| Every dog owner wants his best friend to be healthy | | | | time for several sessions a day, and follow up each |
| and well behaved. Regular visits to your Vet will take | | | | with a bit of play time. |
| care of the first, but you must learn some basic dog | | | | - Always reward good behavior. When your dog |
| training skills to take care of the second. Basic training | | | | responds correctly to your command, always give an |
| for your dog means the achievement of a basic | | | | immediate reward, such as a "Good Dog!" or "Atta |
| education, and teaches your pooch to correctly | | | | Boy!", along with a pat on the head or a nice ear |
| respond to basic commands such as: | | | | scratch. If he does not respond correctly, do not scold |
| - Come | | | | him. Simply repeat the command and the action again |
| - Sit | | | | until you get the correct response. After a while, your |
| - Stay | | | | dog will come to understand exactly what you want. |
| - Wait | | | | - Do not treat the training sessions as play time. Your |
| - Down | | | | pooch must understand that what he is doing is |
| - No | | | | important, and that doing what you want will result in |
| - Okay | | | | play later. |
| - Off | | | | It has been suggested that it is best to teach the "Sit" |
| - Heel | | | | command first. I find that this makes further training |
| As the teacher, your most important tools are love, | | | | much easier because, if your dog starts misbehaving, |
| patience, and, most importantly, consistency. Changing | | | | you can give the command to sit and make him stop |
| your methods or command words as you go along will | | | | whatever he is doing and sit down. Again, giving a bit |
| only confuse your dog and make the training more | | | | of praise when the dog responds correctly will |
| difficult, if not impossible. Other important tips to keep in | | | | reinforce his training, so, do not limit your praise to the |
| mind are: | | | | training sessions. |
| - You must have your dog's attention for training to be | | | | And, avoid giving in to your pet's every desire. Always |
| effective. Always precede the command by saying | | | | exercise discipline first and then affection. Never give |
| your dog's name, such as "Fido! Sit!". He will not learn to | | | | out rewards just because your dog gives you a pitiful |
| respond unless he knows you are talking to him. | | | | or cute look, but only when he or she performs a |
| - Teach one command at a time. Trying to teach too | | | | correct behavior. |
| many things at once will only serve to confuse your | | | | Having a well behaved pooch should be the goal of |
| dog and make your job much harder. | | | | every dog owner. Teaching you best friend some |
| - Keep your training sessions short.Sessions should not | | | | basic dog training will make him a better dog, make |
| be longer than 10 or 15 minutes. After this, your dog will | | | | you a better owner, and make you both more |
| start to become bored and will begin to dread the | | | | welcome in the outside world. |
| sessions, rather than look forward to them. Set aside | | | | |