At Home Dog Training – How to Do It Successfully!

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At Home Dog Training - How to Do It Successfully!

Teaching Dogs New Tricks: Dogs are really man’s best friend as they’re the jolly and affectionate kinds of pets. Having a dog would be even more fun and beneficial when you know the steps and tips for at-home dog training.

Allowing your dog to do anything it wants in the home may cause some problems, especially if you would have to leave your dog at home alone. Coming home to a house which has been messed up by your pet dog would be frustrating.

You do not have to spend so much on obedience schools for dogs, especially if you would just like your dog to learn the basic rules of the house as well as some tricks for fun! A well-trained dog – even if it has been trained at home, by you – would be a lot easier to take care of.

Enjoying time with your dog while doing at home dog training would enhance your relationship with your pet and improve its health as well. Read on to learn about basic strategies and guides when training your dog at home!

Be Prepared to Train Your Dog

Training your dog at home is quite a task and the first thing you’d have to do is prepare yourself for it. You can`t start to teach your pup only to get frustrated in the middle of it and stopping cold turkey. Training a dog needs a lot of love, patience, and preparation. Below are a few tips to help you get ready to train your new dog.

  • When finding a dog to bring home, make sure it fits your lifestyle. Bringing home a big breed of dog when you have limited space would not be ideal nor would choose a very active breed of dog when you have a sedentary lifestyle. Be wise in choosing the type of dog.
  • When naming your new dog, go for a name which is easy to pronounce and distinctly unique from the usual conversation so your dog knows you’re referring to him when during training.
  • Commit yourself mentally and psychologically to training your dog and make sure to set aside some time each day for training.
  • Have the proper information and equipment for training your dog.

Some helpful training tools to have on hand would be a collar and leash, treats, chew toys, balls, and other interactive toys.

What are the Basic Things Your Dog Needs to Learn?

When you have a new dog in your home and you’d like to start at home dog training, it would be best to start with the basic things your dog would have to learn. The basics would include everything your dog would need to learn to do so it can live in your home well and follow the rules to make it a lot easier for you to co-exist.

Set a Daily Routine for Your Dog

Setting a routine for your dog is the first step while training a dog at home. Once your dog gets used to doing the same thing over and over again, it will begin to get used to what goes on with your house and will be a lot easier to train.Set a Daily Routine for Your Dog

Toilet Training Your Dog

Whether your dog spends all its time indoors or it spends its time both indoors and outdoors, toilet training your dog is one of the most basic things to teach at in at home to a dog.

Toilet training a dog requires tons of patience as a lot of trial and error is involved in the process. The first thing to remember is to start as early as possible – when your dog is around 3-4 months when it is already able to control its bowel and bladder movements.Toilet Training Your Dog

Here are a few tips to help you out:

  • In the beginning, it would be helpful to place your puppy in a rather small area so it won’t be making a mess everywhere in the house.
  • Remember to feed your puppy regularly especially when you are toilet training.
  • Take out your puppy regularly to offer it chances to “do its business.” In the beginning, you’d probably have to do this every hour or half-hour, every morning, after meals and after naps.
  • Take your puppy to the same spot outside each and every time so it gets used to that particular area. Also, make sure to be with your puppy until it has done its business.
  • Reward your puppy with praise every time it does its duty in the place you’re training it to.
  • When your puppy gets used to doing its business outside, you can expand its space gradually until it’s ready to be set loose around the house.

Leaving Your Dog Alone at Home

Leaving Your Dog Alone at Home

Having a dog would mean that at some point, you’d be leaving it home alone, when you’d have to go to work, or for longer periods of time, like when you have to go out of town. In cases like these, you’d have to feel secure enough knowing that you can leave your dog alone without having to worry that you will come home to a house in ruins. Here are a few guidelines you can use:

  • From the beginning of training, make sure to create moments of quiet for your dog as a part of its daily routine.
  • Teach your puppy to amuse itself with a chew toy while you are away by teaching him to calm down and amuse itself with a chew toy while you are around.
  • While playing with your puppy, train it to calm down for short, frequent moments at a time, as interruptions during your playtime. Say a key phrase like “shush” or “settle down” then let your puppy lie down for a few seconds. Do this frequently while gradually lengthening the time you let it lie down and remember to always reward your puppy for good behavior so the training will stick. 

Learning Basic Commands

Now that you know the most basic of things your dog would need to know to be able to live in your home, let’s move on to the basic and most common commands to teach your dog obedience as part of at-home dog training. Training your dog to respond to one-word commands and follow them can be a blast with a positive attitude and again, lots of patience.

Sit

  • Have a treat ready and hold it right in front of your dog’s nose.
  • Slowly raise your hand higher, which would make its head move up with the treat, making his lower half and bottom go down.
  • As soon as it reaches the sitting position, say the command “sit” and give your dog the well-deserved treat.

Stay

  • Once your dog has mastered the “sit” command, you can ask it to sit.
  • Hold your palm in front of your dog and say, “stay.”
  • Slowly step back a few steps and if it stays, reward your dog with a treat.
  • You can increase the number of steps you take away from your dog little by little before giving the treats.

Come or Heel

  • For this command, you’d have to put a leash on your dog’s collar.
  • Get down to his eye level, lightly pull the leash and say the command, “come” or “heel.”
  • If your dog comes to you, reward it with a treat.

Leave It

  • Hold a treat in both your hands and show it to your dog.
  • Close one of your hands into a fist and say the command, “leave it.”
  • Allow your dog to smell, lick and try its best to get the treat but ignore what it’s doing. When your dog stops trying to get the treat, give it the treat from your open hand.
  • Keep on doing this until your dog obeys the command and moves away from your closed fist.
  • Finally, only reward your dog with the treat if he follows the command then looks into your eyes.

Down or Drop

  • Hold a fragrant treat in your closed fist
  • Then hold your fist to your dog’s nose and when he smells it, slowly lower your hand to the floor so that your dog follows it down.
  • Slide your fist forward so he follows it and his whole body will lower along with his head.
  • As soon as he’s in position, say the command “down” or “drop” then give your dog the treat.

Remember that it takes a lot of tolerance, persistence, and repetition for puppies or dogs to learn these basic commands. Don’t worry if your dog doesn’t learn these right away, just keep rewarding good and correct behavior with lots of treats and affection and you’re sure to see results!

Most Useful and Practical Training Tips

You’re almost there! Training a dog at home needs a lot of endurance from you and the right information will surely help you out a lot. Here are some of the best training tips, put together for your advantage and convenience!

  1. Make sure you and your dog are in the right mood and temperament before starting your daily training sessions.
  2. Only use a short time for your training sessions daily to keep your puppy interested.
  3. Make use of small treats and but be generous with giving affection when training your dog and remember to give the rewards at once.
  4. When teaching commands, say the command only once for it to stick.
  5. Be consistent when training your dog – don’t vary your training techniques.
  6. Give the proper nourishment to your dog to keep it healthy and more willing to be trained.
  7. Allow your dog enough playtime and exercise to keep it happy and more obedient.
  8. A good time to train your dog is before mealtime and tries to keep distractions to a minimum so your dog will remember training better.
  9. Be realistic and if you get frustrated, don’t take it out on your dog by getting angry. Remember that dogs need a lot of love and tolerance.
  10. For more difficult tricks and tasks, use better treats instead of the small ones.
  11. If you see that your dog is not in the mood to be trained, don’t force it. Schedule another time to train within the day.
  12. Keep in mind that you should end training sessions on a happy note to keep your dog willing to participate in the next ones.

Conclusion – It’s Time to Train Your New Pet!

Conclusion - It's Time to Train Your New Pet!

As previously stated, at home dog training entails having to make preparations and take lots of steps to do it successfully. Your willingness to train your dog will be one of the biggest factors in being able to do it well.

Dogs are sensitive animals and if they feel frustration and anger from you as you try to train them, they probably won’t learn anything from you. On the other hand, if you show your dog patience and genuine love and affection, your dog may surprise you and learn these tricks faster.

Now that you have the basic information needed to train your dog at home, you can start preparing and getting your self excited with training your new addition. You can also share this information with everyone in your household so everyone knows what to do, even if you’re not around.

At home dog training can be a fun and fulfilling experience. So good luck and have a great time training your dog to learn new tricks!