Training

The heel command is a very important skill to teach your dog. You will find this very useful if you have to walk your dog on bust streets. If you are able to get your dog to heel correctly he will not pull, or try to get to other animals, or pick up trash, or stop to sniff things.

Owners should remember that a leash is a safety tool. If your dog knows how to heel correctly the leash becomes almost unnecessary. As in all training you do not want to pull on the leash.

The first thing to do is get your dog to sit beside you on the left. Once he is sitting, get the dog’s attention. Say the dog’s name and give the command word. Be sure to have a treat in your hand. Take two steps forward. Keep the treat in your hand close to your side and slightly above the dogs head. If the dog stays with you reward and praise. Do not be too concerned with having your dog sit just yet. This is a building process. Keep repeating this process, slowly increasing the amount of steps that you take.

Once your dog has a good grasp of staying by your side start getting him to sit when you stop. Make sure to give the release command so that the dog knows when the exercise is over. While you are walking praise the dog if he stays beside you. If he starts to stray change direction. If he does not notice right away that you have turned get his attention. If the leash begins to get tight STOP. Do not pull and do not move. Call the dog back to the correct position.

Remember that all training sessions should be kept to about fifteen minutes. Training your dog to heel is a hard task for your dog to learn. Be sure to give lots of praise and rewards and always end on a positive note.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Concentrate On How You Want Your Dog To Behave

If you don’t know where you’re going, how can you get there? This applies to pretty much everything we do every day of our lives, and it’s true of potty training tricks, too.

It’s very easy to fall into the trap of concentrating on things that we don’t want. This happens a lot with dogs! We definitely don’t want our pet to pee on the carpet, or to chew the sofa, or to carry on running when we call him back to us, or start barking incessantly when older members of the family come to the house.

Contemplate this for a minute. Suppose you’re about to adopt a puppy. Are you actually considering spending the next eight to fourteen years of your life chasing your dog around saying, “No no no”? Wouldn’t it be better to guide your dog into behaviors that you want?

A prime example springs to mind is when we think, “I really do not want the dog to chew the furniture,” try, “I want my dog to chew his toys.” Rather than, “I don’t want the dog to embarrass me when I have guests,” change it to, “My dog should greet and welcome my guests controlled and quietly.”

By focusing on the positive aspects of your training goals, you will have a much clearer path to successfully training your dog. What better way to start your training program.

Reward Your Dog

The most important aspect people have realized in house breaking puppy during the last decade is a move in focus from highlighting corrective action, or penalties, and moving towards rewarding good behavior.

The practice of rewarding your dog’s good behavior is a smart one, especially for dog house training. A fundamental reason for using rewards is that when you punish your dog, for whatever reason, the consequences can be pretty sad. Some dogs - not all, but it can happen - could become frightened or even aggressive in response to the punishment. Some dogs, especially timid breeds, may close off completely. They seem to lose their sense of adventure. Some may even appear completely broken spirited.

You also get a better sense of accomplishment and enlightenment when using reward training techniques. It’s nice to be a source of praise and treats, instead of a constant disciplinarian.

But regardless of how good it makes you feel, rewards based training actually works. Simply because using rewards helps build your dogs self esteem and strengthens your relationship. As soon as she discovers that rewards come for a particular action of behavior, your pet will want to repeat he behavior as often as possible. When you learn the best way to use this technique, you can use rewards to reach virtually any training goal.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Do you have a new puppy or even a young pooch that has been part of your family for some time? Well if you are looking to teach your dog tricks, and in particular how to teach your dog to roll over, believe me when I say that it is not as difficult as you may think.

The trick is your body language and, treats. Of course, treats alone are something your pet will love. But it is the ability to use those treats to have your dog do what it want it to do.

Have you ever read a book on dog tricks? They might make it sound so basic with tips, but if you put on your reading glasses and take a look at the fine print you will see that all dog tricks take only one secret. So what is that secret?

It is really not that big of a secret, it is a process called consistency. You see, dogs absolutely crave consistency. So basically, you can teach your dog absolutely anything you want as long as you are consistent.

So lets get in to the treats about teaching your dog to roll over. I will let you know that there are a couple pre-requisites before teaching your dog to roll over. So like I said, slip on those designer reading glasses and pay attention. The pre-req’s are the ability to lie down and stay in the lie down position on command.

Step 1 – have your dog lie down and stay.
Step 2 – with a treat in your hand, hold it to one side of your dogs nose, about 4 inches away.
Step 3 – say the command “roll over” as you move the treat up and over your dogs nose.
Step 4 – (it may take a couple takes to get to this step) move the treat as your dog begins to roll.
Step 5 – move the treat appropriately to make your dog roll its body over
Step 6 – Know that your dogs body will follow its nose, err, which will follow the treat.

So you see, it is not rocket science; it is all about consistency and common sense. And of course, a treat your dog will love.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

When many people think of Dog Training, they may envision showing off their best friend’s playing-dead technique during summer cookouts. If this isn’t something that appeals to them, they may disregard dog training as a frivolous activity custom made for people with too much time on their hands. There are, however, several ways of training your dog and several reasons to do so. Three very important benefits of training your dog are socialization, safety, and bonding.

Socializing your dog is simply the act of making him a pleasure to be around for people and other dogs alike. Who wants to be around a dog - especially a large one - who jumps on everyone with whom he comes in contact? If you have a dog that jumps, you may feel forced to resign him to the backyard when company visits, which may in turn make an annoying barker out of him as he feels left out of social gatherings. But if you treat the problem by training him not to jump, you will enable him to enjoy the company of others when they come for a visit. You will be able to do things with him like go to the park and walk in areas where there are other people and dogs.

A trained dog is a safer dog. One of a pet owner’s biggest fears is that their beloved animal will one day get away from during a walk and be hit by a car. Some very basic training can give you a safety net in just such a situation. For instance, imagine that your dog runs out the front door one morning and you lose track of him. When you find him, he is on the other side of a busy street, and his first impulse may be to bound happily toward you at first sight. But if he is well-trained, you can signal for him to sit and wait for you to come and leash him. Disaster averted.

Aside from those two very practical reasons to train your dog, however, there is a third benefit that busy people sometimes overlook. Time spent training your dog is time the two of you will spend together. If you’ve ever built a model with your kid or fixed a computer or baked a cake with a friend, you know that accomplishing a goal with a loved one can be a valuable bonding experience. Dogs are not immune to this. If you spend just a few minutes each day training your dog, it will give both of you a sense of accomplishment and bring you closer together.

Certainly, a few nifty party tricks aren’t out of the question. Go ahead - see how far you can take the training once you have the basics covered. Let your dog show you and everyone else exactly how smart he is. Remember to use plenty of praise and reward, as well as having lots of patience.

Learn more about Dog Training

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

When house training your Dalmatian puppy, you will need to take him out frequently and at regular intervals: first thing in the morning directly from the crate, right after meals, after the puppy has been napping, or when you notice that the puppy is looking for a spot.  Choose more or less the same place to take the puppy each time in order to establish a pattern.  If he does not go immediately, do not return him to the house because he will probably relieve himself the moment he is inside.  Stay out with him until he has finished; then be generous with your praise for his good behavior.  If you catch the puppy having an accident indoors, grab him firmly and rush him outside, sharply saying “No!” as you pick him up.  If you do not see the accident occur, there is little point in doing anything except cleaning it up, because once it has happened and been forgotten, the puppy will most likely not even realize why you are scolding him. 

If you live in a big city or are away many hours at a time, having a dog that is trained to go on paper has some very good advantages.  In order to do this,  proceed the same way as taking the puppy outdoors, except this time you place the puppy on the newspaper at the proper time.  The paper should always be kept in the same area.  An easy way to paper train a puppy if you have a playpen is to line the area with newspapers; then gradually remove a section of it until you are down to just one or two. The puppy acquires the habit of using the paper; and as the prepared area grows smaller, the dog will usually continue to use whatever paper is still available.  It is pleasant, if the dog is alone for a long period of time to be able to feel that if he needs it the paper is there and will be used. 

The puppy should form the habit of spending a certain amount of time in his crate, even when you are home. Sometimes the puppy will do this “voluntarily, but if not, he needs to learn to do so, which is done by leading him over by his collar, gently pushing him inside, and saying firmly, “Down” or “Stay.”  Whatever expression you use to give a command, stick to the very same one each time for each act.  Repetition is very important in training as well as association with what the dog is expected to do.  When you mean “Sit” always say exactly that.  “Stay” should mean only that the dog should remain where he receives the command. “Down” means something else again. 

Do not confuse the dog by shuffling the commands, because this will create training problems for you.  As soon as he had his shots, take your puppy with you whenever and wherever you can.  Nothing builds a self-confident, stable dog like socialization, and it is very important that you plan and have the time and energy to do this.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!