5 Signs That Your Dog Needs Obedience Training

Adding a new puppy or rescue dog into your family can bring so much joy to your life. Without the right training, however, your dog may struggle to adapt to your home, integrate with other dogs, and warm up to your friends and family. A lack of proper training can be stressful, embarrassing, and even dangerous. As owners, it is our responsibility to set our companions up to live the best life possible. Obedience training provides dogs with the mental stimulation, life skills, and confidence to navigate the world and have a fulfilling life. Moreover, it helps owners understand their dogs better by learning to clearly communicate, add structure, and build a meaningful relationship. But how do you know if your dog needs training? Here are a few situations where your dog could benefit from obedience training.

You Brought a New Puppy or Rescue Dog Home

The sooner that you begin training your new dog, the better. Starting the dog training process before your dog develops bad habits in your home is the best way to set yourself up for success. Regardless of your new companion's age, early training upon joining your household will help them create the right habits and improve your owner-dog relationship. Focus on creating structure early on, including potty training, crate training, socialization, and obedience training. Check out our blog posts on potty training, crate training, and socialization to learn more.

Your Dog Doesn't Listen to Your Commands

If your dog does not obey your commands at home or on more distracting outings, that is a sign that it's time to enroll him in obedience training. Regardless of your lifestyle, reliable obedience is of utmost important to make day-to-day with your dog life fun, exciting, and safe. Strive to teach your dog to listen to obedience commands in new environments, around new people and dogs, and in the presence of new objects, smells, and sounds. A professional trainer will help you understand how to communicate with your dog as well as how to achieve reliable obedience.

Your Dog is Having Issues with Other Dogs and People

Improperly socialized, untrained dogs can have a hard time interacting with other dogs and people. If you notice that your dog is nervous, fearful, reactive, or aggressive around other animals and/or humans, professional dog training could help your dog learn proper behavior and improve its confidence. The sooner that you start your dog with training when you notice behavioral issues, the better.

Your Dog is Destructive or Misbehaves At Home

Just like children, dogs are curious and need to learn what to do and not to do when left alone. Else, they will make their own rules as to what is acceptable, fun, and soothing. When that happens, they may get into things around the home. They may also develop nuisance behaviors like barking, counter surfing, and more. These behaviors are at best inconvenient, as they may have much more devastating consequences. Without training, a gentle puppy can quickly become a risk to itself and others.

You Want to Get Into Dog Sports or Other Activities

Dog sports and other skills like nose work and rally obedience can be an excellent way to improve your relationship with your dog while you both learn new skills. Regardless of the activity that you may be considering, basic obedience and good focus are most likely preliminary skills to progress in dog sports. Moreover, basic obedience training will help you understand how to communicate with your dog effectively, how to remain consistent with training expectations, and how to motivate your dog, all of which are crucial to dive deeper into advanced obedience and other specialized skills.

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Effective dog training will always improve your dog's life, regardless of the cause or goal of training. If your dog is ready for obedience training, contact Chomps Dog Training today to learn more about our programs.