There are nearly as many methods of training a dog as there are dog trainers. The difference is that some methods work and some do not. Some accomplish the task of teaching the dog basic commands but not the overall goal of increasing the bond and trust between human and animal. In recent years there has been a shift in dog training. This shift has been away from the old-school heavy-handed approaches and toward an approach that relies on positive reinforcement, trust and working with the natural instincts and drives of your pet.
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Why Train
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Training provides many benefits for you and your dog.
For the dog guardian, training provides you with confidence in your ability to keep your pet safe and under your control in any situation. It also provides you with confidence in your dog and how he will react no matter what the circumstances.
If training is done properly, it will produce a happy, friendly, outgoing dog who is socialized to adults, children and other animals.
Positive Reinforcement Training
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Positive reinforcement training is a generic term that is incorporated into many other and more formal programs and methods of teaching people to work with their pets and pets to follow their guardians' commands.
Positive reinforcement training relies on praise and rewards when your dog does something right rather than punishment or correction when your dog does something wrong. Like people, different dogs find different actions rewarding. For some dogs, the proper reward is a special food. For others it might be a toy or simply a pat and a word of praise. Finding the right reward for motivating your dog is the key to success using positive reinforcement training.
Clicker Training
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Clicker training is one of the most popular forms of positive reinforcement training today. Developed by animal behaviorist Karen Pryer, the system relies on operant conditioning, which simply means an animal tends to repeat an action that has positive consequences.
Trainers provide positive reinforcement following a behavior by the dog that they wish to see her repeat. The trainer uses the click to "mark" the good behavior. The dog learns to associate the "click" with positive rewards.
The training begins by teaching the dog to associate the "click" with a treat he finds especially scrumptious.
Lure Training
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Lure training is another form of positive reinforcement training. This type of training uses something the dog finds attractive, such as a toy or treat, to teach her commands. As the dog learns, the lure is gradually taken away from the training. Hand signals are used in this type of training as well. Lure training is especially successful for dogs who have not done well with other methods, for puppies and for sensitive, timid, aggressive and otherwise difficult dogs.
'Dog Whisperer' Training Approach
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The Dog Whisperer training approach is the most popular style of training today that doesn't rely on positive reinforcement. While Cesar Millan has become a celebrity for his techniques, they remain controversial at best. The techniques have been called "inhumane, outdated and improper" by American Humane, which has asked National Geographic to stop airing the program. The methods have also been criticized by other animal welfare and animal health organizations, including the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior.
Millan's training techniques focus on rules, boundaries, limitations and pack leadership. Criticisms focus on alpha roles, flooding, leash corrections and choke collars.
Koehler Method
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The Koehler Method of training is an older style of training. It is probably today's second most-popular method of training that doesn't incorporate positive reinforcement. The Koehler Method was developed by William Koehler and places an emphasis on compulsion and physical correction. Many of its techniques are not recommended by the American Dog Trainers Network.
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