How to Train Your Dog at Home

Training your dog at home is easy if you have good information and you set aside time every day to practice. Brief training sessions that last approximately 5 minutes are one of the most effective ways to train your dog. One session is good, three is perfect. Setting up your train at home session will make the lessons go easier and the good behavior come more quickly.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Clicker
• Treats
• A quiet location
• A timer

1. The first step for training your dog at home is to gather the things you will need for the training session. Clicker, treats, timer, and any equipment or toys needed for the behavior.

2. Plan in advance which behavior you are going to train or practice. You may even want to write down what you train each time, what treats or toys you use, and note successes and struggles during the training session.

3. Assemble your training equipment in a quiet, distraction free area. Put other pets out of this area. You should work with your dog alone at first. Set your timer.

4. Start your training session off with something that your dog can do easily or a behavior that he has already mastered. Allow him to earn some clicks and treats early in the session

5. Work on one or two new behaviors, encourage your dog. Smile at him. Use a happy voice. If he is struggling or does not seem to understand, change your behavior. Try sitting in the floor with him, adding a rug to lay on, closing the curtains, etc. Identify possible distrations or learning barriers and fix them.

6. Keep the session short. When the timer goes off after five minutes, cheer for your dog and again ask for an easy behavior. He will leave you looking forward to working with you again.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep training sessions short 3-5 minutes is plenty
• Do not say the verbal cue until your dog is doing the behavior.
• Do many short training sessions per day
• Begin fading the use of the clicker as your dog responds to verbal cues reliably
• Train old behaviors like new behaviors in new places, around new people, or in the presence of other animals. Act as if your dog has not learned the behavior, and start at the beginning, until he has generalized the cue.
• Smile at your dog while training. Speak in cheerful tones. Clicker training is fun!
• Do not chat with your dog while training him, it confuses him as to what word he should be listening to.
• Do not repeat cues, if your dog is not responding to a verbal cue change something you are doing or make adjustments to the training environment.

[grouch]

on 12/20/2007 I liked the part about keeping it short. Training is one thing but too long and it would be over kill. Thanks for all the information.