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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Dog training may seen like a daunting task. However, there is hope. Just remember to let the dog know that you are the master and he or she is not. Make sure that you speak in a tone that shows authority. Routine is crucial. If you keep these things in mind, you cannot go wrong.

When you bring that sweet little puppy home, you just want to let it do whatever it wants to do, because it is oh so cute. However, you must keep in mind that you are in charge, just as you would when you bring a child home from the hospital. Letting the puppy know that you are boss and what you say goes from the moment you bring him home will allow the puppy to see there are boundaries that are not to be crossed. Make sure that you start off with pointing, using gestures and body language that you will use consistently so that the dog will associate that motion with what he is to do.

Say it like you mean it. When you begin taking your dog for a walk or training him to stay in the yard, you must speak in a very firm authoritative tone. This is very important. If not, the dog may not know that you are serious or associate what you are saying with danger or discipline. Make sure that when you are going for a walk or asking the dog if he needs to go outside, you use a tone that shows excitement, something that he would want to do. This helps him differentiate between the firmness of you saying “stay” while looking to cross the street with his excitement to be outside and explore.

Routine is the key. Make sure that the gestures, the tone and the words that you use are consistent. Using the same routine will allow the puppy to adapt to his new surroundings and make him feel safe and secure, as well as help you feel more at ease knowing that your dog will obey. When taking the dog outside, always use the same door, so he knows that is where he is always to be when he needs to go outside. When you go to bed, use the same command or short phrase, so that he may recognize what time it is. Routine with dogs allows both of you to know what to expect and the dog will be far more likely to obey if he knows what is coming.

With all that said, have fun and enjoy the new member of your family! Training can be an exciting time and does not have to be frustrating. Go to the park on a sunny day and play while teaching him how to obey. Just remember to let him know, in love, who is boss!

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Dog Training

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There are so many dog obedience schools and training centres that its often difficult to know what to look for in choosing one.

It is essential to decide what you want to achieve out of attending dog obedience training and it’s a good start to ask yourself the following questions:

1. Would you prefer one to one training, or group lessons?

One to one training is significantly more expensive than group lessons, so you should consider the budget that you have set for the training.

2. What is the aim of attending dog obedience training?

Is it for puppy socialisation?
Is it simply general training; walking to heel, sitting etc?
Do you intend to compete in obedience trials?
Are you interested in any specialist disciplines; i.e trick training, Heelwork to Music, agility?

3. What type of atmosphere would you like?

Would you like to join a proper “Dog club”, with all of its associated social activities and competitions? Or are you just looking for somewhere to train your dog once a week?
Once you have a good idea in your mind of what you are looking for, then you’re ready to start contacting relevant dog obedience schools and finding out whether they meet what you’re looking for.

It’s a good idea to visit the dog obedience schools, attend a lesson (without your dog), and talk to the trainers. You should trust your instincts when deciding whether you think you and your dog will fit into the training classes and enjoy working with the trainers.

A serious consideration in your decision should be the methods of training used by the dog obedience schools; you should look for trainers who believe in kind, positive methods of training. Dog trainers who encourage the use of choke chains or any kind of rough handling, should be avoided at all costs.

There are professional associations, regulating some dog obedience schools, so you may prefer to choose a dog obedience class that is regulated by one of these associations. But do remember that there are lots of good obedience schools that may not be registered with the associations.

Stephanie has written many articles on dogs and dog training which can be found at the Kennel Corner website. Kennel Corner also contains a useful Dog Obedience Schools search facility to find your closest training school.

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