Whether you’ve just adopted a puppy or an adult dog, or you’ve had a dog in your family for years, here are 10 great reasons to train your pooch now:
It’s that time again when the new year stretches out shiny, new and full of promise. January also happens to be the APDT’s second annual National Train Your Dog Month (TYDM), which is a wonderful coincidence because training your dog the positive way promises to yield happy results for you and your pooch.
Whether you have a newly adopted dog, a bouncing –off-the-walls adolescent dog, or a senior dog, ongoing positive training is essential for polite doggy behavior. Teach your new dog good manners from the get go, polish up Rover’s rusty recalls and other important behaviors, take a class, or train your dog to do a snazzy trick.
Reward-based training is easy and fun for you and your dog. And that’s not all. It builds doggy confidence, ensures that your dog will engage more often in behaviors you like, gives her mental exercise and helps prevent boredom.
Love your dog? Then train him!
Who cares if your dog is bored? Well, it’s a good bet that your dog does. Being perpetually bored is no way for a critter to live. (I don’t know about you, but boredom drives me positively bonkers.) Aside from the fact that boredom is a serious drag, a bored doggy is very likely to get into mischief like chewing up your stuff, digging in your houseplants, or barking all the time.
Problem behavior that could have been prevented or resolved through positive training is one of the leading causes of dogs losing their homes and ending up in shelters. If you love your dog – and I know you do – and you want a long happy life together, a lifetime of positive training is one of the best gifts you can give her and yourself.
Check out the TYDM website for free training tips or to enter this year’s Photo/Video contest. And check out my blog for upcoming posts on useful and cool stuff you can teach your dog.
Happy New Year! Happy Training!
I’ve been off the web for a little while. As much as I love blogging about dogs and dog training, major taxing life events have interrupted. Now that I have a little more time on my hands, writing feels like a task I’m not quite prepared for. The ideas don’t flow like they used to when I was blogging regularly. Sentences feel awkward and strained. The words on the screen don’t seem to fully capture what I want to say. . . I’m rusty.
You may be wondering what any of this has to do with dog training. Good question. Continue Reading