Teach a dog new tricks

SPRING IS traditionally the season of new beginnings and as the clocks change and the days get longer, now is a great time to head outdoors to teach your dog some new tricks or tackle some of those obedience niggles.

Many dog owners will know that feeling all too well, when your dog won’t come back to you in the park or gets into mischief at home”, says PDSA Vet, Vicki Larkham. ”

Vicki recommends a method which uses rewards for good behaviour as the best way to train your dog. “As well as being effective, ‘reward-based’ training is fun for your dog too and that is the key to success.”

PDSA’s golden training rules:

Make sure that the reward you’re offering is an attractive prospect for your dog: some would do anything for a small piece of a treat, others like a cuddle or a game.

It’s important that you reward your dog as it is exhibiting the good behaviour or within a maximum of a couple of seconds afterwards, otherwise it’s unlikely that the dog will connect the two.

Keep training sessions ‘little and often’ to maintain the fun of the exercise and to avoid you and your dog becoming frustrated.

The key to your dog understanding a new command is repetition. Your dog might not understand immediately, but with the right practice and patience your dog will understand in time.

Some dogs will make mistakes, it’s not their fault and it doesn’t mean they can’t learn the task. So ignore the mistakes and reward them whenever they do get it right.