Bonding with your dog through training is definitely a wonderful experience. However, it can also be tough and unpleasant sometimes. The solution is to be patient, love your buddy deeply, and continue to do your best. This can create an amazing relationship between you two, and help you take the right steps to train your dog.

So, watch out for these four mistakes that can ruin the whole experience.

1. Constant Repetition

This mistake is particularly common with beginners. For example, if you are trying to teach your dog a trick such as ‘stay’, they may fail to respond to it, maybe because they are tired, confused, or simply not in the mood.

As the folks at Dog Nerdly say, most new pet owners deal with that frustrating feeling of having a dog that just won’t listen. In such cases, do not make the mistake of repeatedly telling your dog what to do until it does it barely. Once they get accustomed to this habit, it becomes very hard to break it. Just ask once. If your dog shows little interest in you, go back to the basics and teach all over again.

Try to figure out what bothers them, and create a new training plan to make the experience enjoyable for everyone.

2. Letting emotions rule

Excessive emotion from you could impair your dog’s ability to learn some new things. When teaching them, try to remain calm and relaxed. Your dog will develop a fear of training sessions if you use an aggressive or hostile-sounding tone. This goes for positive emotions as well. When your dog reacts to your command properly, pet them softly, smile, and carry on.

Do not burst into loud shouts out of enjoyment, as this can also disturb them. Over time, they will get used to your relaxed behavior, and everything will run smoothly.

3. Not being consistent

Consistency is the key when training your dog. This way, you make them accustomed to this practice and eager to do more every day. If that is too much for you, you can ask your family members or friends to help you, and that way light the burden off your shoulders.

Also, you can do almost half of the training in the comfort of your backyard, so do your best to be consistent and let your dog maintain its energy levels by regular training. If you do this only once a week, that is simply not enough for your dog, who usually has the attention span of a human toddler. You need to keep them occupied all the time if you want them to be happy with you.

4. Poisoning of cues

When you unintentionally link a behavior or signal with something your dog doesn’t like, it may start to act adversely. For example, if your dog doesn’t like to bathe, and you’re using the cue ‘come’ to bathe them, this can create a negative connection between the cue and what you expect your dog to do. The next day, when you say ‘come’, your dog will definitely show some reluctance. If your buddy has a strong aversion to something, try to avoid linking that activity to any cues, words, or phrases.

Even though training your dog can sometimes be exhausting, you can speed up the process and ensure your friend has the best chance of success by avoiding these common mistakes. Let this experience be wonderful for both of you!