If you want to have a happy, healthy dog, one of the best things you can do is start training them as early on as possible. Some people think that this is impossible to do yourself, when in fact, all it takes is a little know how, and most importantly, consistency. Without consistency, your efforts will be wasted. This means you need to get the whole family on board!
Yes, you can train your dog yourself. Here’s how:
Start As Early As You Can
The key to training your dog properly is starting very early on. While it’s never too late to train your dog - Cesar Millan has proven this - you should still start early to get into the best habits and show them that you’re the boss.
Set Ground Rules For The Family
If this is a family dog, every single person in the family needs to be on the same page. If they have people walking them completely differently, e.g. one person letting them walk ahead on the walk while another has them walk to the side, then they are going to get confused. It won’t be their fault if they misbehave. As the saying goes, there are no such things as bad dogs - just bad owners. You can have ground rules such as:
- No feeding off your plate (dogs will beg forever even if you do this once)
- Always eat before the dog
- Step in the house before the dog
You must do all of these things to ensure that your dog knows they are not the leader of the pack. If they get confused, as many do, they will become unhappy. It’s only fair on your dog that you are all consistent.
Know The Right And Wrong Things To Do
There's a right way and a wrong way to make your dog see that you are the dominant one in the relationship. There’s absolutely no need to shout, or hit them. For some reason, many dog owners still believe that this is acceptable. You simply need to have a dominant energy. Yes, you need to make it known that you’re the alpha, but you definitely don’t need to do anything to scare your dog. Why would you want them to be afraid of you?
Master Basic Commands
Before doing anything else, master the basic commands. It can be a long road to getting your dog to learn everything you want them to learn, but it’s so worth it. Your only option if you don’t want to spend a while training a dog from scratch, is to look at ready trained protection dogs. These dogs have been specially trained by experts and are guaranteed to be a great guard dog for your home. However, it’s understandable if you want to train one yourself.
Figure Out What You Want From Your Dog
What do you want from your canine pal? Do you want to go into acting, like others have done? Do you simply want them to protect the house when you’re out? Knowing what you want will make everything easier!
