Is Dog Obedience Training The Solution?

Obedience training is very important, but it’s not the key to having a well-behaved dog. If your dog is chewing on things, barking, whining, jumping on people, digging, peeing on the floor, or exhibiting other unwanted behaviors, simply teaching them not to do these things may not work – because their behavior may be being triggered by something.

Sometimes your dog’s behavior problem is much deeper. For example, a dog that chews on furniture may be doing it because they have a gum disease, causing their teeth to hurt. Or it could be a teething puppy. Some trainers may suggest teaching obedience training commands to stop them every time you see them chewing, but will that really solve the problem? No. To solve the problem you need to solve the actual issue, by taking them to the vet for the gum disease, or buying special teething toys for your puppy.

Or let’s say your dog is aggressive toward people or other dogs. You can teach them to back off when they are about to lunge, but this does nothing toward solving the actual issue. Your dog may have serious issues causing the aggression, and simply dealing with the ’symptoms’ does nothing toward solving the problem.

What is the solution? Well, the most important thing is to make sure you take your dog to the veterinarian on a regular basis. You should especially take them in if they have a sudden change in behavior. The bad behavior may be caused by a medical problem.

Read up on dog psychology. It’ll really help. You’ll have the ability to understand how your dog is communicating with you. Since stress and anxiety are major causes of behavior problems, it’s very helpful to be able to read your dog’s body language and know when there’s something wrong.

Dog obedience training is still important, it’s just not the only thing you need. Identify and solve the true cause of the problem. Don’t always resort to punishment. Dogs need rewards and praise.

Don’t give up on your dog. Bad behavior can be fixed with the right attitude and the right techniques. In the US alone, more than 9 million dogs are put to sleep each year. 65% of those are being killed because of behavior problems. Your dog doesn’t deserve to be one of them. He/she can be trained. If you don’t think you can do it on your own, get some help from a qualified dog behaviorist.

Thanks for reading! Now go get more great dog obedience training tips and tricks at http://www.DogBehaviorExpert.com