Be generous with the treat or toy rewards, especially at the beginning.

With that said, don’t overestimate how much praise means to your pet. (It’s great when your boss says “Good job,” but you also want that more tangible reward — your paycheck.) So, be generous with the treat or toy rewards, especially at the beginning. Once your dog learns a behavior, you can adjust the reward schedule, but you’ll want to keep rewarding him periodically for a job well done.

Seek help from a qualified professional for challenging behaviors. Dogs are complex beings and may exhibit behaviors that are beyond the scope of the average person to change. For more information on how to find a qualified professional to address a specific challenging behavior, read the article “Pet Behavior Help: Trainers, Behaviorists and Vets,” available at bestfriends.org/ resources.

What not to do

And now for those things we need to focus on not doing:

Don’t have your training sessions go longer than 20 minutes. Most dogs do best with training sessions of 10-15 minutes, so keep them short. Even five minutes of training can be very effective, especially if you are able to do it multiple times per day. Don’t start training someplace with a lot of distractions. Like people, dogs learn more effectively if they aren’t distracted by a busy, noisy environment. For example, if