plop down their dog bowl in front of them as a reward, you can avoid having to give them too many treats.
In the end, it’s really not that much different than creating a toddler or baby’s feeding schedule and meal plan.
Make the Most of These Dog Training Tips
As you can see from this post, training dogs isn’t the rocket science that so many people can make it out to be.
Instead, follow these dog training tips to keep your dog happy — and your carpets cleaned.
Looking for additional advice on how to reward good behavior in your pets? Want to encourage happy thoughts and better choices in both dogs and humans?
We’ve got you covered.
Be sure to keep checking back with our website and blog to get access to dog life hacks, and human ones as well.