Training sessions with Dogs - Everything you need to know

Hi everyone! It's me again. When we get a puppy, there's always a huge confusion about the training. Some want to train their dog on their own, and others want to hire a professional trainer. Both of these methods are completely acceptable. It's fun to watch YouTube Videos and teach your dog some tricks, and most of the time it works, but sometimes videos can be faulty. And even though hiring a professional trainer seems like the better thing to do, a lot of the time, your dog will end up listening to the trainer and not you. And when I say TRAINING, I don't mean just sit, stand, or handshake/paw. While those are cute, there are many other things you need to train your dog for. And even though they seem boring, they come in really handy. These are a part of the puppy’s obedience training, which helps them behave better on the leash and so on. 

    Let me tell you a little about my dog Barfi's training sessions first. So, as we were getting a dog for the first time, we decided to hire a trainer. As soon as she came into the house, Barfi's tail started to wag vigorously and he bounded forward to lick her. This happened every time she came. The first command she practiced was the 'sit' command. She told us that we should start with the easier things first and then move on. This way, we slowly graduated to stand, paw, stay, and so on. But we were never regular with Barfi's sessions, and that was the mistake we made. Unless you keep practicing with your dog, they will forget the tricks. Anyways, my dog is the laziest creature in the world, and so he soon got tired of doing the same tricks over and over again, and he would just plop and refuse to do it. We used kibble to encourage him and not other treats, so he probably got bored because of that as well. But, and this is quite interesting, although he got bored of training and didn't do the trick, he would get so excited when we did little things, like take him on walks or play with him. To him, these little joys matter more, and that's so sweet. The way his little tail would thump the ground when we took out his leash, or the way he would run away with his chew toy when we played with him warmed our hearts. Oh, dear. I'm rambling, aren't I? Ok, so let's move on to the things you definitely need when training and the tips and tricks that come very handy when you want to train your dog.

1. HAVE SOME GOOD QUALITY TREATS.

Please don't make the same mistake as me and just use kibble. There are so many amazing treats out there! Your dog will get bored if you just use one. Just don't use rawhide treats. I recommend using chicken and cheese or apple and banana biscuits. 
If your puppy likes fruits ( Mine doesn’t - he literally sniffs them and walks away ) you can use fruits as treats too! You can even make your OWN dog biscuits! And, if your puppy is willing to do tricks for a toy instead of a treat, that's even better.

2. PREP YOUR TRAINING AREA!!!

So, it's quite easy to prep your training area. If you live in a house where your tiles are slippery for your dog, ( The flooring in my house is like that ) then you should put a yoga mat or one of those puzzle piece mats for your dog to sit/stay/stand on. Keep some open space, and greet them in an excited and lively manner so that they are eager to do their training. Positive reinforcement works best with dogs, and so instead of scolding them when they make a mistake, try harder and encourage them to do their best.

YOUR TONE

While this doesn’t seem important, to your dog, your tone matters. Of course, I’m not saying that they require rapt attention ( although dogs tend to get spoiled very easily, my dog has to be fed by hand whenever he refuses to eat his kibble ) but make sure you use a positive and energetic, encouraging tone. Dogs are very perceptive and can make out when you’re sad, happy, upset or angry just by looking at your face. They’re truly magical creatures! Whenever I jump around and go crazy, while others would laugh at me, my dog Barfi goes crazy with me!

PRAISE YOUR PUPPY

I’m no veteran when it comes to dog training, but I’ve found that whenever we praise Barfi and tell him that he’s a very good boy, his tail starts to wag and he instantly starts performing better, eager to please us. If you train your dog with a MARKER WORD ( I’ll explain below ) use that word constantly to tell them that you appreciate what they’re doing! If that doesn’t excite them, entice them with a treat or a toy. They work much better when they know that what they’re doing is making their owners happy!

MARKER WORDS AND CLICKER TRAINING

While the classic method of training, that is, using treats and toys as rewards usually produces good results, humans have come up with other, quite interesting ways to train their dogs. The first is a MARKER WORD. The way this is done is that you choose one word, for example, ‘YES!’ And whenever you say that word to your dog, you give them a treat. Then, they begin to associate the word with the treat, which means that whenever that word is said, it means that what they’re doing is good and is being appreciated. So, when you are training your dog and they do something that you like, use your marker word and let them know that they did well! The second method is called CLICKER TRAINING. This method of training is slightly more popular than the Marker Word method and equally as good. Basically, you buy something called a clicker, which is kind of like a toy except that it makes an attractive ‘click’ sound. Most dogs are attracted to this sound, and, just like the Marker Word, you have to give them treats whenever the click sound is there so they begin to associate the sound with good things. Whenever they do something you like, just make the click sound so they know that they are right. By the way, if your dog is playful and active, you can try using toys instead of treats when applying these training methods. 

PRACTICE

Although dogs have an excellent memory, you can’t expect them to remember every trick they’ve learned just by performing it once. For example, if you read a chapter once, you can’t expect to learn it. You have to practice and revise again and again in order to master it. In the same way, dogs need to practice their tricks so that they can remember them and perform them well. Ideally, you should practice every day, but if you’re busy, just practice twice or thrice in a week! And when I say practice, I don’t mean that you should dedicate 2 or 3 hours to your dog. This hardly takes ten to fifteen minutes on a daily basis and half an hour on a weekly basis! All you need to do is go over the tricks a few times. This way, your time won’t get wasted and you can impress all of your friends with your dogs’ cool tricks!

HAVE FUN

Whether or not you believe it, it’s more important to have fun with your dog when you’re training them than to actually help them master the tricks. It helps you bond with your dog, and you learn about them as much as they learn about you. It’s an amazing journey! It took me several months to convince my parents to get me a dog, and I have written a blog about that too, in case you need help. My mom used to be terrified of dogs. When I say terrified, I mean that she wouldn’t even get into a lift if there was a dog in it! But when sweet little Barfi came and turned our lives upside down, she slowly became accustomed to other dogs as well. And now she quite willingly puts her hand in his mouth to take out something he’s been chewing, allows him to lick her and even plays with other dogs. This way, dogs help you discover sides of yourselves that you’ve never seen before! Quite frankly, getting a dog was one of the best decisions my family made and always will be. 

I’m droning on again! You should see me when I watch dog movies, I cry all the time and become so emotional! Anyways, check out my blog for more tips and tricks. I really hope you enjoyed reading this!

If you have any questions or suggestions, please reach out to me at blissfulbarfi@gmail.com. I would love to help you out!

A/F/F,

Sneha

P.S - Also email me telling me what I should write on my next blog!

Write on - blissfulbarfi@gmail.com