I know that you do not want your dog to end in the proverbial cage. And no dog wants to be there, too. Dogs are loving animals characterized by their constant need for attention and craving to please their masters. As pack animals, dogs feel a sense of completeness and fulfillment if they have pleased the master of the pack. And you, as the dog owner, are what they see as their pack's leader so you are responsible for training dogs, too.

So many people make the mistake of yelling at their dogs and hurting them. As a dog owner, the first thing you must realize is that hurting your pet will not result in the trained dog that you want. So let us all do away with the sanction type of behavior modification.

The best time to start dog training is when it is still young, that is, it is still a puppy. Postponing the puppy training, believing that puppies cannot understand training just yet, is a simple mistake that results to huge unwanted behavior. Later on, dog owners will realize that the puppy is growing and has developed a stubborn behavior. The puppy won't cooperate anymore and its behavior, which it has become used too, is just a horrible experience to the entire household.

Another dog training mistake a dog trainer or dog owners do is tolerance and not paying the attention required to their dogs. If you see your dog munching on your slippers, you have to immediately tell it that what it's doing is unacceptable. Tolerance, just like with humans, is a prelude to acceptance. It is an indication that a certain behavior is considered as a norm and not destructive. It is wrong for dog owners to assume that dogs will later understand what is wrong or what is right. Training and letting dogs know what is unacceptable or not should start at the very onset of the action or behavior.

As I mentioned, dogs like pleasing their masters. During dog training, whenever your dog does something good, you must let it associate that action with good feelings or emotions. Many dog owners and trainers do this by offering treats. This is not bad and this is highly suggested since dogs like food. In the absence of food, the kind of reward that you can offer is praise. Dogs like high-strung voices that signify praises. Right after a dog does something acceptable, praise it immediately, pat its back, or cuddle it. The dog will then associate its actions with the good emotion it felt.

Never make the mistake of neglecting good behavior. If a dog does something good and was left unrewarded, the dog may not do it anymore. This is very integral to training puppies as the early stages of a dog's life are significant in training.

I think the last I want to include here is mis-rewarding your dog, if there is such a word. Sometimes, owners just cannot get past the idea that their dog is cute when it does unacceptable things like begging for food. So what they do is to give their dog a scrap. This is a big mistake because you just let your dog know that what it did-begging-is acceptable and resulted to the very thing it wanted-food.

To avoid this from happening, you must let your household know what you want to dog to learn. Training a dog is a collaborative effort. Therefore, the goal should be shared by the family much like the family does if there is a new baby at home.

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