It’s almost impossible to avoid mistakes in dog training. But knowing them is the best way to eliminate many problems. Here are the most common mistakes dog owners make 👇
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1️⃣ Everything is too complicated. It’s very hard to control the process of training and your behavior at the beginning. But here’s a solution: separate the task into multiple smaller steps for both yourself and your dog.
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2️⃣ Incorrect timing and unintended learning. Make sure you praise your dog or click the clicker exactly the moment your dog does what you need it to do. ⏱
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3️⃣ Wrong distance. You might work at an insufficient distance, stand too far from your dog or reduce the distance too quickly,
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4️⃣ Non-working conditioned reinforcement. If your dog doesn’t react to a verbal marker or a click, it means that the reaction to praise hasn’t been formed yet (the dog simply doesn’t know it’s being praised), or there’s something you’re not doing right.
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5️⃣ Inconsistence. If one day you are teaching your dog to walk on a loose leash, and the next – running wherever it pulls, your dog will never learn to behave.
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6️⃣ Unrealistic expectations. Make the tasks simpler, and the steps – shorter.
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7️⃣ A long training session. When a dog is tired, it loses all enthusiasm. You should stop the session while the dog is still interested in it.
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8️⃣ Unpredictable reactions of the owner. If today you act according to the positive reinforcement principle, and tomorrow use violent methods, your dog will be confused and won’t understand what is coming – praise or punishment.
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9️⃣ You don’t understand your dog’s motivation and using the wrong reinforcement.
If you don’t know what your dog wants right here and right now, you won’t be able to organize the training process properly. Keep an eye on your dog and learn to understand if it is calm or stressed, afraid or annoyed, wants to play or prefers relaxed exercises?
What if what your dog needs right now is food, and not playing?😉
