Adding a dog to your family can be extremely rewarding. However, all dogs, no matter their intelligence or temperament, need to be trained, so they can enjoy life by your side. Proper training can prevent anxiety and destructive behaviors. It can also help them navigate situations with other dogs or new people without lashing out from fear.
Ultimately, training builds trust and communication between people and their dogs. There are also specialty training courses that give your dog special skills that allow them to take on other roles.
In this guide, we’ll help you understand the benefits of online training and answer some frequently asked questions.
Why Use Dog Training Videos?
The benefits of training your dog are obvious, but hiring a professional trainer can be expensive and time-consuming. There may not be appropriately qualified dog trainers in your community either. However, most people find it challenging to train their dogs, especially if they aren’t experienced dog owners.
Training videos are a great way to get the expertise of experienced professionals while enjoying the convenience of working with your dog at home on your schedule. It often costs significantly less as well. Many training courses allow you to consult with a dog trainer and will also provide a certificate of completion.
Anyone can upload a video to YouTube, and training your dog based on random videos can have mixed results. Taking an online course with someone whose credentials are readily available gives you a logical and methodical approach to training your dog.
Can Training Videos Help Behavioral Issues?
If you have a dog with behavioral issues, it can be extremely stressful for both of you. Often, behavioral problems arise from something stressing out your dog or one of their needs not being met.
In some cases, having a trainer face-to-face can help you and your dog. For some serious issues, it may even be required.
However, many issues can be tackled before they escalate. Working with an anxious or aggressive dog at home may cause less stress. It can also help strengthen the relationship between you and your dog, which can make them more responsive to your commands.
Online Service Dog Training
Service dogs can be extremely beneficial to people with many different disabilities or conditions. Unfortunately, it can be hard to get one. Some people find themselves on waiting lists for months or even years to get a trained service dog. Availability may be even more limited depending on where you live or what particular kind of service dog you’re looking for.
Fortunately, the ADA does not require service dogs to be professionally trained to qualify as protected service animals. The only real requirements are that they help perform a task to support a person with a disability or special condition, that they are trained to stay calm and alert in a variety of environments, and that they can pass a Public Access test.
In some cases, this training can be done at home with the assistance of an online training course. Starting a dog’s training when they are young can help them be more likely to meet the necessary qualifications, and certain breeds are better suited to certain service dog roles than others.
Kinds of Service Dog Training
While guide dogs for the vision or hearing impaired are still often trained by professionals from a young age, other kinds of service training, such as psychiatric service dog training, are more commonly being done from home now.
While guide dogs help their owners navigate the world safely by avoiding obstacles or alerting to alarms, psychiatric service dogs help their owners control or mitigate symptoms of mental illness. Each individual will have specific needs based on their symptoms and personal challenges, so personalized service dog training makes sense. You can train your dog to be attuned to your unique triggers and signs that you might be doing poorly and develop a way for them to respond to those signs.
Train Your Dog From Home
Dog trainers have their place and help many dogs and dog owners live in better harmony. They are a great option, but they are not your only option. More high-quality dog training courses are being offered online now via video classes. Even specialty training courses can sometimes be completed at home.
Training your dog is important, and being able to train from home makes it much more accessible to more people.