The reasons why training may not bring the desired results or take longer are many and vary depending on the occasion.
Lack of consistency, lack of patience, haste to reach the desired results, wrong training method and more. Every case is unique. Any of the aforementioned may be at play or a combination.
Most of the time, dog owners or inexperienced trainers, do not know basic steps that should be taken before training begins. This is why training does not bring the desired results. They usually start training by putting on a leash, charging the clicker for a few sessions and right away start training the commands.
This approach is wrong. Because it overrides basic and necessary steps. It is like starting to count from one and go to five instead of going to two, then three, then four and then five.
As with everything else in life, in order for training to succeed it needs consistency, patience, persistence and the appropriate means. Training has to have sound basis, without it training cannot produce the desired results.
In order to have sound basis , we need to devote time to B.E.D.F before staring straining. Every letter, is a step. B. is step one, E. is step two and so on. “B” stands for Bond, “E” for Engagement, “D” for Drive and “F” for Focus.
Before you start working on the basic training commands like “sit”, “down”, “stay” etc, make sure you have check-marked all four.
Bond
First, make sure you have a good relationship and strong bond with the dog you are going to train. To love, take care of and take the dog out for walks is only a small part of bonding . You need to spend quality time alone without distractions with the dog, learn to correctly read the dog and allow the dog to learn to correctly read you.
Engagement
Before you start teaching the dog commands, you must work on engagement. The dog will learn that all good things in life, treats, toys, hugs, come from you, his owner. During this stage of training the dog will learn to ignore his environment – dogs, other humans, distractions- because he knows that you are by far more interesting than anything else.
Drive
It is very important to build the dog’s drives. Because the higher the drives the easier it becomes to motivate the dog and reward becomes more valuable. Just because the dog eats treats and chases the ball, does not mean he has high drives. There is a big difference between a dog that plays with the ball and a dog that is crazy about the ball and will do anything to get it. We share a small extract from our on-line training courses video for you to see the difference. As you will see, Solo has his full weight and maybe a little more. He has not missed food and he is not offered some special treat. However , knowing he will get his regular treat makes him so excited he is drooling.
Focus
Focus because this way you reinforce engagement and in case the dog gets distracted, you have a command to turn the dog’s attention back to you. Focus and engagement are very important. Because teaching a dog that gets easily distracted and is not interested in being with you, is impossible.
Wishing you successful training sessions! Subscribe for more content like this.
Leave a Reply