Many dog owners dream of owning a well-trained dog or puppy because it makes their life easier but training your dog is easy if you know the proper method.
Through the help of supportive encouragement and proper training the dog would easily understand and absorb what behaviors are good and bad. Along the dog’s training years, mistakes and bad behaviors are expected so you need to learn how to properly discipline your dog to help them behave.
The great thing about dogs is that they have the innate intelligence to quickly learn the behaviors taught in their trainings. In training your dog to make them obey basic and simple commands, disciplining them is a part of so research on it ahead of time to make it easier for you.
The discussion below shows that it is possible to train your dog without punishing them because punishments can ruin the bond between owners and their beloved dogs.
How to discipline a dog without punishment
A dog who is disciplined can be considered as a lucky dog because they would never experience any increased in tone, anger, or violence from their owner since they are well-behaved.
Changes in tone, anger, and violence may seem insignificant but to dogs, they have the ability to feel these changes in your emotions. If the dog thinks that you are in a bad mood because of them, it can demoralize them from their training, so they do not want to train anymore.
Keep in mind that the purpose and goal of training your dog is to train to obey their owners because of trust and not out of fear. Even if dogs are gifted with intelligent, physical punishments used on dogs are a hard to apply that the dog would understand the message of the punishment.
It is important for dog owners and trainers to know what the right methods are in punishing the dog for a bad behavior. Below are the correct ways to discipline the dog without using any punishment.
Scruff shake
If you really need to discipline the dog or puppy for the bad action that they have done to prevent them from repeating the same bad behavior, your can try a scruff shake. The scruff shake is done by grabbing the pooch or dog’s fur under its ear on its neck and then shake it.
As you grab this area of their body, it is advisable to do the scruff shake in a brief yet brisk manner. It is better if you caught the dog in the act of doing the bad behavior and immediately give them a scruff shake. The shake will surprise them so they would start to understand that their action was the cause of the scruff shake.
The scruff shake is not painful to the dog, but it helps them understand their mistakes and bad behaviors, so it is an effective form of discipline without the use of punishment.
Distract
Distracting your dog is a good way to get their attention and stop them from doing the bad behavior. A good way to distract your dog or puppy is through making a brash noise such as slapping the table, shaking a container that has pennies or another noisy thing inside, and even yelling.
Making a loud noise would surprise and startle your dog so they would start to divert their attention to you instead of continuing their bad behavior. However, as you try to distract your dog, try to avoid methods that can physically hurt them so choose a diversion tactic that is related to loud noises. Dogs have a good sense of hearing so a brash noise can easily capture their attention.
Isolation
It is a known fact that dogs like to have the attention and love of their owners, so isolation is an effective form of discipline to them. The moment you caught your puppy doing something bad, tell them no and try to stop them, after that ignore them completely.
Since you are not socializing and playing with them, it would help them understand that their earlier behavior is bad so they would try to avoid it next time. It can be hard to not play with a cute puppy, but you need to stary strong to help them understand that their actions have been bad.
Put-down
The moment you caught a dog in the act of doing something bad, rush over and stop them by pushing them over but make sure that you do not hurt them. As you put them down, make sure that you are gentle enough that it would not cause them any pain.
A good way to put them down is through their side or onto their back by leaning on the pup or their pooch. Such reinforcement would prove to your dog who is the dominant one so they would start following your instructions and commands during training.
Sit command
After you say no to your dog for their bad behavior, immediately command them to sit down so that it would divert their attention somewhere else. As the dog follow your command, they would start to forget the initial thing they are doing so you stopped them from doing the bad behavior. Sit is one of the basic commands during dog training so it can easily be learned by your dog.
Squirt bottles
Say no to your dog then immediately squirt the with a water bottle so that they remember the bad action which needs to be avoided. However, try to observe your dog’s action in this type of discipline because they may think it’s a game.
Time out
Time out has the same concept with ignoring your dog because stop from giving the attention and putting them in a separate room. After separating your dog it helps them forget the bad thing they are doing, and they start to associate the action as a negative behavior. This type of discipline is effective to dogs that has other fur friends.
Be consistent
In whatever form of discipline you choose it is important to be consistent and stick to your chosen discipline method. Constantly changing your discipline method can confuse the dog during their training years.
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