Building trust with your dog? - Page 1

Just curious, what are some of the best trust building exercises you can do with your dog? I read in Max von Stephanitz's book, the key in training is developing your dog to trust you. Thanks in advance.

My opinion would be, which ever exercise your using, consistency would be key. With your commands, body posture and rewards. If its always the same then dog can trust the out come of the exercise and trust you as master. Probably best if foundation is built this way from young. If for some reason a dog has lost trust, or was acquired at old age then it would involve much more patience.

Don't sneak out to the kitchen in the middle of the night and steal his ice cream cups :-)

I feel building/working on drive and focus is a good bonding activity. Tease, throw and play tug with the ball on string or tug, when the dog has it in his mouth let him win it, run him in a circle, take him into your arms and stroke him with long slow strokes from neck to tail and softly praise him. Then run him in a circle again and repeat.

Hello Jack, This is a very good question and is vital in team building between handler and dog. Some folks touched on trust which is very important. Fair corrections are important. Don't correct the dog for a behavior or command they do not know well or understand. I have a Sch 2 dog I am preparing for his 3. After a training session I will sit in the yard and allow him to be free. During this time I will think about the training session. During this time my dog is allowed to just be a dog. Most times he likes to sit next to me or between my leggs for contact. This is when you know your dog has a good feeling for you. Have fun and enjoy your dog. Kyle