Teaching obedience commands is a great way to improve your relationship with your dog.
Obedience will teach your dog focus and self-restraint while making him better behaved. Obedience is also a great way to stimulate your dog mentally.
The command gives your dog something to think about rather than a previously typical knee-jerk reaction. They understand that sit means to sit quietly, and heel means be attentive to their handler. Using commands as tools can help a dog focus in situations that were previously tough for him. Through distraction training, dogs learned self-control and confidence. “Self-control,” meaning he can control his actions on his own. Confidence is the result, and then he feels less of a need to bark or act out. A lack of confidence and self-control in dogs tends to develop into a variety of unwanted behaviors. So it is important to make obedience a way of life.
With practice and consistency at home, you should be able to help your dog become a much better member of society.
The use of standard cue words is a basic tool used to get desired behavior from a dog. The following are the standard cue words used at Acme Canine; in addition, we use to suggest an owner’s release word, crate word, and elimination command:
- Off – the dog needs 4 feet on the ground.
- Leave it – the dog needs to get away from item or dog (litter, poop, urine, etc.)
- Wait – the dog is to stop moving forward
- Quiet – dog is to stop barking
- Back – the dog is to back up so another dog can go through the door
- No – the dog is to stop what it is doing and focus on us
Keeping Cues Strong
- To avoid teaching the dog to ignore us, it is most successful to use each cue word only once and enforce the cue given.
- Use verbal praise and brief pats to reward dogs for proper responses to cues.
- Praise the dog when they respond to your cue. Remain patient and be consistent.
Have you and your dog already had obedience lessons?
Try taking him off-leash! Teaching off-leash obedience is a very challenging yet rewarding way to spend time with your dog. Interested, but not sure how to do this? Acme Canine can help you out!