Training Your Dog To Sit Stay Fetch You want to spend a couple of hours playing with your dog and so off you go to the park, with ball in hand. The common thing you would naturally do is to throw the ball and ask your dog to fetch it. How often has your dog simply stared back at you, puzzled? Are you surprised that your dog did not fetch the ball? After all, all dogs are known to fetch things for their owners. Well, then what you don't know is that your dog needs a wee bit of training.
Apart from fetch there are two other basic commands that you can teach your dog. They are "sit" and "stay". You definitely do not want your furniture to be damaged or your yard and plants to be destroyed. Therefore, it is better to start training your dog and teach him these few simple commands to begin with.
You can start by teaching your dog to sit. It is a very simple task. Make your dog sit in a place while uttering the command “sit”. If it keeps standing then you should sit and repeat, “sit”. Repeat the command a few times everyday as the animal learns to sit. Next if your dog moves as soon as you move then you should also sit with your dog and say, “stay”. Dittoing the same exercise a number of times will make your dog understand that you want him to sit and remain in the same position.
Training your dog to fetch something is one step ahead of “sit” and “stay”. One common way to teach your dog to “fetch” is with the bait and switch method. In this technique, you need two identical toys that your dog loves playing with. You need to show him one of the toys, while hiding the other one. Then throw it, unleash your dog and shout out the command “fetch”. Your dog is most likely to go and fetch it since it is a familiar toy. As he returns back, show him the new one. More often than not your dog will drop the one it is holding in favor of the new one. Let your dog return back to you and leash him. Now throw the new one, and say “fetch” as you unleash your dog. Meanwhile you retrieve the old one. Repeat the cycle a few times.
If your dog does not fetch the toy in any of the instances, you can walk your dog right up to the toy and let it fetch the same. The toy can also be replaced with meat to motivate the dog to fetch. A few tips to remember are to not to throw the bait too far, do not let the dog play with the fetch toy all the time, hold your dog for a moment before you allow it to chase the bait, and do not use sticks as bait.
Every time your dog completes any of the commands successfully, reward him. This will increase his interest in the game. A word of advice would be not to lose your patience while training your dog. You will soon be ready for some great bonding exercises with your pet dog.
