Dog intelligence refers to its ability to think, learn, and solve various problems. More intelligent dogs are easier and more fun to have than those that aren’t. And therefore it’s of little surprise that we all love to have intelligent ones. Who wouldn’t want to own a dog that knows the difference between shoes and boots, and who can bring them on command? It’s not easy to train your puppy to be smart, but it’s a doable task. Also, you can get some health benefits from your dog, more about that you can find at dogblog.com.
The truth of the matter is that there are proven ways of increasing your dog’s intelligence so that it’s not bored to death. In this article, we share with you tried-and-tested methods of making your dog smarter.
Table of Contents
Give it a Solid Foundation
If you took it to a few beginner obedience classes when you got him and gave up, you are doing a great disservice to your poodle. The old saying that old dogs don’t learn new tricks is far from accurate. Research suggests that dogs are likely to be smarter when trained for longer. In the research that included 110 dogs, half of them were only given minimal obedience training while the rest were schooled more. After that, they were given a test of finding hidden food.
While they were not trained on hunting, 60% of the pups with extended training found the hidden foods compared to 30% of the barely trained ones. It shows that training improves intelligence.
New Trick Goes a Long Way
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This is a time-tested strategy of boosting the intelligence of dogs. While there is no doubt that it involves a lot of work and patience, it is worth the effort once you pull it through. To make him learn the new trick faster, provide rewards, and exercise a great level of patience with your pooch.
Some people make the mistake of trying to force the new trick onto the dog but this just doesn’t cut it. The key thing is to be patient and ensure you reward every improvement he makes. At the same time, you need to be mindful of the amount of time you take to train your pet. Taking more than 30 minutes of training is sure to lead to boredom and you don’t want that. Stick to 30 minutes or less and this is sure to significantly boost its memory.
Socialize Your Pup
It’s not just human beings that need exposure but our dogs too. When you take him out more frequently, you will help him to open up his mind. This also works great to expose your dog to new and diverse situations that are sure to widen his thinking capacity. In the same way, it is important to introduce him to other dogs for instance by taking him out on parks.
Play With Him
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There are numerous games that boost the intelligence of dogs and kick out boredom. If you have time, you need to check out Brain Training for Dogs by Adrienne Faricelli (check here). It not only gives you complete guides and videos about how to train your dog on a variety of subjects but also includes more than 21 interactive games to stimulate its brain and broaden his thinking capacity.
You may also want to play Hide and Seek with him. However, make sure you have taught it the Stay command before you can start playing this game. It is very simple. Just tell him to sit and stay and then go find somewhere to hide. When it finds you, give him praise as well as a nice ear scratch.
Use Hand Signals
By nature, dogs love reacting to visual cues. They seem primed to understand human visual communication. A great example of this is pointing. You just need to point in the direction of a toy and your dog picks it. Not many pets understand this simple gesture. To make your training more effective, you need to back up those commands with signals and your best friend pet is sure to respond not just quickly but also more enthusiastically.
Teach Him as Many Words as Possible
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Studies show that dogs can learn the meaning of as many as 200 words that humans use. What this simply means is that you can increase its intelligence by teaching him more words. To effectively teach it new words, make sure you pronounce the words clearly in relation to the things you want to look at. For instance, you can hold up things and utter the words. Once you’ve held it up, say the words such as run, eat, or jump. Ensure that it reacts in a way that confirms it has understood the word. The level of your dog’s intelligence will mesmerize you.
Train Him Regularly
We understand that you may not have the time or the financial wherewithal to train it as regularly as you would like to. But these days, there are decent programs that you can buy and train your dog at home. We always like to make reference to Adrienne Faricelli’s Brain Training for Dogs (check here). This program is dirt cheap but contains a plethora of information to teach your dog any trick. Unlike training classes, it lets you train your dog at home at every minute that you get. You can make it a habit to be training your pup every evening or during weekends without leaving the comfort of your home. Also, it won’t drain your pockets.
Conclusion
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Turns out that training your dog is not so hard after all. There are a variety of tools and courses online to help you boost the intelligence of your dog. But being that it will take time to get a good program, we would suggest visiting Delaware K9 Academy for the best dog training programs. Other tips include combining commands with hand signals, teaching him many words, playing with him, and introducing new tricks. We would like to warn you at this point that it won’t be easy when you start out. However, with time and commitment, you can make your pooch highly intelligent and active. In the end, you will realize that it’s well worth the effort.
