Dog obedience training

If your dog is disobedient and have problems with his manners, training is an important part of your relationship with him as it creates a bond between dog and owner. Teaching your dog even the most basic of commands means you can control his actions, and also ensures that he fits in with the social etiquette imposed on him by the human world. Remember that it's the responsibility of all dog owners to ensure that dogs are controlled in public places.

Ideally, all dogs would be trained as puppies as they learn more quickly and, once they've mastered the commands, with practice they retain them for life.

However, if you've taken on a rescue dog this may not be possible. Sometimes you may find yourself faced with a dog which has either never been trained or has forgotten what he was taught in the first place.

Do not despair! Training classes are always a great idea, and you should enrol in one as soon as you can after taking your new dog home. There are also lots of commands you can teach your dog yourself at home.

Ali Taylor, Head Behaviourist at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, offers some useful pointers on how to go about training your dog.

Before you start.

• Before you start training, there are a few useful things to remember.
• Make training sessions a positive experience for both you and your dog.
• Keep sessions short - three ten-minute sessions are better than one thirty- minute one.
• Always end on a good note - ask your dog to do something he's good at, and reward him well.
• Stop if you feel yourself getting frustrated or angry, as you will pass these feelings on to the dog.
• Use kind facial expressions and body posture, and be clear in your commands. Reinforce each command with hand, arm or body signals.
• Be consistent in your training and praise and use the same commands and praise in each session.
• Reward correct actions immediately.

Use rewards to your advantage - whether they be treats, toys or praise - and use as many as you can. This will keep your dog guessing and fuel his motivation.

Make training sessions fun! Dogs are born to play, so if the session is fun he will be more likely to learn and remember.

It may take weeks of patience over many training sessions until he gets it right every time. Try not to expect too much of him too soon - he's not designed to respond to the spoken word, so if you don't think he's quite understood, keep trying.

Dogs learn by association - they learn to associate actions with rewards. Keep distractions to a minimum to begin with, then increase them slowly, and try to repeat training sessions in as many different locations as you can. Your dog should pick up on the fact that anything around him is irrelevant, and that only the command that leads to the correct action gets the reward.