Training Your Dog: Four Tips for Using Distraction

Posted by The Popular News Today on Friday, November 25, 2011

By Regina T. Roby


Dog training is often as simple or complex as you make it, but the most productive method is to break down the process into a number of simple steps. Whether you're attempting to present basic obedience training or develop an advanced skill, the most important training phase is possibly the eradication and reintroduction of disruptions into the process. As anybody can understand, learning is generally best achieved with a minimum of distraction and this is the same for your dog. Nevertheless, disturbances can be used to strengthen the lessons learned and ensure that your dog understands how he should behave. Let's contemplate several keys to using distraction.

Remove Disruptions Promptly

Distractions can be a pleasing diversion, but for dog owners during the early stages of training their dogs, distractions can be a real disadvantage. Attracted by a world full of many sights, sounds and smells to investigate, dogs can be difficult to teach, so it's better to get rid of any temptation to wander off the task at hand. A typical example is seen when an owner attempts to teach their pet to sit in the center of an active kitchen. With the buzz of youngsters, the scents of food and the noise from a nearby TV, it's no surprise that the dog could have trouble working on the desired action. Therefore, distractions should be minimized during early education to be able to develop a strong foundation.

Select the Appropriate Time

Although many people consider external distractions are the biggest challenge when instructing a dog, internal distractions create equally as much difficulty. Often, defeating inner distractions like restlessness, hunger and the need for a bathroom break should really be among the first orders of business just before training can start. Clearly, a dog that's been alone all day or is very hungry will be distracted and less likely to focus on the training lesson. So, owners must select the best time to train their pets. While subjective depending on your surroundings and pet, training should take place when your dog is relaxed, mindful and with none of the internal distractions mentioned earlier.

Include Temptations Later On

As if to add a challenge to one's training regimen, distractions can in fact be good later in the training process. As soon as your dog has a solid comprehension of the required behavior and performs it easily during managed training lessons, it's then time to slowly add back some distraction to perfect and strengthen the behavior later on. For example, after your dog can sit on command at home, he should be asked to carry out that behavior around children, outdoors and even at a downtown outdoor cafe. As your dog becomes familiar in a variety of settings, the behavior will become much more strongly engrained.

And Don't Forget the Treats

Of the many kinds of distractions, the dog training treat just about the most useful and shouldn't be overlooked. The use of this modest distraction accomplishes a couple of important actions. First, giving a treat to your dog for exhibiting the correct behavior is a nice attention-getter that will focus him on the task at hand. Second, the steady use of treats for good conduct will develop trust between you and your dog. This can be incredibly useful once you've progressed to a new behavior from where the dog may need an extra incentive to get started. Therefore, using dog treats as a small distraction will help you reinforce your training and the resulting behavior of your dog.

Proper dog training doesn't have to be overly challenging and despite the impression that distractions are bad, their selective use can provide dramatically better results than eliminating them altogether.




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