Welcome to my blog about my experience and views on dog training. I dont consider myself a professional dog trainer but I do have 20 years experience and have done hundreds of hours of research.
I have been raising and training Springer Spaniels since 1987. Springers are a high energy dog and as with most sporting breeds they need firm consistent training to get an obedient well behaved pet or hunter. The following are my own opinions based on my observations from training my dogs as well as helping other people who have come to me for help.
If you research training and read different articles you will find that different trainers use different techniques and methods. When trying to decide what approach to use there are some things to keep in mind.
First, what method do you feel more comfortable using?
The biggest factor in getting the results you want is consistency so if you are using a method that is comfortable for you then it will be easier for you to be more consistent.
Second the temperament of your dog.
If you have a timid or sensitive dog you are going to want to use softer methods. If the dog is strong willed you are going to use firmer methods.
Third be humane
DO NOT get into the trap of trying to take a short cut by using harsh methods such as a shock collar. Leave this type of training to professionals. The use of shock training in inexperienced hands will cause more problems than they solve and can ruin an otherwise good dog. Remember time, patience and consistency is the key to the results you are looking for.
You could go pay a professional trainer or go to obedience classes. The only problem I have with those is they are going to use what works for them, but this may not fit in with your style so you may not be as effective and consistent as you could otherwise be. So do some research, read books lookup articles online and see what feels good to you.
After you have found the style that you feel good about start your training. When training only train one step and one command at a time. Your first training obviously will be housebreaking. Do not start any other training until puppy is housebroken. Puppy has enough to learn on their own in addition to where to go to relieve themselves. After puppy is housebroken then you can move onto sit. This shouldn’t take too long my experience has been an average of about a week to get puppy to really know what I want when I say sit. After sit then move on to stay. Stay is a very important command for the safety of your dog. When trained properly you will be able to stop him if he is headed towards a dangerous area like the road. Just by saying stay firmly he should stop where he is until you can get to him or call him to you. After stay I move on to down. This can sometimes be one of the harder basic commands because it involves more submission on the dogs part. After down I then move on to heel. After the dog has learned heel I work daily with the dog for about half an hour putting everything together walking at heel stopping, have dog sit, then heel then sit, and down, then heel, sit, stay & heel again etc…
At this point you should have a good start on a well-trained dog that will bring years of joy and companionship to you and your family.
In following posts I will go into the methods I use for dog training.
Until then HAPPY TRAINING
.
.
