Reader’s Digest Australia & New Zealand – May 2019

PETS

18 | May• 2019

6 Ways to Make

Your Dog Smarter

BY DR KATRINA WARREN

Here’swhatyouneedtoknowto

turn your dog into a clever canine

JUSTLIKEHUMANS,a dog’sintelligencecanbe

increasedthrougheducationandtraining.Well-trained

dogsaresmarter,betterbehavedandmorefun.Inreality,

seeming‘smart’oftensimplyreflects‘training’soyou’ll

needtoinvesttimeintrainingandcommunicatingwith

yourdog.VeterinarianDrKatrinaWarrensharesher

experttipstohelpmakeyour dog a clever canine.

1 EARLYTRAINING

Theearlieryoustarttrainingyourpuppy,themore

likelyyouaretoachieveresults.A littlebitoftraining,

severaltimesa day,willmakea bigdifference.Don’t

forgettokeepit informalandfun.Contrarytopopular

belief,youcanteachanolddognewtricks,soif you

haveanolderdogit’sstillworthinvestingthetime.

2 ASSOCIATEWORDSWITHREWARDS

It’spossiblefordogstounderstanda rangeof

vocabularysimilartothatofa two-year-oldchild.

Youcanteachyourdogtoassociatewordswith

behaviours,activitiesanditemsbyusingpositive

reinforcementandrewards.It’snotsurprisingthat

most dogs clearly understand words like ‘treat’, ‘toy’

Ourregularpet

columnist,

DrKatrina

Warren,isan

establishedand

trustedanimal

expert.