Training your dog correctly is very important, but many owners send their dogs mixed signals, and then wonder why their pooch is not responding. These are the six biggest mistakes made by dog owners, some are easily avoided simply by choosing ones words or actions more carefully to ensure your communication is understood.
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When training it is important to ask for a result and when you do not get the desired result, ask again, and enforce that the correct result is given, but often with these mistakes, people ask for either two things, or the wrong thing, and nothing is enforced. So the dog is either confused or not made to do what you really asked it to do.
- "Sit Down". This is a huge error made by both, dog owners and their friends. People who are used to speaking to people, rather than dogs, will say "sit down", giving two commands when one will do. Typically they want the dog to sit, but have also told it to down. Down correctly means to lay on the ground. If you want the dog to sit, the command is just "Sit".
- "Get Down". This is another error that occurs when a dog jumps up on a person and they want it to get off them. They should say "OFF", but instead command "get down", and then are satisfied when the dog merely gets off them. This is an instance where the dog is not enforced to do what you actually asked it to do, which was "down".
- Putting their nose in it. A housebreaking training error. This does not teach the dog not to mess in the house, occasionally people have reported this only results in the dog eating its' own excrement. Better training is the solution, watching the dog constantly when it is in the house and making sure it gets outdoors as soon as it starts looking for a place to go to the bathroom, typically indicated when the dog walks in circles and sniffs the floor.
- Letting the dog think it is the boss. A huge error that is far more serious when you are dealing with a large breed, or potentially dangerous breed of dog. Games of tug of war, for example, should never be played with this type of dog, if they win even once, they know they can beat you and this is something you never want your dog to think. Avoiding these kinds of games is the best solution so you do not confuse your dog about who is the boss.
- Punishing the dog for human error. Many negative behaviors are the result of human error. Digging for example, is usually the result of a dog being bored, it is looking for something to do, and digging is a good activity. This confuses the dog because you are punishing it for something when you haven't given it the ability to do something else. More mental stimulation and a variety of toys are a good fix for this.
- Not allowing your dog to learn. One of the most important things that dogs learn at obedience lessons is socialization. They learn this best simply by being around other dogs of all shapes and sizes. Sadly this is a step often missed by owners of small dogs. I have attended dog lessons where people bring small dogs for one session, then scoop the dog up because they think it is scared, thus sheltering it, and usually not returning for another lesson. Eventually the dog begins to think all other dogs are bad. Generally these dogs are kept protected from any and all situations, as such they often become nervous around other people too. These sheltered dogs have many social problems later in life. As such I do believe the most important thing any owner can do for their dog is to expose it to a lot of different situations, and especially dog obedience classes.
