Basic Dog Obedience Training

So you have a cute furry companion who loves to play fetch and go to the dog park. But are they well-behaved? It really doesn’t matter whether your canine is a four-pound Chihuahua or a 104-pound Rottweiler. An untrained dog is an invitation to disaster. And a dog that won’t come when called is always in danger.

As a pet owner, you should be committed to training your dog. So if your adorable companion has the tendency to bark to get your attention or to run away when you call for them, it’s time to do something about ending that poor behavior.

Now for the good news: dogs are easily trained. That’s probably the reason why dogs have long been America’s favorite pet. Despite the fact that they train relatively easily, however, you still have to do the job. One way to make training simple is to get a breed that readily adapts to your lifestyle and that corresponds to what you want in a canine companion. Serious breeders can help you with this decision. They should tell you about their breed’s inherent trainability—advice you should heed before making your final decision.

Rest assured that training does not strip a dog of natural instincts or “joie de vivre.” After all, these are the things that attract people to dogs in the first place. We want you to celebrate the canine spirit, not abuse it.

What training does, however, is structure the dog’s responses, giving you a good companion. Training gives you an animal you can trust, rely on, even flaunt. In fact, it establishes a channel of communication between you and your dog that significantly enhances your mutual respect and friendship.

Every civilized dog should know at least five basic commands: heel, sit, down, stay and come. These commands form the core of the exercises required for a Companion Dog degree in an American Kennel Club Novice Obedience competition. Even if you don’t take your dog beyond these beginning lessons, they are absolutely essential in making every dog a true companion.

Incidentally, you train your dog to understand its name in much the same way you train it to do anything—by simple, repetitive action. As far as the name goes, make sure everyone in the household is using the same name. And, you can teach an older dog a new name, if you must.