Dog Training - Rules
The following are recommended principles to achieve successful dog training -
1. All dog training must be founded upon educating the dog, i.e., developing instincts and drawing out accidental and acquired habits.
2. Situations and contacts must be interpreted entirely from the dog's reactions and abilities, and not the human's.
3. Success must be at the completion of an act of training. The dog is to understand that at the end, a certain thing will take place. For instance, if it is tracking, it must find the person tracked.
4. Commands always should be given in the same words and with the same tone of voice and speed of speaking.
5. The dog is not to be fooled. It has a sense of humiliation as well as a sense of pride. If the dog has been taught to do certain acts, do not give it the command and then trifle with it. At all times you must let the dog see what you are doing. Always is the dog to understand that when you say certain things, it is to do certain things
6. Anticipate the dog`s actions. Think ahead of time and give your command before the dog acts or moves.
7. If the dog goes one step wrongly, do not repeat this step but return at the beginning, for the dog must be taught to consider only successful acts in their entirety.
8. Reward or punishment should follow quickly after every act. To punish a dog at any other time than instantly after the wrong act is cruelty rather than a part of training, for the dog does not connect the punishment to the act.
9. The dog has a single-track mind. Teach one specific thing at a time. This does not mean that a training period cannot include a half-dozen different tasks.
10. Give the dog a moment's time for carrying out your command. To demand instant obedience is to confuse the dog.
11. Have patience. The dog is not a human being. The dog probably is more successful as a dog than the handler is as a human being.
12. Develop a bond. All future training depends upon this.
13. Remember that a dog cannot ask questions, neither can it understand all you say. It knows only the words, the commands and the names you teach it.
14. The success of a handler depends on being able to make a dog understand what it has to do and then to instill that into its brain until it becomes instinctive.
15. Always use kindness.
16. Be decisive, firm, and most of all, be sure that you know exactly what you want and how it should be done.
17. Never try to teach a dog anything until you yourself have a thorough knowledge of how to teach it, and a clear mental picture of each stage.
18. As far as possible, always have your dog with you. You cannot train it all the time, but it will become accustomed to your actions, words, and surroundings which will help to make the training easier.
19. Never allow other people to pet and fuss over your dog unnecessarily. You are the dog's handler and it must look to you for everything.
20. You must always finish a training period on a good note. Never leave off if the dog has done something wrong. Correction is essential.
21. Never put your dog away for the night with a cross word. End the training period on a happy note and see that the dog has mastered the obstacle - and knows that it has done so - before you "good night".
22. Do not punish the dog while you are angry.
23. Do not chase the dog to catch it; it must come to you or follow after you.
24. Do not nag the dog; do not give orders to it constantly; do not pester it with your shoutings.
25. Do not punish the dog for failure to obey unless you are certain that it understood fully what you commanded.
26. Do not praise the dog for doing a certain act, then at a later time, scold it for doing the same act.
27. Do not permit anyone to give commands to the dog while you are training it
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