Knick Knack, Paddy Wack, Give Your Dog a Bone (and Train With Love)

I have grown up with dogs all my life and loved them very much. I’ve only had two dogs in my life, and I was young enough when they were both puppies that I don’t remember all the frustrations and problems that go along with training and educating a puppy.

For that reason, I was very surprised when my fiancee and I decided to have a puppy that I literally knew nothing about dog training and house training. He had left all those funny details to my mom in my youth. I don’t know where you live, but when it comes to dog training, Austin has a lot of resources for new pet owners—too many, in fact.

So I decided to go with a dog trainer, which helped me feel like I didn’t have to be an expert, just follow directions and love my furry friend. Then I focused on what kind of training I wanted. One of my closest friends does agility and obedience competitions with her pups and she used reward-based training and positive reinforcement, so she knew firsthand that it worked wonderfully.

The antithesis of positive reinforcement is compulsion-based training where you try to eliminate behaviors you don’t want with immediate consequences like using a choke chain, etc. Positive reinforcement targets the same immediate reactions with just praise and treats to get the lasting behavioral results you’re looking for.

In my opinion, there is no better way to start the relationship with your new dog than to teach him the proper behavior in love. Find a dog trainer who will help you confidently master your dog’s behavior and enjoy building the relationship from the start.