Consistency

I can't possibly say it often or loud enough: Consistency is the key to good results in animal training. As an animal training professional, not a day goes by that I don't see what happens when people ignore that rule. They end up with neurotic dogs, and can't understand why Poopsy doesn't read their minds and understand what they want. Nevermind that Mister Meyers doesn't have the same house rules and Mrs. Meyers. Nevermind that Mrs. Meyers says one thing but means another. "BAD dog, get down off of that couch this instant!" she screams at him, entirely forgetting that earlier that same afternoon when she was feeling a bit more benevolent and Poopsy looked "SO cute" she called Poopsy over to her and had her up in her lap - while she sat on the very same couch.

IF YOU DON'T WANT THE DOG TO GO ON THE COUCH, THEN IT CAN *NEVER* BE ACCEPTABLE TO DO SO!

If you're changing the rules all the time, what you're teaching the dog is that if they keep at it, eventually they'll get to do what they want.

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Think about the ways in which you give your canine companion mixed signals, the ways in which family members say something different than you do. Can they handle different rules with different people? Sure, they can, but why make things any more difficult than they need to be?

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When I'm training a dog, whether it's a family pet, a guard dog or a working police dog, I make a point of having every member of the family present if at all possible. If they can't all be there all the time, then at least the first training session must be a family event, so that EVERYONE knows how everyone else is doing things.

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Does this make sense to you? Makes sense to the dogs, too!