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Consistency and impulse control are very important. Teaching the dog various cues helps it to understand what it is trying to get it to do. What are some of the most important skills a pet owner can teach his/her dog to make the greatest impact on its success in the home?
#Victoria dog trainer how to
Owners need to understand how to be clear in their communication with their dog – is it allowed on the sofa or not allowed? Pet owners should make learning as easy as possible for their dog. Regardless of breed, drive or problem behavior, you can teach your dog to be successful without punitive techniques.Ĭonsistency is also important, and having the whole family on the same page. However, when you ask that person, ‘Would you use those same techniques on your child?,’ they say, ‘of course not.’ They say, ‘well, the dog is different.’ It is perfectly acceptable for any level of person to use punitive techniques to train their dog. It is a constant battle to undo the popularity of dominance training. I definitely want them to understand that they do not need dominance based skills.
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What are some of the most important skills pet owners can learn that will make the greatest impact on their relationship with their pet? And children who copy what their parents do are getting bitten. When people try dominance-based training that they’ve seen on tv, they are getting bitten and their dogs are becoming more aggressive. If you reward your dog and teach him, then your dog will do behaviors because he wants to and not because he is frightened. Training with force can really damage the relationship and trust between you and your dog. What do you want people to know about the difference between dominance based training and reward-based training? Teaching gives a better understanding that it isn’t any different than teaching a child. Instead, you’re teaching it how to live successfully in your world. The word ‘teaching’ puts more emphasis on not putting your will upon your dog. Inside my new book, however, I talk more about teaching. To make that transition, I still have to make that connection with people by using the word ‘training’. For so long the emphasis in our industry has been on training your dog but I see it more as teaching your dog. I actually just wrote my third book and a lot of it is teaching.
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Do you think of yourself as a trainer or a teacher? I spoke with her afterward about her training philosophy. What I share with her is our passion for positive reinforcement training methods that enhance a dog’s ability to learn while increasing confidence, resulting in a healthy, well-adjusted pet.
#Victoria dog trainer series
When I attended the Association of Pet Dog Trainers conference, I had an opportunity to meet Victoria Stilwell, best known for her role as the star of Animal Planet’s hit TV series It’s Me or the Dog.
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