Pikachu!

 I'd like to offer you some important tips on how to train your Pikachu, Togapi, Mew or any of the others to be really good friends and companions to you.

As you know, the relationship between the trainer and their Pokemon is all-important.

If your Pikachu doesn't like you, it won't try very hard to do anything.

As a result, it isn't much fun to do anything with it and the whole thing just gets nasty - but there's no need for any of that!

So here are the .....

1. Keep all your training happy!

This means that it is very bad to lose your temper or shout and scream at your Pikachu. 

It doesn't just get upset at the time, but what happens is that the Pikachu gets to think that training sucks and will try and get out of it or at the very least, sigh heavily and wish it was it was somewhere else.

It won't pay proper attention to you and it won't listen. And that's a real bad thing in training.

So, how do you keep training happy?

• Keep it short.

Don't overdo it, especially with a young Pikachu and keep looking if they're getting fed up. You gotta stop before they get fed up - in fact, the best time to stop is when they're still ready to do a lot more. That keeps them happy and keen to do some more tomorrow.

• Keep it easy.

Make sure your Pika can do what you want them to do quite easily. If they get freaked out or fail all the time, they get sad or upset and won't learn a thing other than that training is terrible and makes you feel bad. 

So make things easy to start with, and only gently make it more harder, a bit at a time, but never so hard that the Pikachu fails to get it right and you can praise and reward them. If your Pikachu fails, that's a sign you've made it too hard for them and they need  to practice easier, shorter, lighter things first for a bit more.

• Lots Of Rewards!!

When your Pika has done a good job and tried hard, even if what they did wasn't so good or perfect to start with, give lots of really excited praise and lots of rewards too so that your Pikachu really knows how proud of them you are and how much you appreciate their efforts.

• "Its not the Pikachu, it's always the trainer."

What that means is that if a Pika is great at what they do, that's the trainers pride and praise - they are a good trainer.

If a Pika is miserable and does badly, that's the trainer's disgrace and their fault. There was something wrong with their training methods.

• All Pikachus can be absolutely brilliant. 

They're all capable of it, no matter what the differences between them. 

Some need more encouragements, and some need more patience and some are a bit slower but all of them have it in them to be total excellent.

A good trainer NEVER blames their Pikachu for anything that goes wrong but asks themselves instead, How can I train differently so this won't happen again, or this stops or what else can I do to make my Pika get better at it?

• Help & Experience

If you haven't trained that many Pikachus, you will need some help from others who have successfully trained Pikachus before. Watch other trainers and take note of what's happening, really carefully. Often you can see things that don't work and you can learn a lot from what NOT to do as well as copying things that really work well.

• Keeping Your Cool

It happens that you get fed up and angry. Happens to the greatest trainers and gym leaders. But what they do when that happens is that they stop and walk away and don't talk to the Pikachu before they're feeling better again.

They know that it really hurts their Pikachu and damages it quite badly when they get angry and yell and shout.

It makes the Pikachu nervous and in the long run, is really bad for your relationship which is the most important thing.

So if you find you're getting annoyed, just stop and leave it be for now. Tomorrow is another day and chances are, what got you wound up today will just go smoothly then.

That's the most important and the greatest secret of all Pikachu training.

If something goes bad, something goes wrong, there's no need to be upset or get depressed.

Tomorrow is always another day.

You can always start again, start afresh, try something else.

It doesn't matter, really.

Your Pikachu will be there, ready and waiting to have another go if it loves you and you have treated it right.

And at the end, that's the important thing, not winning battles or anything like that.

When your Pikachu isn't with you anymore, it's not the battles you'll remember or the trophies on the shelf, or the badges.

Its the little things, how it used to snuggle up with you and follow you around and look at you and how much you loved it.

If you remember that, and take the time each night before you go to bed to have a moment where you just cuddle or stroke your Pikachu and tell it how much you like and admire it, everything else will be easy for you both.

Good Training & All The Best Success To You!

Silvia Hartmann

Gym Leader At EnergyArt.uk

Keep Your Training Bright & Happy!