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Dog Training For HomeDog Training for HomeMany of my clients have come to me after having first gone to group obedience dog training classes. Some have had good experiences, some bad. The major complaint, though, is that once they take the dog home that he no longer obeys. The problem is that group obedience classes don�t teach you dog training for home. The solution comes from a certain set of training exercises that I call integration training. Dog training for home requires that you integrate real life situations into your dog training program. When you go to group obedience classes you will most likely be taught certain dog training behaviors, sit, lie down, heel, etc. You will then perform those behaviors in a very routine, mechanical way. The problem with this format is that dogs have the ability to compartmentalize. Have you ever seen an acquaintance from work in a non-work setting and struggled to pinpoint exactly how you know them? This happens all the time to people because they associate that face with a certain setting. Take the setting away from equation and suddenly you can�t make the correct association. This is compartmentalization.
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The same happens with your canine friend with regards to the obedience classes and dog training for home. At obedience class you apply certain training principles and your dog responds. You say �sit�, perform the correct training, and your dog sits. But then you get home, say �sit�, and nothing happens. Your dog has compartmentalized the sit exercise. His association to that exercise hinges on being at obedience class and performing a set routine. The key is to maintain the same training principles that taught him to sit in the first place, but taken out of the routine setting. This is integration training and dog training for home.
Here are some free basic dog training tips for accomplishing integration training in your dog training for home. 2. Have your dog wear a leash around the house. During the beginning stages of your obedience classes you are teaching everything to your dog with the use of a leash. That means that at obedience class whenever you tell your dog �sit� or �heel� or �lie down� you have the leash attached to make sure that he complies. Sorry for yelling, this is a pet peeve of mine. At obedience class your success is dependent upon the leash for communication and enforcement. It doesn�t make sense when you are dog training for home to ignore that very important piece of the equation. Step 1 was to be spontaneous with your training commands. You can only be spontaneous if your dog is wearing his leash. 3. Get extreme. I always advise my clients to be more extreme with their dog training for home than they think is necessary. Home life is full of distractions. Doorbells ring, meter-men come pass through, oven timers go off, cats run by, etc. If you want your dog to obey you regardless of the distractions you must train for that. You must be creative and set up dog training for home scenarios that will test your dog and force him to mess up so that he can progress in his training when you show him the right way. For example, I like to have my dogs do down-stays in difficult places like on top of a picnic table or near a scary vacuum. I like to train my dogs to heel with heavy distractions like the neighborhood cats or near tasty food left on the ground. Basically, I know that if I can create distractions at home that are greater and more extreme than everyday distractions, I will have a very well behaved dog, no matter the circumstances. 4. Enlist help. I like to ask friends or people who happen to stop by my home for help in my dog training for home and integration training. Have you ever known a kid in the neighborhood who was a terror when in public. He throws fits, screams, pulls hair, and basically is a nuisance. But that same kid is a relatively well-behaved kid at home. Some kids know that in public they can do what they want and their parents are too embarrassed to discipline in front of others. Dogs, too, can quickly learn this. Many dogs know that when someone else is in the picture that mom or dad isn�t going to enforce the house rules. Do obedience training around friends and your dog will soon learn that he has to obey you no matter who is around. Apply these dog training for home steps and your dog will be just as obedient there as he is at obedience class.
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