Train Your Dog to Wear a Coat

When the weather outside is frightful, a coat can be delightful—here’s how to get your dog to wear one.

It’s pouring, snowing or bitterly cold, but still, it’s time to take your dog for a walk. You’d like to put a coat on him, but when you try, he simply stands there, looking miserable and refusing to budge.

You’re not alone! But don’t worry: You actually can train your dog to like (okay, tolerate!) wearing a coat by changing how he feels about it. In other words, instead of the coat being scary or something your dog flat-out dislikes, he can learn to at least accept it. The following steps outline how to accomplish this.

• Arm yourself with some delicious, high-value treats. (Note: When training a new behavior, especially when you’re trying to change your dog’s emotional response to something, it’s best to use treats he absolutely loves but doesn’t typically get.)

• Choose a time when your dog is relatively relaxed, such as after a long walk or playing ball.

from The Bark https://ift.tt/2WqzlzT https://ift.tt/2WxkHHv