Before we went to school to learn, we are nurtured with examples and training, if you may call it, by our parents or guardians perhaps. Through these examples and training, we learn to be obedient and thus we learn to do things on our own. Same is true with Training your dog, it will all begin with Dog Obedience.

So what is Dog Obedience?

It is actually the first step in dog Training wherein you get to relate with your dog in establishing a foundation of mutual learning for both of you. You’ll be teaching him some tricks and commands and in turn, he’ll be teaching you the value of persistence and consistency, since you’ll be spending hours in training your dog.

There are actually two common types as to dog obedience training, and these two are the leash plus collar training and the other, the reward training. I’d like to describe the leash plus collar training as a physical training style, wherein you’ll be able to control your dog using the said tools. As for the reward training, it’s a psychological training style because you’ll be teaching your dog that doing commands and tricks comes with a reward, and in turn he’ll be able to relate those two.

Both types have its pros and cons, but surely it would be better if you mix the two up to make it even more effective. For example, you may always reward your dog for a job well done even if he’s on a leash. After some time, your dog may even be controlled enough that you wouldn’t need to use a leash no more. Always remember that tools such as the leash come and go, what’s important is your dedication to teaching your dog.

Done with Obedience Training, step it up!

Now that you and your dog have built a foundation of continued learning from each other, reinforced by your dog’s obedience towards you, you can now start teaching him commands and tricks as you like.

Though it’s a no-brainer that you need to start on easier tricks then move up to more complicated ones, you may opt to start the other way around. But this isn’t recommended though since it’s in the basic tricks and commands that the dog can use what he currently knows to breeze through the complicated tricks.

With enough dedication and persistence in dog training, I’m sure you’ll enjoy ordering your dogs to do some tricks in no time!