Teaching children how to engage with dogs in a positive and safe manner is a crucial step towards a peaceful home. Children can learn how to employ positive, reward-based training methods, which will help foster a stronger dog-kid link and ensure that your children do not unintentionally obstruct your training efforts.
Learning to train a dog also teaches children how to be caring educators and how to engage with dogs in a positive and suitable manner. This will assist both of your children to gain confidence.
Why Is Dog Training For Kids Important?
Children and pets can form amazing friendships. The arrival of a new dog in the household might be one of the happiest moments in a kid’s life. It’s also worth noting that training your dog is always more successful when the entire family participates.
Kids are natural dog trainers who, with a little help, can do a fantastic job. Teaching children positive training methods will enable them to learn how to engage with your four-legged friend (and all other animals) without resulting in phobia, pain or intimidation.
Teaching Kids To Train Dogs: What Do You Need To Start?
To begin teaching your children how to train dogs in a positive, reward-based manner, you don’t need much.
Here are the list of things you might need to get:
Leash with a harness or collar: If you’re teaching your dog outside, you’ll need a decent leash and a harness or collar to keep him safe and under your control.
Clicker: Clickers are inexpensive (most just cost a few dollars) and simple to use for the entire family. But, above all, children enjoy using clickers and rapidly learn how to use them.
Treats: Make sure you provide high-value training treats when your dog is learning something new so the reward matches his or her effort.
How To Teach Your Kids To Train Dogs
The most difficult aspect of dog training is keeping a well-intentioned family member from ruining the process. Teaching people how to train their dogs is similar to expecting them to be both a student and a teacher at the same time in certain ways.
Because consistency is so important when it comes to dog training, it becomes much more difficult when there are multiple individuals in the house. That’s why it’s crucial to involve your children (and your spouse, for that matter) in every step of the process, and to ensure that everyone is following the training standards.
- Let them be involved: A 5-year-old child might grasp how to urge a dog to sit before rewarding him with a treat. You’ll be able to assist him or her with proper training because you should never leave your young children and canines alone together without parental supervision.
- Turn your back on jumping: When people approach your dog while he’s in a pen or behind a gate and he gets up, teach everyone in the house and regular visitors to turn their backs to him. They can turn around after the dog has calmed down and seen what his choice is. They can give him a treat if he sits. If not, go through the process again. In addition, by having your children teach this technique to visitors, they will realize how effective it is.
- Give Kids their own commands: It’s tough to retrain a term once a dog has muddled its meaning since children can be unpredictable and inconsistent. That is why you have to teach your children different terminologies to use when training the dog. That way, they wouldn’t have to utilize your words and can concentrate more on the task at hand.
- Teach your children how to use treats and praise: It’s critical for children to understand how to teach their dog that they’re just as thrilling as a treat. To make this puppy want your kids as much as cookies or any other thing your dog likes, your kids have to show him how to get the cookie by doing something. Waiting for your pet to sit and then giving him a cookie (or opening a door or throwing a ball) can make your kids just as desirable to the puppy, because your kids will suddenly be the gatekeeper of everything the puppy desires.
Things Your Kids Can Train Your Dog To Do
There are countless things your children can teach your dog. But first, let’s go over some essential foundational abilities that are both enjoyable and simple.
- Sit: One of the first things most owners teach their puppies to do is to sit. Because it is a natural canine activity, it is a simple skill for your dog to master.
Lay or Down: Because some dogs are less inclined to lie down on their own during a clicker training session, tempting them (for example, by using a treat to direct her into the correct posture) may be a better option. If you’re working with small children, have them hold the clicker and operate it while you manage the enticing.
- Touch: This is one of the most useful talents a dog can acquire, and it’s also one of the easiest to teach! Teaching your dog to contact her nose to your open palm is known as targeting (or a target stick, which may be ideal for young kids).
- Spin: Spin is another simple behavior that your children may teach a dog, and it can be a lot of fun. It’s also a technique that your kids can advance from, such as double or reverse spins, by building on the basic habit.
- Peek-a-Boo: This is a fun technique to teach, as long as your dog isn’t too tall and your child isn’t too little!
There are other ways in which your kids can train your dog to do things. These are just a few of them!