Want the answer to a better behaved, more reliable dog?
Trick him.
I mean it. Do this and you will have a fantastically well behaved dog that responds to commands reliably.
Why trick your dog?
Training your dog to learn ‘tricks’ is fun in and of itself. But training your dog to learn tricks for
tricks sake, say for example; training your dog to grab a drink can from the refrigerator may not be a ‘necessary’ task for the dog (or human) but what it will do for you and your dog IS really remarkable.
Remarkable? Sure. Here’s why. In my example where you train a dog to grab a soft drink from the refrigerator you’re really training more than one thing. The dog is learning many things and you are probably going to be more interested, motivated and engaged in training when the outcome is not only practical but has a fun/show it to friends component. Right?
Who wouldn’t want to show every friend/relative/Facebook friend a video of their (previously un-trainable dog) going to fetch a drink from the fridge-on command and bringing it back! how cool is that!! Isn’t training your dog to that more motivating than say, just teaching your dog to ‘come’??
But wait! You get more….
Training your dog to do something fun, as in the above example is so fantastic for you, your dog and your dogs trust and relationship with you because..
You’re not training one behavior!
By properly training your dog to grab a drink from the refrigerator your dog is being trained for MANY things:
1) GO TO- teaching your dog to go to a named object or place (go to door, car etc…)
2) PULL- pull open the door (refrigerator, inside door, drawer, tug toy)
3) OBJECT- getting a specific object like a can of juice, soda or anything
4) RETRIEVE- Bringing back to you (think ‘come’ command with object. Bring keys to me…)
5) PUSH- When I trained my dog to grab a can of PEPSI I trained her to go back and push shut the refrigerator door.
6) BONDING- Training in this way is more fun, motivating and increases the trust and bond with our dogs.. How happy are you when your dog sits vs. when your dog can grab you a cold one from the fridge and bring it back to you… My guess is you’ll be as thrilled as i was and my dog was the recipient of all that excited-ness and praise.. not once, but every time i showed this to every visitor to my home..