10 Common Dog Training Mistakes and What You Should Do Instead

Dogs are incredible animals. They provide us with companionship and protection. No wonder so many people want to own one, but owning a dog is a big responsibility, and you need to make sure you are up for the task. One of the most important aspects of dog ownership that you can do to ensure a happy and healthy relationship is to train your dog properly.

Many people make common mistakes when training their dogs, leading to behavioral problems. If you are new to dog ownership or just looking for some advice on how to train a stubborn dog, keep on reading. We will go over some of the most common dog training mistakes and what you should do instead.

What Are the Most Common Dog Training Mistakes?

Dog training mistakes can cause your dog more harm than good in the long run. Like people, dogs can become stressed and confused when faced with common training mistakes. That is why you need to know what you can do to avoid them at all costs.

These are the ten common mistakes in training your dog and how you can avoid them:

1. Neglect to begin at an early age: If you don't teach your dog early with basic commands, it will be a lot more difficult to train them later on. Don't wait six months before even beginning. Start as soon as you can with your new pup and be consistent every step of the way to make things easier for both of you.
2. Expecting too much too soon: If you give your dog too much pressure and expect too much too soon, they will shut down, become unresponsive, and will end up getting confused. Be patient with them and start small before teaching more complicated things.
3. Ignoring problem behaviors: Not giving them enough attention can lead to stress. Ignoring your dog for barking, chewing, and other bad behaviors will only make them worse. Use proper dog training methods to stop the behavior before it gets out of control.
4. Failing to set boundaries: If you don't set boundaries with your dog, they may take advantage of the situation. Not only will you be at risk in these situations, but your dog could also get aggressive with others. Set boundaries and make your home safe enough for both of you.
5. Being too easy or too harsh: If you're too easy and too harsh on them, they won't learn the consequences of their behavior, and they can become stressed out. Find the happy medium between being gentle but still enforcing rules that will show them how to come up.
6. Relying too much on treats: Food can be used as a training tool, but never rely too much on treats alone for positive reinforcement. This is because your dog will have no interest in you if they have to always work for food. Practice making a stronger bond between the both of you.
7. Offering too much praise: If you praise them too much, your dog will start to expect praise all of the time. If you fail to praise your dog when they’re so used to it, they could become tense. Instead of showering too much praise on them, only praise them when they do something correctly.
8. Failing to introduce new elements: If you do the same thing repeatedly, your dog will get bored easily. To keep things interesting, you should always add new elements to your training — just don’t change your old commands. Teaching them new tricks makes them more motivated and eager to learn new things from you.
9. Focusing on the wrong things: You must focus on simple training sessions. If your dog is too tired, they end up making training mistakes and won't retain any information if given too much time to practice. Keep things light with shorter, simpler training sessions.
10. Inconsistent training: If you are not consistent in training your dog, it can easily lead to bad habits because you're not working on those behaviors regularly enough. When inconsistency happens, they perceive this as a change that requires action. Always keep in mind that consistency is key in teaching new things.

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