How do we confuse dogs?

Sometimes owners complain about the difficulties in raising and training a pet. Not noticing that they themselves bring chaos and confusion into the life of dogs. How do we confuse dogs and how to avoid it?

Like owners confused dogs

A pet can get confused and completely lose faith in you as a rational being if you make the following mistakes in raising and training a dog:

1. Use punishment instead of praise, and vice versa. A mean “Good” may mean nothing to a puppy, and a pat on the head is perceived not as an encouragement, but as a punishment. Because not many dogs like to be knocked on the skull. And what we consider punishment is sometimes perceived as reinforcement. For example, if a dog needs attention and has stolen your sock, then menacing screams and chasing completely satisfy the dog’s need, and next time he will definitely know how to include you in the interaction.
2. You reinforce the dog at the wrong time. For example, if you teach the “Sit” command, the puppy sat down, started to rise, and at that moment you praised him, then you teach the pet not to sit, but to get up. And then you wonder why learning such a simple skill has stalled.
3. You are unintentionally teaching your dog unwanted behavior. For example, if a pet barks at another dog, and at that time you say: “Well, what are you, this is a good dog”, your four-legged friend will attribute “good dog” to his account, and everything else will pass by his ears like white noise . And next time, he will happily bark again. Because he’s a good dog!
4. You are being inconsistent. This minute you are teaching your pet to walk on a slack leash, and after five minutes, run where he pulls. And a minute later you pounce on the puppy for pulling this very leash. And what will the dog learn? Only because it’s dangerous to deal with you.
5. You can’t decide on teaching methods. Today you use positive reinforcement, and tomorrow, for example, you cling a noose to your pet. Even if the dog did not get confused!
6. You pronounce the command differently. Dogs are geniuses of communication with us, and they learn even despite the gross mistakes of people. However, for them the words “Sit”, “Sit down”, “Sit”, “Sit down”, “Sit down immediately!”, and also “Don’t lie down, but they tell you to sit down!” – not exactly the same thing. Of course, they can master this too, but why bring unnecessary confusion into the life of a pet?

What to do in order not to confuse the dog

1. Set the rules. But first of all, master them yourself. For dogs, rules are extremely important. What is allowed is always allowed. The forbidden is always forbidden. Dot.
2. The principles of consistency and consistency will come to the rescue. Develop a training plan and stick to it. Train your pet, gradually increasing the difficulty of the task.
3. Use the same commands.
4. Analyze the dog’s reaction to your actions in order to understand what is reinforcement for him and what is punishment.
5. And watch what exactly in the behavior of the pet you reinforce.

If you can’t train a dog yourself, and instead you confuse a pet, you can always seek help from a specialist who works with humane methods.