Training To Produce Happy, Confident Dogs

There are 5 main approaches to training, but only one produces great, consistent results and a happy, confident dog. Which do you use? Take this quiz to find out.

1 - Clasp Hands And Pray training
You sigh at and ignore your dog's obnoxious and unwanted behaviour and just hope it improves. It's CHAP training - you Clasp your Hands together And Pray things will get better. Another variety of this is MEFF training - Making Excuses For Fido. Such as "he's a rescue dog", "he was treated badly before", "she's set in her ways now" etc.
This sort of training is common. But these approaches simply don't work. Nothing changes if nothing changes. Your dog's behaviour just gets worse and worse (or better and better from your dog's point of view) with all the practice she gets.

2 - Micromanaging behaviour
You micromanage every aspect of your dog's behaviour to prevent bad stuff happening.
You never leave food out or unattended on any surface; you tidy away every sock and shoe; you always close important doors; you avoid the park or beach when other dogs are there; you don't let your dog off lead unless it's empty and quiet for half a mile in any direction; and so on.
Not only is this a huge responsibility, it's exhausting. And it can never work 100% of the time.

3 - Punishment
Your dog "should know better" – and if he's been naughty he must be told off.
This is a common approach. With this, you live in constant judgement of your dog. This approach leads to distrust and blame - on both sides. And creates lots of anxiety, and even fear, on the dog's side.
It's destructive. Worse, it can escalate quite quickly (on both sides). It may work initially but in the longer term it creates far more problems than it solves.

4 - Bribing
Luring behaviours is a quick and easy way to start to teach your dog – so you use it – a lot.
You rattle the biscuit tin to get your dog in from the garden. You hold a treat in front of his nose to keep him beside you. You wave that sausage in the air to get him back on the beach.
But bribery doesn't work in the long term. If food is used constantly to bribe your dog, he'll refuse to do things unless he can see the food. Training becomes hostage to food. Some dogs are so food focused that they single-mindedly follow the food, which means they're not learning.
Bribing doesn't help your dog to learn to engage his brain. It just triggers the prey instinct to chase food. It also means your dog will ignore you once you've forgotten, or run out of, food.

5 - Reward based training
You manipulate things to make the right choice the easy choice for your dog.
You teach him to do the things you want him to do. You set him up for success, by starting training at home and in quiet places and only making things harder when your dog is ready. Food and toys are given as REWARDS. Life rewards (such as sniffing, swimming, hunting) are used too.
It makes things crystal clear to your dog – and he learns quickly how to be the perfect pet you want.

KEY POINT: And The Winner Is...

You've probably guessed by now but a reward based training approach is the only one that produces great, consistent results and a happy, confident dog. If training is right, it's simple (but not necessarily easy)

Positive is not permissive

"Don't" is FAR more difficult to teach than "Do"

If you need help training your dog, book onto our signature Perfect Pet course. They run at three different venues around Ards and North Down. Or if you prefer individual help, book a Personal Pet Package. Or if you live far away, book an online video Consultation Call. We'll help you get it right.