By – Saba Poonawala
Owning a dog means taking care of a living being to the best of your ability from the day it comes home to it’s last breath. For the human, many tasks can seem very simple, eg: expecting the dog not to bark everytime the bell rings. But for the dog, there is always more to it and there’s a reason why this behaviour has set in. It is solely the duty of the pet owner to raise this dog to the best of the dog’s capacity..
As soon as you bring the dog home, the owner has to start with training. The technique to be used is positive reinforcement and a trainer with good knowledge and experience must be roped in as well. It’s the basics like sit, down, up , off etc and reinforcement of the same, that work for the dog.
Later change these to value added commands like fetch + tug open a drawer + retrieve an object from the drawer. Here, if your dog fails , you have to learn to go according to your dogs pace and let the dog win . Know that patience is the key here and baby steps matter. Every step will count in making your dog more confident.
During all the training,don’t forget to let your dog have fun. Everything you set up your dog to do must be with a fun module involved as such the dog will always be happily engaged in the activity. Keep some time as simply play time for the dog where it gets a chance to run, explore, swim or do whatever it takes to just be a dog!
Whenever the dog is scared or has a hurdle along the way, make it confront the hurdle slowly ensuring basic progress at each go. This will build confidence in the dog as well.
It’s important to have a dog that’s independent so that the dog leads its best life.
About the Author
Co founder – Pune Chennai Dog Training Academy
Rangnath Tamboli – Master Trainer.