As a pet in the family, dogs will inevitably do wrong, and the owner must of course educate them. But how do you teach dogs to remember their wrongdoings and refrain from repeating their mistakes?

Negative punishment and positive guidance are two common ways.

To assess the effectiveness of reprimanding criticism and positive guidance, Meghan E. Herron, an associate professor of animal medicine at Ohio State University, designed a questionnaire for the study.  Response of the questionnaire shows that the following methods are most commonly used:

Dog leash and training collar

Investigations show that it is very effective to control dogs with a towing tool. The owner can pull the dog leash or tighten the training collar to effectively stop the dog’s misbehaviour.

A slight tightening of the training collar will alert the dog, and a slight discomfort will allow them to negatively condition their misconduct.

This method not only enhances the dog’s memory of the event but also would not harm it and is a safe way to adapt in shaping their behaviour.

Put a muzzle on

In addition to the training collar, the dog’s muzzle is also a common training tool.  The dog won’t be able to open its mouth in it, thus avoiding the risk of biting.

However, dogs don’t seem to like the mouthpiece and studies show that nearly half of the dogs react strongly to it. If they are used improperly, they may increase the risk of a dog biting, so they must be used with caution!

In addition to the “black face”, the owner can also use the positive guidance method to strengthen the dog’s correct behaviour through rewards.

Rewarding the dog is a positive guidance way to effectively correct dog behaviour.

When the dog behaves correctly, giving it a warm emotional encouragement such as a hug, petting or language commendation would strengthen the positive effect. The study also found that of the 124 dogs that were given snacks, 122 were obediently, and the dogs succumbed to almost all other tricks related to food as rewards.

The owner should use positive guidance more often as dogs will better behave in the face of delicious food! But the owner should also be careful in using food as a reward in the correction of wrong behaviour, make sure that the step is correct so your dogs won’t repeat the wrong behaviour for the food.  Also, pay attention to bodyweight control, make sure that they don’t get overweight because of the reward they get during the training.