You want to have a lot of fun with your dog and maybe even do dog sports? In any case, should your dog listen to you?
In order for this to succeed, obedience exercises for the dog are a basic requirement.
It smoothes the path for you and your dog way to a good togethernesssuccessful communication and the opportunity to do dog sports.
In this article you will find out how to do the exercises and what you need for them.
Submission Exercises – What are they and why are they so important?
Dog obedience exercises are obedience exercises. They are an important part of dog training.
If you teach your dog the basic commands «sit», «down» and «come», you are already practicing obedience exercises.
These belong to the des basic obediences.
However, submission does not mean submission or just respect. It should be understood much more as part of your dog’s upbringing.
Subordination today works differently than it did 100 years ago.
During obedience, your dog learns through positive reinforcement which behavior is desired from him. So you should have yours Dog included much praise and reward.
Your dog should cooperate with you in obedience. He should follow your commands and receive a treat, a short game session or a lot of praise in return.
Ideally, obedience today is characterized by trust, bonding and harmony between dog and handler.
Through a successful obedience, your dog also gains a better ability to concentrate and higher frustration tolerance.
Good to know
The term «subordination» comes from the training of working dogs for military and police service. Originally, the dog should submit to the will of its handler and obey commands.
The term has remained, but the meaning has changed. This is how the dog should be when subordinating the follow his handler’s decisionbecause it has advantages for him – such as a reward.
Preparation & tools for the training
You can also easily integrate obedience into everyday training.
The beauty of obedience training is that you don’t need much.
Your dog’s ordinary collar, a leash and a great treat are perfectly sufficient.
4 obedience exercises with the dog
There are very different and simple tasks that you can use to train your dog to be more obedient, impulse control and attentive.
1. Eye contact exercise
Have your dog sit next to or in front of you. Give him the command «Look» or «Look». If your dog is looking at you, pause and give him the treat while continuing to look at you.
If he’s not interested in you, you can Briefly show the treat or reward so that he gets his attention on you.
2. Attention training
Command your leashed dog to sit or down. Take two steps away from him and stand there. you look at your dog If your dog looks at you, you go back to him and reward him.
You can extend the distance to the end of the line. If your dog always stays in the same position, you can start the next level and practice without a leash.
3. Impulse control exercise
Let your dog sit next to you. Throw a ball or treat one meter forward or sideways. The goal is for your dog to stay seated. The throw will surely distract him. If your dog stays in this position, give him praise and rewards.
This is how your dog learns more self control and stay focused on you even when you’re distracted
You can find out more about impulse control here.
4. Consequences
The basic command «foot» is very important for everyday training.
Your dog is next to you. You have a oblong treat in hand or tuck a toy under your arm.
Give the command «foot» and run a few steps. The treat or toy should encourage your dog to walk right next to you.
You can also hold the treat in your closed hand in front of your dog’s nose. If your dog walks nicely next to you, he may nudge your hand with his snout and bite off some of the treat.
At first you should short units hang out with your dog. You can increase this.
After a while, you can keep holding your hand a little higher. Your dog should be looking at you as you do this. The hand then quickly goes back to his muzzle.
However, this increase should not be practiced in small dog breeds.
Danger:
Especially at the beginning of the training, it makes sense to secure your dog with a long leash.
Gradually you will be able to assess whether your dog follows you or how far you can distance yourself from him and when you no longer need a leash for an exercise.
Conclusion
Whether in dog sports or in everyday life; a dog that actively and happily cooperates, should be the goal of every dog owner.
To do this, however, the dog must learn what to do and be fixated on its handler. With simple submission exercises, you can achieve this step by step.
As a dog handler, it is your job to find the balance between Motivation (reward) and obedience (commands) to find.
Positive reinforcement instead of forcing is therefore the motto.
Does your dog happily cooperate for treats or toys? Let us know in the comments.