Keeping a pet dog can be one of the best decisions that you take, given the fact that a pet dog showers unadulterated and pure love and affection on its owner. There are millions of people who keep dogs and are also the happier and well adjusted for it. When it comes to dogs, it is always imperative to train them when they are young to see to it that they are well behaved and know how to behave in the presence of family or guests.
There are quite a few institutions where dog obedience training is offered for the benefit of current and future dog owners. One may love dogs, but it is also necessary to ensure that the dog knows how to behave.
Some people think that dog obedience training is meant for dogs that are being reared for dog shows. They feel that just basic dog training is all that is required. This is really a wrong notion as there are some aspects of dog training are quite important because dogs need to take care of the security of the house and also deal with guests.
At the very basic level, dogs like kids have to be toilet trained so that they do not dirty the house or create a mess. One also has to train them not to chew up shoes or the furniture which could lead to problems if a dog goes out of hand. These are some of the basis aspects that are expected out of a program that is geared towards training a dog and making it fit for civilized society.
Dog obedience training involves a lot of reinforcement techniques that have to be applied to ensure that the dog actually learns and internalizes what it is being taught. For instance, every right behavior exhibited by the dog needs to be rewarded with a reward in the form of a biscuit or some other from of inducement which is a positive reinforcement.
Conversely, wrong behaviors have to be penalized or punished by some form of light punishment which would make the dog desist from that behavior. One also has to ensure that the reward and the punishment is invariant in nature as well as quantum so that consistency is maintained. After all, one should not confuse the dog with conflicting and confusing signals that could jeopardize the achievement of training objectives.