How Can You Train Your Dog with a DVD?

How can you train your dog with a DVD? Can you begin training an adorable little puppy when it’s still quite young and somehow have a well-trained dog after a while? Or if your dog is older, could you teach it to sit, to stay, to come, to lie down, and to walk on a loose leash?

The answer? Perhaps.

It depends on you. The dog or puppy is willing to learn, and it’s not hard to get a really good DVD on dog training. Do you want to do this enough that you will really get around to it? If you will, you’ll find that a DVD can motivate as well as teach you what you need to do.

You can do it this way: select at least a couple of times a day that you will do a short dog training session. It might be immediately before you feed your pet breakfast and dinner, or at any other times that suit you. Three to five times is even better than two. Dogs learn best and have more fun in short training sessions than in long ones.

If you like to make plans and carry them out, then you are a natural for training your dog with a DVD. If you aren’t a huge fan of planning but can do it when you see a good reason, you should do fine too.

DVD or Class?

In deciding whether to train your dog with a DVD or to take him to a class, one of the main factors is whether you can find a trainer nearby whose approach you like. Positive, pain-free methods work more effectively in training dogs, but many trainers learned their methods years ago and haven’t made the switch to the newer techniques. Also, of course, consider the cost and the timing of the classes.

If a good dog or puppy training class is available, it can be useful for helping the dog to be at home with many dogs — something you will need to develop in any case — and for learning a lot. Once you and the dog see how much fun it can be to learn new things together, you may want some DVDs to help you continue your dog’s lifelong learning.

Selecting the Best Dog Training DVD

There’s a DVD called Train Your Dog: The Positive, Gentle Method, which I recommend. It’s made with top positive-method trainers Nicole Wilde and Laura Bourhenne. It covers the basics and a good bit more. It’s quite economical, and very easy to follow.