MetroSniff's 5 Cs of Dog Training - Confidence

Confidence, Fundamentals - By Staff Writer on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 - 12:55

We have all seen it, perhaps in a puppy class or at the dog park, an owner says a command "sit" or "come" trying very hard to sound firm but something about it sounds half hearted and what does the dog do?  Look at the owner and do exactly what it feels like doing.  But suddenly along comes a trainer and they say "sit" and instantly the dog's butt hits the ground.  What happened?  The dog could tell in the inflection of the voice that the trainer was serious and confident and it was in the interest of the dog to trust the trainer and sit.  Dogs have an innate sense to pick up on verbal, physical, and emotional cues from owners that we often don't even notice ourselves.  The slight waver of the voice from lack of confidence could be indicating to your dog you don't trust yourself so they should take the lead.

Confidence is the most important thing you need to have when you start training your dog. Often times people do not have it initially, when the foundation of the relationship is being laid.  While it does make all the world of a difference to have it up front, it is one of those things that is better to get later than never.

One of the most important things to remember when it comes to being confident while training is that confidence is not dominance.  You can act dominantWhen dominant is used referring to genes or a genetic trait it means the most likely copy of a gene from both parents to appear in the offspring. or perform techniques that show dominance to your dog but if you are not confident in yourself as a trainer you will not instill the trust that your dog needs in you to follow your commands.

To learn more about confidence while training check out the following articles:

Common Causes For Lack Of Confidence
 Building Confidence For Dog Training