Alabais are serious and willful dogs, so they require obligatory behavioral adjustments. The success of Alabai training depends on how high his intelligence, whether he has a tendency to learn, and whether the trainer has patience and experience in this difficult business.
Character peculiarities of Alabais
Representatives of this breed are considered one of the most intellectually developed dogs, they can execute a command from the first time. But due to their stubbornness, embedded at the genetic level, they tend to refuse to do so, preferring independent action. That’s why the psychological factor, i.e. timely establishment of contact between a man and a dog, is very important in training of alabais.
A trainer must be firm and able to make the dog understand that its commands must be obeyed unconditionally. If the Alabai at least once disobeys without consequence, it will constantly refuse to obey human commands.
To start training a Middle Asian puppy, you can only remember the characteristic features of this breed. First of all, these dogs are shepherds, which means that at the level of genes they have the habit of living with the pack and obey the leader. Therefore, it is extremely important from the very first day to prove their superiority to the pet, so that the commands of man he perceived as the orders of the leader of the pack.
For this purpose, experts recommend to take the dog to unknown places, to a foreign territory, to transport it in a car or by public transportation. A puppy of any breed in this situation will feel uncomfortable and confused, while the owner, who behaves calmly and confidently, will show leadership and will be able to inspire the dog with respect.
How to train an Alabai puppy
As soon as the baby is two months old and gets to his owners, you can begin his training. If before the main thing for him was the mother, now this place must be taken by a man. Knowing the psychology of the representatives of this breed, you can confidently say that they do not like people who are constantly fussing, showing impatience and speak in exaggerated tones.
If the Central Asian sheepdog is constantly shouted at, to use physical force as a punishment, the pet will begin to perceive such behavior as a weakness of the owner, and due to the natural stubbornness will stubbornly disobey.
Alababies are intelligent and willful animals, so they need a special approach. If a pup has done something wrong, he, accordingly, must be punished. But to do this, it will be enough to do the same way his mother did – to shake him by the withers and clearly say only one command: “Ew!”. Once he understands that he is being chased, the alabai will always obey this command. This will help to avoid various troubles. When communicating with an animal, a person should be able to control emotions and exude confidence.
Once the contact has been established, and the alabai has perceived the trainer as a leader, you can begin the process of training and start with basic commands. Several methods are used: encouragement, compulsion and prohibition. When encouraging, the dog receives praise or a tidbit. Coercion is used when the dog refuses to follow a command, and the pet will follow it in order not to get punished.
Prohibition is introduced so that on command the dog will stop all unwanted actions. For any breed, and for alabais even more so, it should not be used often, because the pet loses the desire to make independent decisions.
The course of home training includes the following commands:
- To me! This is the first command your puppy needs to learn. Calling the dog to you, you need to add to the spoken name loud and clear “Come to me!” If the baby comes up without delay, he should be immediately rewarded with a treat and a pet.
- Near! This command involves finding the pet at the owner’s left leg, not only when the pet is calm but also when the pet is moving. In this case the command is followed by an energetic tug of the leash.
- Sit! This position is the starting point for many other actions. You can encourage him by bringing a treat to his nose or by pressing on his rump.
- Down! The dog should lie down with his body straight at the command. Service dogs should have their heads up in this position. Tasteful encouragement, pressure in the withers area with the paws stretched out, or a brisk downward movement of the leash can be used.
- Freeze! In this case, the animal must stop, no matter what the dog was doing. A coercive tactic is used: the pet should be lifted with his hands under his belly or by pulling the leash upwards. After the command is given, the dog should be kept in this position for some time more, and then he should be given a pet treat and praise.
- Go for a walk! To give the pet a rest during training, you must teach him to distinguish between training time and free state. A long leash is used for this purpose. The dog needs to be shown by example to move and then called to him and given a treat.
- Place! One of the first commands to show the puppy his place. For an older puppy the task gets more difficult, as any object becomes his “spot. The dog has to stay right next to it, no matter what’s going on around it.
After the pet learns the command given by voice, a new option is introduced – a show by hand. Each command has its own designation.
The commands should be offered to the dog in sequence, but not all at once. Alababies may take a long time to learn them. Definitely, they can repeat any command at once, but their temperament will not allow them to agree to repeat them all the time.
House rules
Your puppy will learn commands better if taught at home, in a calm atmosphere and with no one else around. You will need to eliminate all distractions, i.e. TV, radio, interesting toys for the baby. Only in this way will the dog be able to concentrate as much as possible exclusively on the tasks at hand.
If the pet has to live in an enclosure, you should still teach it not to be afraid of the noises of the city – the movement of vehicles, a large number of people, street noises.
There are a number of commands that can only be taught outdoors. For example, the command: “Make way!” is necessary for the dog to always stop in front of the road. For puppy to learn it, you need to stop before crossing for two or three minutes and say the command. And repeat the action regardless of whether there is traffic on the road, or not.
On the street the dog learns the commands “fetch!” and “barrier”. You may teach it to the puppy from the age of 3,5-4 months.
Alabai is, above all, a guard dog, so they need to develop the following vital skills:
- To guard the territory and things entrusted to him;
- Be distrustful of strangers;
- be able to chase and detain intruders
- guard and protect a person;
- carry out patrol activities;
- be able to detect footprints, find not only the person, but also hidden things.
There are many commands that can instill such skills in a pet. And it is up to the owners of the dog to determine which ones are necessary for their pet.
While training the Alabai, you must be careful not to deprive him of the desire to be independent. While guarding the outside territory in the dark time of the day, being outside the enclosure, the dog must be able to make a decision, depending on the situation. Central Asian sheepdogs guard the territory silently, and attack without any warning signs. Sometimes the owners teach their four-legged guards to bark when they detect intruders in the territory.
It is worth noting that if the puppy enters a house where there is already a guard dog, he will learn to perform guarding functions faster, adopting someone else’s experience.
If there are no special skills in training, it is better to entrust this matter to professionals. In this case, group lessons are unlikely to be suitable, since the ferocious temperament of the Alabai will not allow it to communicate calmly with other dogs. The best option is individual lessons.
In any case, leave the Central Asian shepherd dog without training, because, not being able to obey, it can become an uncontrollable weapon, a threat to others.
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