How to Teach Your Dog 100 English Words
Training your dog to understand and respond to verbal commands can help keep him happy and safe. By teaching your dog the meaning of words such as, "stay," "come," or "stop," you can prevent his accidental injury or death. You can also teach your dog to identify personal items, such as slippers or the newspaper. The more words that he recognizes, the more potential rewards for both of you.
Training requires patience and time, but with a few smart steps, you can start enjoying a more fulfilling relationship with your dog.
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Instructions
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Start early. Dogs can be trained when they are as young as seven or eight weeks old.
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Be consistent. Always use the same commands.
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Keep it simple. Your dog will learn simple commands more quickly. Simple words can form the basis for more complicated commands as your dog progresses in its training.
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Speak in a loud, clear, authoritative voice.
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Use hand motions to emphasize your command.
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Gently direct your dog to the sit position, for example, or the down position. There are many sites online available to help you learn effective training techniques to accompany verbal commands. Point to desired objects. Speak the command. Repeat.
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Use positive reinforcement. Lots of petting and treats will keep your dog happy.
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Spend 15-20 minutes several times a day working with your dog on his tricks.
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Continue to use the same words consistently. Do not stop using a word once your dog learns it.
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Tips & Warnings
As pack animals, dogs understand social structure and expect to have a leader of their pack. Because of that trait, dogs are generally easy to train and eager to please.
Some breeds, especially working breeds will be easier to train than others. Since they were bred to do specific work, many types of herding dogs, such as Austrailian Cattle Dogs, German Shepherds and Border Collies are considered to be among the smartest and most easily trained dogs. They often understand and commit to performing commands with fewer than five repetitions.
By contrast, many dogs who belong to the toy breeds, such as Shih Tzu and the Pekingese may need up to 100 repetitions before they understand and commit to performing a command.
This does not mean that some breeds are smart and some breeds are unintelligent. Some breeds may understand what you are saying, but may not feel as compelled to follow orders as breeds that were bred to do so. Research suggests that most dogs have the intelligence of a 2-year-old human.
References
- Photo Credit dog image by Michal Tudek from Fotolia.com
