MGG DTC-2000-1, Operation Manual

Page: 35 / 43

- 34 -
There are two most important points,
conditioned responses
and
substitution
, will be the cornerstones of your training program.
Conditioned responses
to commands are mandatory for a
properly trained dog. When you explain something one time to a
person, he or she will understand it and quite often give a positive
response when questioned on that topic. Canines are different in
that they trust their instincts implicitly. Instincts have protected
canines for thousands of years from wild animals and other threats,
and those threats still live in their minds today. In your training
program, you must totally condition the responses to the obedience
commands to such a degree that your dog trusts you more than its
own instincts. That is a tall order, and you must take it seriously or
you will not have success. Simple repetition is the only way to
properly condition a dog. Simple repetition to the tune of around
1,000 repetitions per command will do this nicely. That might seem
like an undoable task but if you will train consistently, it will take
only a short time.
Substitution :
This is where we use a stimulus to cause a
response and then add another stimulus simultaneously until the