How to educate better to dog? Important training tips and tricks

Do you have a new pet? Did you adopt a puppy? It is key that you educate him on fundamental issues to improve his behavior and direct his behavior. That he makes his needs in inadequate places, that anxiety leads him to break objects or that he behaves badly with strangers are problems that can be prevented.

What is the best age to train a dog?

Generally it is said that after four months is the best age to train them, since they are in an ideal cognitive period; But those of us who are in the world of training can assure you that since the dog joins the human family (it is estimated that it is from 60 days of age) it is necessary to start with the first stimuli related to behavior and obedience.

Dogs receive a first imprint from their mother since they are born, when we see them play with puppies or “fight” they are really learning to hunt, to impose hierarchy, etc. The second “imprinting” they receive when they arrive at our homes, where we show them their place of food, rest, places where they should not go and their schedules adapted to the routine of the family.

After completing the vaccination plan and the veterinary discharge to go out, it is a good time to begin the challenge of teaching them tricks and creating a bond, first through the game and then with more precise orders according to what each person looks for. In the case of specific races, for each activity they are armed with an adequate training plan that will be reinforced throughout their lives.

Is often the problem of doing your needs in the wrong places of the house, how to correct this behavior?

It’s a very common query. Let’s start by knowing that dogs are routine, they use a ritual that they always repeat. In this sense dogs are like babies: they eat and after a few minutes they defecate. For this reason, once the animal eats, we wait a few minutes and put the leash and take it out to the street. He will smell the poles, walking through the grass, the path, avoiding obstacles, and will soon find an ideal place to relieve himself.

We must collect what he did responsibly and deposit it in the trash with a bag. When he touches him again, we repeat exactly the same as before, that is, we begin to create a routine, the usual ritual. Let’s not forget to go out for the same side, do the same route and expect him to do his business. The dog will set schedules and places and will know how to wait because he knows his time and place will come.

With the puppies that still can not go out to the public road for the lack of vaccination we do the same. Although we can not remove them, we can make them eat and quickly take them, for example, to a yard where we want them to defecate. When he does, we enter him, so he will know his place, where, how and where he can do his needs. A few days later he will eat and go out alone.

How to teach them not to overtake visitors and not break things in the house?

It is a very common problem, each case must be evaluated by a trainer and he will know if it corresponds to a behavior problem by hierarchy or anxiety. Generally the destructive behaviors -or of hyperactivity- such as jumping people, breaking things or not stopping running are due to the accumulation of anxiety due to lack of activity.

Remember that dogs need their moment of play and walk, if we leave them for long periods inside our house, it is inevitable that we arrive and want to show us, by jumping, that they want to spend that accumulated energy. If we create a game routine and daily walk for a few minutes, they will know that their time will come and they will not destroy anything or be nervous when they arrive.

In the specific cases of approaching visitors when we open the door you can use some tricks.

•  You should not tie them in the background when people arrive and ring the bell, because it will generate even more anxiety and relate the sound of the bell to the punishment. That can generate unwanted behaviors that can be even aggressive.
•  We go with them to the door. The dog with its leash, and we correct any gesture or unwanted movement. We participate in the meeting.
• Dogs want to know who comes in, to smell it to recognize it and be part of it, if we deny it we create more anxiety.

To control destructive and anxious behaviors, a tip that often works is the famous “soda siphon”. Be careful not to damage your eyes and try to “drown” him. The process is as follows: the person who is outside carries the siphon in his hand, rings the doorbell and when the owner opens the door and the dog tries to jump, this activates a small jet on the dog, this will surprise and retreat. It will help the dog to associate that after the doorbell and the opening of the door, if he throws himself, he will not receive a very good welcome and will find it more convenient to wait at a distance out of reach of that nasty jet.

Remember that dogs need their moment of play and walk, if we leave them for long periods inside our house, it is inevitable that we arrive and want to show us, by jumping, that they want to spend that accumulated energy.
Remember that dogs need their moment of play and walk, if we leave them for long periods inside our house, it is inevitable that we arrive and want to show us, by jumping, that they want to spend that accumulated energy.

To teach you a trick or behavior that we like, does the system of rewards and punishments work?

-A dog obeys a certain order or performs a trick through a stimulus. That is, the dog will do what is asked in exchange for something, which is the prize (or reinforcement). Usually, the first few times he is trained with food reward, which is something very positive; later it is interspersed with other prizes such as games and caresses (affective prize). That is to say, food prizes or prize prizes are interspersed with caresses, so that they do not get used to responding only to a food prize. It should be noted that reinforcements are divided into positives and negatives.

For example, in the case of dogs looking for drugs or tickets, the policemen with whom they work carry a hose. When the dog detects something, it sits until the policeman approaches; This gives him a toy as a reward. Then, the dog relates that when it finds a certain substance or meets a certain objective, they will have a prize.

It is very important that in all training, whenever our dog fulfills an objective, or with the order given to him, he will reward it with food, a game or a caress. Thus, the stimulus will be fixed.

With regard to caresses, this represents another type of training, which is more specific: the cognitive-emotional. This type of training aims at learning through emotions, whose reward has more to do with the affective.

Important Tips and tricks to educate better

# Our room is the territory of the leader of the pack. If you let your dog sleep in your bed, then do not pretend not to pee and poop where you want or get on your velvet armchair.

# Your food container is sacred and we should respect it. Never approach him when he is eating, at that moment and in that place there are no hierarchies and you can take a deserved bite; It will not be because of bad character, it will be by the logic of defending what is yours, as well as taking care of you when you defend yourself from third parties.

# Never give your food, it is not an act of love or equality, you are hurting your body. If you really want, give him only his food. You will live more and better.

# Do not treat him or talk to him like a human. It is not, it does not like it and it does not serve it. He likes to be a dog, to treat him as such. He needs responsible love and not our vices.

# Take it periodically to the veterinarian and never meditate on your own.

# Play a lot with him, make him spend energy, create a bond, share activities and enjoy it. Remember that the only bad thing about dogs is that they live very little.