Positive Reinforcement Dog Training Techniques

Positive reinforcement dog training techniques are those that reward the dog or the puppy for good behavior. This works much better than yelling or hitting a dog when he misbehaves. A dog relies on you to teach him how to socialize with humans and be part of the family. When you get a new puppy, you can hardly expect him to keep out of trouble or not have accidents in the house.

Dogs crave your approval more than anything else in the world. It is important to establish yourself as the top dog in the house so that your dog has respect for you. You do this naturally by being the person who feeds him and takes care of him. A dog will naturally gravitate towards the person who takes the most care of him, feeds him and pays attention to him. Dogs crave attention so the more time you spend with your dog, the more effective your positive reinforcement dog training techniques will be.

When your dog exhibits behavior that is good, make sure that you give him a pat on the head and tell him, in a calm and happy voice, that he is a good dog. Dogs cannot understand what you are saying but they do notice inflection in your voice and your tone. They are also very much in tune with whether or not you are happy with them. Make sure your dog knows that you are happy with him by telling him what a good boy he is when he follows a command.

The leader of the dog pack will often cup the snout of the dog in with their own when they are pleased as a sign of affection. You can do this with your hands in a gesture to show your dog that you are happy with his behavior. While you will not want to use your face against your dogs snout, you can affectionately cup his snout with your hands while you tell him what a good dog he has been in a calm, happy voice.

Food is another thing that a dog craves and is the most important aspect of his life next to attention. You can use doggie treats to reward a dog for a job well done. While you should never use food as a punishment against your dog as this is cruel and will not be effective, you can use doggie treats as a reward for performing behavior that is acceptable.

You cannot realistically expect a puppy to be housebroken until he is about a year old, but you can start house training a dog as a puppy by using positive reinforcement dog training techniques. Because a puppy's bladder is not fully developed to "hold it in" for extended periods of time, such as the entire night, until he is close to a year old, a good rule of thumb is that a puppy can only hold his bladder for one hour longer than the number of months of age. For example, a four-month old puppy can only be expected to hold it for a maximum of five hours before having an accident. Therefore, he should not be left indoors or in a crate for longer than this period of time. To use positive reinforcement dog training techniques effectively, the puppy should be taken out before this threshold, to avoid an accident altogether and to positively reward him for going outside. Once he goes outside where he is supposed to, you can reward him by giving him a doggie treat and patting them on the head. He will soon come to look forward to this time. You should not give him the doggie treat unless he exhibits the right behavior.

Instead of screaming at a dog who does something wrong, which will only confuse him as he will not understand what is going on, take the above tips and, when you train your dog or puppy, use positive reinforcement dog training techniques.

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