The Best Obedience Training in Albany, GA

The goal of phase one is to teach the dog desired behaviors through engagement, shaping, and luring. Essentially, this involves using repitition of commands and providing positive reinforcement when the dog is obedient. The most important part of dog training is that the dog has to WANT to listen to you. Providing positive reinforcement during training ensures that the dog will always want to follow the command. Usually, this phase lasts between 1-3 weeks. Before moving onto the next phase, it is key that the dog can consistently pay attention and listen to these commands even when there are distractions around.

Now that the dog understands all of the commands you want it to, it is time to reinforce them. You need the dog to understand that the initial training phase is over, and they don't get a treat EVERY time they do something good. This behavior and obedience is to be expected. We will start gradually reducing the number of treats the dog gets when listening to commands until eventually they can reliable listen to every commands without always expecting a treat. On average, this phase takes 2-6 weeks depending on the dog.

The third and final phase of training a dog is one that never truly ends. Once we help enstill the positive behaviors into your dog, it will be up to you to ensure that they keep it up. Every once in a while, your dog will not listen or act up and it is your job to correct that behavior IMMEDIATELY. It is important that you build up an understanding between you and your dog that certain things are not allowed. Let them get away with it too many times, and they will start to believe that the behavior they're exhibiting is okay. Always be sure to sternly correct your dog when they disobey you and their positive and obedient behavior will be maintained.