Obedience training can be good for you, your family, and your dog. In dog obedience training, you can teach your dog how to treat people and other pets. Moreover, it can help fix annoying behaviors, such as barking, jumping, chewing, and digging. It also helps keep your four-legged friend happy. The question is how to get started with obedience training? So, in this article, we’ll discuss dog obedience training in detail.

Things to Keep in Mind for Dog Training

If you want to make dog training successful, ensure that you keep the following things in mind:

  • Set realistic expectations.
  • Be patient because it will not be done in few tries. Some commands take more time to be learned by dogs.
  • Keep your training sessions short. A 15-minute session is enough.
  • If your dog struggles to learn one command, switch to another.
  • Ensure that you and your pet enjoy the training session. Otherwise, it can be frustrating.
  • End the training session on a positive note, and it will keep your pet excited for the next session.
Steps for Dog Obedience Training

Steps for Dog Obedience Training

Follow these steps for successful basic obedience training.

1. What You Need

The first thing you need is to have a dog for training. After that:

  • Look for a distraction-free place. Once your dog starts learning commands, you can take him to crowded places to improve his focus.
  • Toys or treats because they’re essential for dog training.
  • Short and long leash for a walk.

Once you have all these, you can move to the teaching commands step.

2. Start with Sit Command

Follow these simple steps and teach this basic command:

  • Hold treats in hand to get the dog’s attention.
  • Use that treat and ask your dog to move slowly.
  • Once the dog gets into that position, ask him to sit and give him a signal by hand.
  • When your dog gets to that position, praise and rewards him.

Repeat this for a few days until your dog masters this command.

3. Down Command

It’s not an easy command to teach. The below-given steps can help teach your dog this command:

  • When the dog is in the sit position, the next step is to kneel in front of your dog.
  • Hold the treat close to your dog’s nose and lower it to the ground. Your dog will follow your hand.
  • Once you get the treat to the ground, firmly say “Down”.
  • When your dog gets down in the right position, reward him.

Again, it will take few days to learn this command, so be patient.

4. Stay Command

For this command, your dog must be already in either Lay or Sit position.

  • Stay in front of your dog and say, “Stay”. You can also signal this with your hand.
  • Move slightly and maintain eye contact with your dog.
  • If your dog remains in this position for as long as you want, reward him with a treat.
  • You can try this command off-leash, but ensure that area is fenced.

After teaching this command, move to the next basic command.

5. Come Command

Before teaching this command, your dog must already know “Sit, Stay, and Down” commands. Use a long lead for this command.

  • When your dog is in Sit or Lay position, walk away from your dog.
  • Firmly say Come and use hand gesture as well. Say “Come” only once.
  • When your dog comes to you, reward him with a treat.
  • After a few days, start off-leash training in a fenced area.

All these commands are essential for basic obedience training.

Dog patiently waiting for treats

Benefits of Dog Obedience Training

There are plenty of good benefits of training your dog, such as:

1. Safety

A trained dog is less likely to get injured or lost. When you train your dog, it will not only ensure your dog’s safety but also keep others safe. It has been observed that trained dogs are less aggressive.

2. Builds a long-lasting relationship

When you spend time with your dog, have fun together, and create boundaries, it will develop a long-lasting relationship.

3. Easy management

Dogs can be difficult to manage, but dog obedience training can help you manage your dog more easily. They can work well with other family members.

4. Fun and Knowledge

Dog training is something that will not let you get bored. It doesn’t matter whether it’s your first experience with a dog or you already have some; you can always learn something new from your dogs. You can make your training sessions interesting and fun when you enjoy your dog activities.

When to Start Dog Obedience Training?

There is no specific time for starting dog training. You can start it right after bringing the pet home. The sooner you start dog obedience training, the better it will be for you and your pet. All the dogs are not the same, and some take more time to learn new behaviors.

Some dogs are silly, some are shy, some are hyperactive, and some are laid-back. Regardless of these differences, you need to train your dog because it can be beneficial for everyone. Young puppies have short attention spans, and they can learn obedience commands when they get 7 to 8 weeks old. At this age, ensure that training sessions are short.

Don’t wait long and start dog obedience training as soon as possible. The sooner you start, the better will be your relationship with the dog.

Is There Any Need to Seek Professional Help?

Yes, you can take professional help for dog training. You can either find a trainer who offers private sessions or join a local dog obedience class. Private Sessions can be expensive. Seeking professional help should never mean that you’ll quit your own training program.

Professional trainers can help you customize training commands according to your dog’s learning style. You can establish bonding with your dog when you’re directly involved in the training.

Thoughts, tips, and/or comments

Tell us your thoughts in the comment box, are there specific experiences you’ve encountered training your dog?