Most dog owners want their dogs to be very obedient to their commands and this is why we are conducting a detailed review on the dog training techniques presented in the program, SitStayFetch. They claim by using the methods presented in the program that it will stop your dog's behavior problems. I will be evaluating how well their tips work by testing them on my German Shepherd dog, Bear.
Bear is the perfect candidate to test their techniques on because he currently has no training and he is a young pup, around 8 months old. I will start off teaching him the 'come' command because this is his biggest problem right now. Bear's favorite thing to do is run along the fence, which happens to be in my garden, playing tag with the dog next door. This of course does not make me happy because he is destroying my beautiful garden. When I see him doing this, I call out to him with a 'Bear. .
.come. . .' command. Upon hearing me, he stops for a brief moment, glances back at me and then proceeds with his running and playing.
I then become very aggravated at my dog for not listening to me and repeat the come command with a louder yelling voice. Bear will then entirely ignore me and go on with his business of playing tag with his friend inside my garden. By this time, I lose my patience and go grab him by the collar and make him come inside, all the while yelling at him for not listening to me. I later found out that I was approaching training Bear the come command all wrong, because SitStayFetch teaches us that dogs think and behave differently than humans. SitStayFetch also teaches us how to properly use the command and they explain why doing it they way they teach works.
What exactly does SitStayFetch teach us about training our dogs to be obedient to our commands? They teach us that when we discipline our dog for not doing what we want, our dog is learning that the command is bad and they should not listen to it. So, if we give our dog the command, come, and then yell at him for not listening, the dog will relate that command to bad things and will not do what you want. You see, dogs learn from positive reinforcement. By getting mad and giving your dog a command, he thinks that command means he is in trouble and will avoid it whereas we think that the dog will learn that his actions were bad and will learn to do it right. SitStayFetch informs us that if we want our dogs to listen to us, we need to use positive reinforcement that rewards our dogs and teaches them by performing the command good things will happen. If I want my dog to listen and obey the command, come, I need to use positive reinforcement so my dog learns that the command means good things will happen and that he should listen to the command.
I also need to stop using the negative reinforcement of yelling and getting mad at my dog for not listening. To accomplish this, SitStayFetch has several great tips for us to learn from, but I will address the 3 tips I believe are the most important. One: Get some treats that your dog will enjoy. You can try cheese, hotdogs, and dog treats. I use Cheetos for Bear because they are his favorite food. Two: Make sure your voice is upbeat and happy when you give your dog the command.
Three: Make sure you have a long leash handy which will help reinforce exactly what the command means for your dog. So with my new tips in hand I put Bear on my 15 foot leash and let him go outside. The results. . . At first Bear did not respond because he had been preprogrammed by me that the command 'come' was bad.
So I initially had to say "Bear. . .Come. . .
", and real him in to me, using the leash, while saying, "Good Boy Bear. . . Good Come. .
." in a very cheery voice, and then giving him a piece of a hot dog. Boy was he excited over that! Then I repeated this by letting him play with his neighbor dog friend and then saying "Bear. . .Come.
. .", reeled him in while giving him praise and a nice treat. It was not long that Bear soon realized when I said "Bear.
. .Come" that he was going to get praise and treats and would come running on command.
I was so ecstatic and grateful that my dog finally learned to come when I called him. Therefore, does the SitStayFetch program actually help stop your dog's behavior problems? I have to say, from personal experience, that yes it does do what they claim. I have applied all the techniques they say to teach my dog the 'come' command and it worked like a charm. So far, I am very pleased with the results. Bear now comes on command when he is playing with his friend next door. If you apply these techniques that SitStayFetch teaches, your dog will also come on command when called.
Give the techniques mentioned in this article a try and you will also see great results.
Start learning how to make your dog do what he is told by visiting this great dog obedience training resource which provides a complete detailed case study on dog training techniques, and is packed with all the information you'll need for raising a healthy, happy, well-adjusted pooch from dealing with problem behaviors, and detailed step-by-step guides to obedience training.