Obedience training your dog

There's nothing like the companionship of a well-trained dog, and obedience training is the only way to ensure you experience it. Proper training allows you to communicate with your dog, helps to foster the bond between you, and keeps him safe from both injuries and behavior problems. From simple commands such as sit, stay, and heel to complex signals for herding and retrieving, you can teach your pooch just about anything with the power of positive dog training.

The articles below will get you started with the basics of obedience training. Once your puppy or dog has mastered the introductory commands, you can move on to more challenging exercises or invent your own tricks to bring out the best in your pet.

Getting started

Positive dog training with a clicker:

The following articles will introduce you to the principles of clicker training a dog and offer advice on how to get the most out of your clicker training sessions.

• Dog clicker training: What it is and how it works
• Five clicker training myths
• Getting a dog to offer behaviors for clicker training
• Tips for successful clicker training

The next few articles cover some basic clicker training exercises. You'll learn how to charge the clicker and how to teach your puppy or dog two simple behaviors, attention and targeting. Once you've mastered these, move on to the basic obedience training exercises below.

• Charging the clicker to start training
• Your first exercise: Train your dog to pay attention
• Another easy exercise: Train your dog to touch a target

Basic obedience exercises

Every dog should know the five basic obedience training commands. Below you'll find the necessary exercises to bring your puppy or dog up to speed. There are instructions to teach each obedience command either with or without a clicker depending on your preferred training method.