Life skills play a crucial role in our survival; they’re the behaviors that help us fit into society and form healthy relationships with other people, and the same applies to dogs. Possessing the right life skills can be the difference between a happy life and a challenging one.
Discover the essential behaviors your dog needs to master and the ways that you can teach these to your canine.
The Importance of Essential Life Skills for Dogs
Many responsibilities come with being a dog owner; the Canine Code provides an excellent outline for ensuring that your dog is healthy and happy while helping educate new owners in a good care guide. However, it’s not just humans but their canines too who need to build an ample skill set to function well in society, and it is our responsibility to train them in the skills they need to live a well-balanced life.
One of the essential skills to teach your dog is recall, the willingness to return to you when called. To teach your dog recall, begin by rewarding them every time they return to you (whether you’ve called them or not). This positive reinforcement and association mean our dogs are more likely to want to return to us at any given time.
And this idea of rehearsing and reward applies to several different life skills, from interacting with people and animals in a friendly manner to walking on a lead. Having a dog who interacts in a friendly way with the world around them is one of the most important skills you can teach.
Most Popular Ways to Train Your Dog
There is no “one size fits all” method for dog training. Instead, there are several techniques for owners to try and see which works best for their canine.
Among the most popular is the positive reinforcement method, which suggests that dogs will repeat good behaviors if they know it will be followed with a reward. Successfully training your dog in this method means rewarding good behavior immediately and reprimanding bad behavior.
A reprimand involves taking away a toy or a treat; you should never reprimand your dog physically or harshly as this is likely to increase their fear, anxiety, and antisocial behaviors.
Clicker training can be a good way of providing positive reinforcement at the exact time when the good behavior occurs. Meanwhile, model-rival training relies on observation to teach your dog good behavior (much like how a child learns good manners by observing the adults in their life).
Dogs Need Essential Life Skills to Thrive
If you fail to teach your dog adequate life skills, they can become anxious, fearful, or aggressive in social situations and demonstrate many problem behaviors.
Teaching your pup these life skills from a young age is the best way for them to build positive associations with many everyday situations and function as a well-adjusted canine within society.
However, older dogs who have been adopted or rehomed can also benefit from reward-based training, which helps to build the relationship between themselves and their new humans while regaining the confidence they may have lost.
Studies have shown that dog-computer interactions, a source of training and enrichment, can improve the welfare of older dogs. Training your dog in later life could help to reduce the aging process and associated health issues while giving your dog a better quality of life.
Dogs who don’t possess basic life skills, such as recall, can become out of control and present a danger to others. When a dog is out of control, several concerns arise, such as the threat of injury or an attack on someone else’s pet.
Do All Dogs Require the Same Training?
All dogs need the ability to interact with other humans and animals in a friendly and healthy manner, but different breeds have different needs.
With more than 400 recognized dog breeds worldwide, it’s no surprise that the behavior and personality traits can vary across the species. For example, a gundog, such as a Labrador Retriever or a Springer Spaniel, will be more likely to carry items, while other breeds will want to chase them.
Learning about the breed of your dog and the personality traits they possess will go a long way in improving the quality of your training. This information can help you channel their instinctive behaviors into healthy activities.
Consider Consulting a Dog Trainer
There is no such thing as a “bad dog,” just a dog without sufficient training. When you choose to adopt a canine, you must ensure that you can provide a healthy and nourishing environment.
Do your homework before adopting and ensure that the dog breed you choose is a fit for your lifestyle. All dogs will adapt to training when it’s done correctly.
That being said, some dogs (particularly those who lacked effective training in earlier life) may demonstrate problem behaviors, which are difficult for their owners to control. Some of these behaviors, such as aggression, can pose a risk to the people (and animals) around them, so you must seek help and support.
If basic doggy training methods, such as rewards-based or clicker training, aren’t working for you, seek help from your vet, animal behaviorist, or professional dog trainer. They will have expertise in the field and can help you determine the next steps with your dog.
