Very few people are a natural at training their dog.
We don't all instantly understand what it takes to teach a dog to obey us.
But it is important as animal owners that we do develop that skill - because an untrained dog can be a real problem.
Untrained dogs can be aggressive as they try to challenge your leadership, they can rebel and cause problems, they can't be relied upon around children or guests.
There is no real option, dogs need to be trained.
Which is why we put together these dog training tips for you.
Dog Training Tips · Always reward your dog for good work.
By giving the animal praise and treats you are positively reinforcing their good behaviour and encouraging them to do more of it.
· Stick to the commands.
Dogs take time to learn new commands so try to be consistent with the command you give and remember it will take time.
· Consistency.
Consistency is key to training dogs.
Not just consistency of commands but be consistent in the behaviour you reward and punish or otherwise the dog will get confused over what he or she is meant to do..
· Whoever you want to be 'head of the pack' should train the animal.
They will come to see them as master so make sure the right person is doing it.
· When your dog has mastered a command try testing them in another situation.
A dog might grasp it in the garden with just the two of you but they need to do it when it is contrary to what they want to do too.
· Dogs don't manage to understand what they did before, so never punish them for something you didn't catch them doing red handed.
Obviously there are many more dog training tips than that, but these should give you a good grounding in what it takes to train a dog.