Free Dog Ttraining

The basis of training your puppy is winning his trust,respect,
and confidence. Real training can’t begin until
your puppy has accepted you as his leader, respects you,and has
confidence in you.

A mistake many puppy owners make is confusing love and
affection for respect and confidence. It is important to
love your puppy. It is equally important for your puppy to
respect you, have confidence in you, and see you as the
pack leader. Dogs are naturally pack animals and every pack
member looks to the pack leader for direction. Making
yourself the pack leader is vital to the success of training
any dog. If you don’t, your dog will assume the role. If that
happens, neither of you will be happy.

Failure to gain the confidence and respect of your puppy can
create a dog who is out of control, disobedient, and even
dangerous. It is important to train your puppy correctly from
the start since retraining a problem dog is possible but more
difficult than training a puppy correctly the first time.

It is critical for any new dog owner, whether working with a 12
week old puppy or a 12 year old dog, to get his respect. That
does not mean using rough or dangerous handling methods, but it
does mean letting him know that you are in control of the
situation. Dogs need structure in their lives and they will not
resent you for taking control. As a matter of fact, your dog
will appreciate your taking the role of trainer and coach as you
begin your training sessions.

When you start working with your dog it is important to keep
the training sessions short at first. This is particularly
important when working with a young puppy. Puppies tend to have
much shorter attention spans than older dogs so keeping the
sessions short is fun and essential for proper training.

Beginning training sessions should focus on the most basic
commands. The heel command is one of the most basic as well as
one of the easiest to teach. Start by putting the puppy in a
properly fitted training collar. Be sure to follow the
instructions for fitting and sizing the collar to insure that it
works as intended. There are other articles in this series
about proper training collars. You can also check with your
pet store or breeder.

Begin to walk and allow your dog to walk beside you. If he
begins to pull, gently pull on the leash. This, in turn, will
tighten the training collar and give your dog a gentle
correction. If the gentle pressure is ineffective, it may be
necessary to slowly increase the pressure. Always be careful not
to over-correct your dog. Using too much pressure could
frighten him and cause him to strain more. If the opposite
problem occurs and the dog lags behind, you should gently
encourage him until he is walking beside you.

Most dogs figure out the heeling concept fairly rapidly and
they soon realize that they should walk beside you, neither
lagging behind nor pulling ahead. You should also pick up the
pace and allow him to speed up as well. Finally, walking along,
changing pace, and changing direction often will reinforce the
lesson the he should always walk at your heel.

From heeling, the next step is for him to halt when you stop
walking. The halt works well as an adjunct to heel. As you are
walking, stop and watch your dog. Many dogs immediately
understand that they are expected to stop when their human does.
Others may need the reminder of the leash and the training collar.

After the halt has been mastered, encourage your dog to sit on
halt. Once your dog has stopped, gently push on his
hindquarters to encourage the sit. Usually after this walk,
halt and sit procedure has been done a few times, he will begin
to sit on his own each time he stops. Of course, it is
important to provide lots of praise and maybe even a treat every
time he does as he is expected.

These three commands should be taught without voice. Get your
dog used to your body language. We will cover halt and sit off
leash in later articles. For now, get your dog to walk beside
you, halt when you stop and sit immediately. You will be so
proud of him and he will be proud of himself.

Join me on the web and sign up for my newsletter at
http://dogsrule.hickorypublishing.com

Cathy Perkins is a dog lover who is allowed to live with her two dogs, Tillie and Pierrot, in the beautiful foothills of North Carolina. Sign up for the Dogs Rule newsletter at:
http://dogsrule.hickorypublishing.com/?page_id=34

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There is no doubt that it is a joy to see a well trained dog. A dog that has been trained is well mannered and can be relied upon to stay calm in even the most distracting of environments.

Statistics also show that a well trained dog is far more likely to have a home for life, usually with the same owner. Well trained dogs do not tend to end up abandoned and living at the local rescue centre.

If we draw the comparison to any relationship in our life - the most successful ones we have are those where there are clear boundaries; where each party to the relationship knows and understands what behaviour is acceptable and what is not. By training a dog, the owner is teaching the animal where the boundaries of acceptable behaviour are and this in turn means that the dog is no longer a liability or an embarrassment to the owner.

There is no reason why owners should not train their dogs at home or by attending classes. For some of the less teachable dogs, there are even boot camps available. The key to successful training wherever it takes place is a consistency in approach. The owner, or the trainer, must determine what acceptable behaviour is and consistently reward the dog when that behaviour is demonstrated. Equally, unacceptable behaviour must not be rewarded.

If you do not want your dog to sleep on your couch - he must never sleep on your couch. Keeping him off the couch is not to be reserved for training sessions. It is very easy to separate training sessions from every day life but it is essential that the training continues so the dog is absolutely clear about what is expected of him (or her).

Dogs have no way of differentiating between training lessons and everyday life and for the owner to demonstrate inconsistent behaviour just leads to confusion for the dog.

You will want to train your dog to be sociable without making the first move. Whilst you as the owner may not mind your dog climbing all over you, there are many people who will not feel the same way. It is important that your dog learns that it is not acceptable to jump up to greet people - if he or she does this with a child it could result in an inadvertent injury.

It is important that your dog learns to behave well when socializing with other dogs. There is nothing worse than having a dog that can never be released from the leash simply because the owner cannot trust him or her around other dogs.

Few people are lucky enough to live in an area where dogs can be walked off the leash all the time. For this reason it is important that your dog is trained to walk nicely on the leash - without pulling.

The ’sit’ ’stay’ ‘down’ commands do nothing more than teach your dog obedience - they reinforce boundaries and go a long way to ensuring that your dog will comply with your instructions.

The number of dogs that end up in rescue centres and are ultimately destroyed every year is a tragedy caused in the main by irresponsible dog owners. If you are going to take a dog into your home please view it as a long term commitment and understand that the dog will need to be taught to please you.

The rewards of taking the time to train your dog are immense; A strong human - dog bond that lasts a lifetime.

Jack Hartley is passionate about dogs and provides a wealth of free information and resources for dog owners to encourage them to learn more about their dog in order that they might forge a strong bond with their pet. He can be found at http://www.just-about-dogs.com He also posts regular musings at his blogspot http://justaboutdogs.blogspot.com

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Be a leader, a dog will follow.

From the last two articles, remember King and his dominant dog behavior? King was the leader of his pack — Mom, Dad, 2 kids. King set the rules in the house and didn’t hesitate to enforce them, with growling, snapping, and even biting. I introduced 3 simple dog training steps to help you begin to take the leadership role back from King.

Then there was Queenie and her family (especially Mom), who gently took the leadership position. Queenie learned dog manners and wonderful dog behavior through Mom’s gentle but firm positive dog training methods and her consistency in teaching Queenie house rules. Queenie was eager to learn and to please and received lots of praise and tons of treats. With humans as pack leaders and dogs as pack members (preferably at the bottom of the hierarchy!), the whole household is calm and happy.

Let’s talk about your household. Your angel might not be as dominant or aggressive as King, and you may have worked with her some but not quite enough to have a dog similar to Queenie. Time is sometimes a factor — with our lives as busy as they are, sometimes it’s difficult to make time to for even short periods of dog training. But if you’ll give it a little effort, the payoff will be tremendous. You can change your dog’s behavior in no time at all.

I want to give you a few more new recommendations for regaining leadership in your pack. But first, I want to review some of the ones found in the first two articles. For the complete list, go to http://www.best-dog-articles.com.

SOME REVIEW STEPS

Get their attention first — say Fido’s name before you say the command.

Be kind — Use a gentle voice, give commands and direction calmly and lovingly.

Let’s play — YOU start and end all games. Keep them wanting more.

Let’s EAT — YOU eat before feeding the dog.

Praise, praise, praise – Pour on the praise for good dog behavior and good manners.

NEW STEPS

1. Are you sick?!

One of the first concerns with new or unwanted behaviors (e.g., excessive urination) is a health concern. Get a vet check to address any health concerns that might cause behaviors your dog has no control over.

2. Down every day!

Put your dog in a “down” position for 5-10 minutes every day. This reinforces for your dog that you are the leader. Beginning this program may involve many jump-ups. Just gently and firmly put the dog back down. (No need to restart time.) You will notice that the breaks of command quickly fall away. It’s fine for your dog to sleep through this one!

3. Do that AGAIN!

Dogs love routine. They have incredible internal clocks. One activity that dogs love and that routine is important is mealtime. I suggest feeding dogs two times a day (no running buffet) within an hour window each time (e.g., 7-8AM and 5-6PM). Watch your dog — if you do something regularly, they come to expect it and act appropriately. Other activities that can become routine are morning or evening walks, Saturday errands, the time you come home from work. If it’s a regular thing, your dog knows it’s going to happen.

4. Brush, brush, brush the coat!

One activity you both can enjoy is grooming. Daily gentle grooming reinforces a loving relationship with your dog. This can become prized private time for both of you.

5. Through the paces– Every day!

Obedience training is very important to do every day, even for 5 minutes at a time. Try to avoid the military commando approach. Be consistent and kind, get your dog’s attention first, praise, praise, praise for his willingness and compliance to your commands. Practicing obedience reinforces that you are the leader.

CONCLUSION

That’s it! You now have the arsenal for regaining the leadership position in your pack and getting some good dog behavior practices in place. Emphasizing the positive in your dog training efforts pays off exponentially — your dog will be your friend for life and won’t be scared of you. When you establish yourself as leader, dogs respect you and will work so hard to please you. Take the time to get these easy steps into your daily routine and watch the changes magically occur.

Wishing you a calm and happy adventure with your canine companions.

[This article is the third in a 3-part series about changing dog behavior using positive dog training methods.]

O’Neal Hendrix is a premier professional dog trainer in Atlanta, GA. For many years, she has “worked miracles” with dogs and their owners. Check out her dog toy recommendations for all dog breeds and temperaments!

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