A good way of measuring how well your training and dog handling skills are progressing is to enter your dog into obedience trial events. Obedience trials are sponsored on a regular basis by dog food manufacturers, other canine product providers, dog breed associations and a host of other companies and organizations. They are held locally, nationally and sometimes internationally; normally there is no restriction as to the type of dog that is entered. The dog doesn't have to be a registered pedigree but if your dog is, he will not be excluded. The list of entrants will be split into categories of size, weight, breed or crossbreed to maintain a fair balance of dogs competing against each other in the trials.
Youngsters and children are also allowed to enter their dogs and sometimes junior handling trainers are made available to them. The cost of entry is very small, particularly if the trials are held locally. The trials are usually broken down into the following groups:-
Basic level
Trial events may vary in different countries but usually in a basic level obedience trial you will need to be able to demonstrate that your dog is able to walk with or without a leash accompanied by his dog handler, respond to the ?come?, ?sit? and ?down? commands, walk in different directions without touching or showing attention to his handler together with being able to stand still when the judge performs an examination of him. Your dog will also need to demonstrate that he is able to sit and stay for whatever time is set by the organizer of the trials.
Open
The Open level group is more difficult because the dog has to demonstrate that he is capable of working off the leash with the handler. Some of the time, the dogs in this group will be required to work together and at others they will work individually. Among the skills required to excel in the Open level are the ability to retrieve and drop an item on command, heel in a figure of eight and jump over a wide gap or object of a certain height together with positive reactions to the ?sit? and ?down? commands. In addition your dog will be required to sit or stay down for 3 to 5 minutes without his handler being present.
Utility
The Utility is the most difficult of any obedience trial class. Together with being able to prove all of the skills in the Basic and Open levels, your dog will have to retrieve, from a pile of objects, only those objects which have been touched by his handler. Having retrieved an object your dog will then return the object to the handler on command. His final test will be to follow hand signals with no voice commands to complete a high and broad jump.
Dogs are awarded points by the judges of obedience trials. At the beginning of the trials the dog has the maximum points available, usually 200. For each mistake the dog makes his points will decrease. The champion is the dog which, in the judge's opinion, made the least mistakes.
A well-behaved and obedient dog could be a source of great joy to you and your family. However, a disobedient dog could be a constant source of frustration. You cannot imagine how stressful it is to keep up with an undisciplined dog. Just imagine your dog peeing on sheets, barking uncontrollably at people wherever you go, chewing on your shoes or your furniture - the list is positively endless!
Communicate with Your Dog
In order to enforce dog obedience in your pet, you need to start dog obedience training immediately. The first thing that you have to understand is good communication with your dog. You should be able to communicate successfully with your dog if you want to be effective at your dog obedience training. A tirade of words directed at your errant dog may not be as effective as a one word command, "No!" In fact, one word commands are easier for dogs to grasp. You would, in fact, notice that dog commands are usually one-word commands like sit, heel, roll, fetch. You have to make sure, however, that your dog understands your commands.
How to Enforce Dog Obedience in Your Pet
Teaching your dog obedience should not be about hard work for your dog. You should make sure that your pet would have a lot of fun with you. Think of those hours as bonding time with your dog. Learn to play with your dog. You should also learn to enjoy those training hours. Think of it as play time as well. Otherwise, if you're too serious about training your dog, you might end up frustrated and stressed out if your dog is not doing so well. Also, make sure that you constantly lavish your dog with praises when he's doing well with his program. Give him treats for a job well done. This is also a great motivation for your dog. He will associate the word to the treats.
If you would like to be successful with the program, you should make sure that you adapt constant and repetitive training methods. Repetitiveness is crucial to your success. The more you do it, the more your dog will learn. Avoid hurting or scolding your dog when you are training him. Making him feel bad would confuse him. He'd lose his concentration and would commit more mistakes. Dog obedience training requires a lot of patience from you.
Training your dog and instilling dog obedience is an ongoing process. You must constantly repeat the commands words so that he won't forget what they mean. This will also help you establish dominance over your dog so that he would recognize you as the leader of his pack. Dog obedience would also help your pet know how he must act and react to stimuli.
Both Jeff Nenadic & Ranju Kumar are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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