House Breaking Puppies, Crate Training A Dog
The 5 Most Common Dog House Training Mistakes
There are 5 mistakes that most dog owners make when attempting to house train their dog. Each one of these mistakes can quickly lead to strained relationships between the dog and the owner, and the owner and their friends and family.
If a dog owner makes any of these mistakes, it isn't the end of the world. It will, however, slow progress in house training and may actually hurt the relationship between a dog and their owner. Every one of these mistakes are very common and are usually caused by the onset of frustration on the part of the owner. It is a very stressful job to train a dog to become house broken, and without patience and the right guidance, even the best dog trainers can find themselves making these.
If you are attempting to train your dog, you should be on the lookout for any one of these mistakes, whether it be by yourself or one of your family members. Usually, when you find that you are making these mistakes, all you have to do is stop doing them. There is no retroactive actions you have to take to "undo" your missteps. That being said, here are the five most common mistakes dog owners make when attempting to house train their dogs:
By far the most common mistake is yelling at your dog. It's easy to feel as if the dog is not listening to your commands, and when frustration sets in, it's only natural for us to yell. The truth is that yelling only escalates the tension between the owner and the dog, leading to a harder time the dog owner will have when attempting to train their dog, both for house training and other obedience situations.
Punishing a dog is the second most common mistake that many dog owners make. This is more common than owners like to think, and some owners don't even realize that they're punishing the poor pet for making a mistake.
Punishment can range from rubbing the dog's face in their mistake to taking a toy away all the way to hitting or chastising the dog. While this may seem like the right thing to do in order to get the point across that the dog has done something wrong, the truth is that they know they did something wrong. If you follow the standard housebreaking techniques, they know. They just committed an accident. They already feel bad for committing the mistake, and by punishing them, the owner is once again straining the relationship, breaking the bonds they have forged over the time they've lived with the dog, and making the path to successful house breaking very bumpy.
The third most common house breaking mistake is one that isn't as obvious as the first 2, yet it is the hardest one to overcome. Inconsistency is something that can quickly sabotage any kind of progress that has been made up until this point. If you think about it, the dog is trying to learn a new, foreign skill in a foreign language. If the dog owner isn't consistent with their housetraining efforts, then how can they expect the dog to do the same?
The last 2 mistakes are technical mistakes that are relatively common. They're more focused on the actual training aspect of house training. First, any dog training session or house training session that lasts any longer than 15 minutes is a waste of time. The dog cannot focus on anything for any longer than 15 minutes, and requiring that of them will only fatigue the dog. After 15 minutes, the dog's learning curve shoots steeply downward.
Finally, a lot of dog owners don't realize this, but if you don't crate train your dog first, you will have a much tougher time attempting to house train your dog. Crate training is the easiest and simplest training you can attempt with your dog, and by crate training first, you will be able to leave the dog for longer periods of time like to go to work without having to worry about the dog ruining your carpet.
Discover more useful tips on how to quickly train your dog to listen to anything you say.
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| By Cary Benjamin Published: 1/29/2009 |
