10 Tips to Help Your Dog Learn Faster

Dogs are intelligent animals by nature, some breeds more so than others. However, they’re all intelligent. This is why humans are able to teach them to obey, perform and behave in relatively little time. Because they are imperfect creatures like the rest of us, however, it is possible that some dogs will not learn as quickly as others. Some of them have issues learning, and you might find it necessary to employ a few tricks of the trade with which to help them learn more quickly. Read on to find out some tips that will help your dog learn faster.

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Be Calm

One of the best ways to help a dog learn faster is to remain calm with the dog throughout the training process. Dogs are very much like people in that they stop listening when people are not behaving in a manner that they find acceptable. When you lose your temper with the dog, you scare him – not teach him.

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Get to Know Your Dog

Your dog is going to show some signs that he or she learns a certain way that you should become familiar with. You should know what these signs are, and the only way to learn them is to get to know the dog. Learn to what he responds and what he does not. This is going to make the training process a lot simpler and more effective when it comes to your animal.

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Be Patient

Your dog requires a great deal of patience to help him or her learn faster. If you are not patient with the dog during the learning process, he or she is not going to learn very quickly. The dog is going to learn a lot faster when you take the time to remain patient and calm, and when you are easy to deal with. When you become irrational and impatient, the dog is going to do the same.

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Be Consistent

No dog can learn anything quickly if there is no consistency in teaching. If you use a particular method to train your dog, stick to it. There is no reason you should not be able to train a dog or teach a dog quickly if you are consistent in your methods and in your behaviors. Dogs like consistency just as much as human beings, which is going to prove beneficial to all involved.

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Do Not Wait to Discipline

One of the biggest misconceptions people have is that they can discipline a dog for a bad behavior long after the fact. For example, if your dog uses the bathroom on the floor during the day and you try to discipline him for it later in the day, you’re going to teach him nothing. He will learn faster if you elicit discipline only in the moment of the action and only if you catch the dog in the midst of the action. Otherwise, he’s not going to learn anything – quickly or slowly.

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Offer Treats

Treats are a great way to teach a dog something quickly. Here’s how this works; your dog does something you like, you give him a treat. He does it again, you give him another treat. You repeat this process a few times and the dog is going to catch on pretty quickly that if he does what you say or what you are teaching, he’s going to get a treat. It is one of the fastest ways to teach an old dog – or new dog – new tricks. Don’t underestimate the power of a good doggie treat for an animal that’s in the mood for something good.

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Offer Rewards

Doggie treats are not the only thing you can use to reward your dog. You can use anything from doggie treats to rewards such as time outside, a game or even your affection. When your dog does something good and learns something new, reward the dog with something of his or her liking. When this happens, you can ensure that your dog is getting the kind of attention necessary to help him or her learn much faster than you thought possible at first.

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Use Positive Reinforcement

Positive reinforcement is one of the best teaching tools there is. When you are positively reinforcing your dog, you are teaching him or her that it’s okay to do something. When you are in the midst of teaching a dog a trick or a behavior, your dog is going to respond well to positive reinforcement. When your dog sees that you are happy, he or she is more likely to continue on with that behavior in the moment than he or she is to stop the behavior.

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Be a Good Example

You have to be a good example to your dog. What exactly does this mean? This means that you have to exhibit good behaviors, too. For example, if your dog brings you a toy, barks and then gets to play a game of fetch as a result, you’re not setting a good example that barking for something is unacceptable. What you’re doing is teaching the dog that it’s okay to bark at times but not at others, and the dog is going to be confused. Your pet is going to learn a lot faster when you take the time to set a good example of what it is you are looking for.

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Stick to the Rules

You’re tired, sick, or just not well as a whole, so you decide it’s a day off for you and the teaching of new tricks and behaviors. That’s fine, right? Wrong. You can’t just ignore the rules one day and then expect the dog to stick to them the following day. Dogs need you to stick to the rules just as much as you want him or her to stick to the rules. If you want your dog to learn quickly, keep the rules enforced at all times. There is no time in which breaking them is considered acceptable, and you should remember that at all times.

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