Good Dog Behavior

You may think that training your dog to do tricks such as retrieving a toy or shaking hands may be a waste of time and a bother, but it would do you good to take a second look at training your dog beyond the basics of come, stay, and sit. Training offers far more than mere entertainment. Three benefits of continuing your dog’s education are socialization, safety, and bonding. Consider these closely when you think about training your dog.

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.

Don’t leave out the party tricks either! As soon as the basics are mastered, there is no reason to stop the learning process. Keep going - see how far you and your dog can go!

Tags: Dog Training

The simple fact is, your dog wants to be your best friend. An old adage but one that is actually true. He wants to trust you and earn your trust in return. Bonding with this furry creature can become a wobbly walk down disaster lane or a gentle and simple love story that will enrich your life.

There is a proven system rightfully entitled “Companions For Life” that will show you the way to achieve this ideal relationship of affection and mutual trust. Whether you just need to bond with your dog or solve behavioral issues in a gentle and calm manner, this program is the answer to all your best friend’s questions.

The “Companions For Life” concept was created to walk dog owners through the steps to a perfect relationship between you and your dog. This foundation is built upon three simple steps: 1. Get to know your dog; 2. Develop a relationship; and 3. Build the trust. Allow at least 30 days to create this bond … by then, you will have identified the things your dog likes and things he does not.

Your dog will also begin to reveal his unique personality. Is he high strung? Is he mellow, laid back and easily pleased? Is he naturally timid or is he fearful because of abuse? Or, is he just completely out of control? Regardless of the situation, don’t give up! There’s a good answer for how to rectify even the most difficult problem. But it is important to get to know your dog and develop that bond first.

You are now in the stage of training your dog. Once you realize that a dog is the one animal that wants to please you and be your best friend, it is a simple step to understand his little idiosyncrasies. He now trusts you to care for his basic needs and wants nothing more than your love and approval. The love relationship is now in place and the platform of training can be laid.

Moving on to other issues at this point becomes natural. From problem solving issues, basic to advanced behaviors and other training, the bonding process has provided the means to accomplish these goals. The bond between you and your dog is of the utmost importance; otherwise, correcting him when he errs can lead to negative behavior that soon becomes, out of frustration, an unpleasant habit.

So, build your foundation of trust with this loving animal and avoid needless problems while training him. Bonding with your dog will lead to a lifetime of pleasure, loving companionship and friendship for life.

Tags: Dog Behavior

The first step in dog training is teaching your dog to sit. To begin this process, it is important to start when the dog is just a puppy, or as soon as it gets settled into its new home. Why do I need to train a puppy to sit? you might ask. After all, doesn’t a dog already know how to sit? If you keep reading, you’ll learn why this early training is important, as well as exactly how to train a dog to sit.

1. The first step is easy. Every time the puppy sits by itself, just say sit. This will teach him to associate the word with the action. This technique can actually be used in training your dog to obey all types of commands.

2. Now comes the training part. Take his favorite treat and hold it in your hand. Make sure that it is small enough that the puppy can swallow it fast.

3. Being on the same level as the dog is less threatening to him, so get down on the floor with him, so that you are at his level. Make sure that you sit close to him — that way you will be able to provide your dog with his reward more quickly.

4. Move the treat over your puppies head, from front to back, slowly. The idea is for the puppy to smell the treat (he will) and follow it with his nose. He has the option of either backing while still standing or sitting down. It’s a lot easier to sit down, so he’ll probably do that.

5. It is important in training that a correct response be followed immediately by a reward. As the dog begins to sit, say the word ’sit’, and quickly give him his treat.

6. Sometimes rewards can be more than just treats so the next step is to praise him. Show joy with your voice and your body language.

7. This is something you could continue to practice 3-5 times a day. Don’t over do it though, as moderation is important, unless you are able to make these steps as fun for the dog as they are for you.

8. Next, try the same things while standing. See if your dog reacts to the word “sit” even if you don’t use your hand or offer a treat. If he sits, praise him for sitting, but if he doesn’t, don’t worry about it. During training it’s important not to show any disappoint to the dog.

It is important that the dog understands that the sit command is not optional. Regardless of distractions in the surrounding environment he must respond. To reinforce the command use it often and require that the dog comply 100% of the time. Socialize your dog by exposing him to a variety of other people, pets and locations. Teaching him to obey the sit command in a variety of situations will enhance his training and help confirm his understanding and compliance.

See how easy learning how to train a dog to sit is? When you go through these traiing steps you are doing much more than just teaching your dog how to sit. All dogs, wheter adults or Puppies love to interact with their master so training is a great bonding experience. Plus he will get used to hearing his name and being obedient to your commands. This will enforce your title of leader and make the puppy feel secure which is what he really wants in the first place.

Tags: Dog Training

Training your dog should be fun, awesome, and enlightening for both you and your dog. Dog ownership does take times, brain power (not muscle power), and money, but the benefits are enormous in terms of the relationship you will have with your chosen “best friend.” Here are some dog training tips that would make your dog training a successful one.

1. Establish specific words and commands to give the dog when training him. Use only these commands when you work with the dog. Changing your words or varying commands will confuse him, making it harder for him to understand what you want him to do.

2. In the beginning stages, be sure you don’t use the dog’s name to get him to look at you, say his name after he looks at you. After a day or two, you should start to see the dog get whiplash looking at you when you say his name.

3. Determine what you want to teach your dog. Once you know what you want to teach, get some treats or toys. When ever your dog does something you like quickly reward your dog. Timing is crucial when your training. If your timing is off training will take a little longer. With a little bit of effort and practice you can teach your dog to do just about anything.

4. To get the behaviors you want and need from your dog, you must build a relationship first. In fact 99 percent of all dog training is building your relationship and learning to read your dog. The other 1 percent is the actual obedience and manners stuff.

5. Repeat the process often. Dogs retain knowledge through repetitive training and can forget commands or required behavior if you train them only sporadically. To guarantee that your dog is well trained and obedient, work with her on a continuous basis. Repeat the steps of giving a command, marking the response, rewarding the behavior and releasing her.

Tags: Dog Training

Just like people, dogs have separation anxiety. As for what causes it, there are many. As a result, the dog and the owner can have quite the difficult experience. Overcoming the separation anxiety can be work, but it pays off for both the dog and the owner in the end because it is healthier and makes the overall environment more bearable.

However, you have to determine that what your dog is suffering from is really separation anxiety. Separation anxiety can mimic a number of other issues. Just because your dog may chew things, tear things up, and have accidents in your house when you’re gone, that doesn’t mean your dog has separation anxiety. These are non-anxiety issues that need to be addressed. Excessive barking does not indicate separation anxiety because barking can sometimes mean the dog is just bored and requires some dog obedience training. Sometimes the way to remedy this is by incorporating more exercise.

The sure fire sign of separation anxiety

The number one way to determine if your dog is suffering from separation anxiety is to look at your dog when you’re leaving. If your dog seems nervous as you leave, that is the anxiety kicking in. These nervous symptoms include pacing, trembling, a wild look in their eye, and panting. After you leave, there are things that are going on that you don’t know about. Your neighbors may know more about what your dog is doing than what you do because they may hear your dog bark and howl continuously. A dog without separation anxiety will whine, bark, and howl for about five to ten minutes. A dog with separation anxiety will do these things for hours on end.

When a dog has separation anxiety, he or she may try to hurt themselves by trying to jump out windows, get out of their crate, etc. Their entire focus is on areas in which you can exit the house because they want to find you.

The treatment

How fast treatment works depends on the severity of the separation anxiety. If you can figure out how to calm down the reaction, then you can start to deal with the problem itself. If the dog is whining before you leave, try to calm that instead of standing there and worrying. It is hard to know what to do, but try to calm it.

You can also talk to your veterinarian about anti-anxiety medication. In addition to the medication, you can work on training. Counter conditioning is commonly used in combination with medication because counter conditioning takes the negative experience and turns it into a positive one. For example: Simply putting on your shoes may make your dog nervous. However, do something positive. Give the dog a treat when you put on your shoes, it’s ideal for puppy training as well.

The most effective way of treatment is prevention. This usually starts with crate training and spending time away while in the crate. Each time you leave you can leave them with a treat so that the experience is a positive one from the beginning. Even if you’re always home with your dog, make arrangements to leave and leave them with a treat because you never know what’s going to happen in the future that is going to take you away.

Another effective way to help a dog with separation anxiety is to know that it isn’t your fault. Abuse before you owned the dog, being left alone a lot as a puppy, a naturally nervous personality, not being socialized, and simple moving to a new home can be triggers. By not feeling guilty, you can initiate the most effective treatment possible for your puppy training.

Tags: Dog Training

Congratulations are in order - this will be an exciting time for you and your family - especially the kids. The smiles on your children’s faces when they see their brand new puppy will be hard to beat. Just think of the hours of enjoyment they will bring to each other!

But those first couple of months can be a bit of a challenge. There will be some training issues that you will need to deal with. These will be no problem, but the earlier you can train your little puppy, the more you will be able to enjoy him/her later on.

For example, those little puppy teeth can be sharp! When puppies play together, they naturally and uninhibitedly bite and mouth each other. This is not a big problem for them since their skin is relatively thick and it causes no discomfort whatsoever.

But when you are teaching them to socialize with humans, this is not the kind of behavior that is acceptable. And although this kind of biting is cute when the dog is just a few pounds, it ceases to be cute when they are 25 pounds or more. Controlling this ‘biting reflex’ is an important first step in training the little puppy.

It would be good to have the puppy socialize with other puppies if at all possible. Puppies will bite each other as they roll and play. But this also happens to be the best way to train the puppy out of their biting habit - especially if they are playing with already socialized pups. The group will mildly punish the puppy that becomes to aggressive while playing and teach them to suppress their biting habit.

The socialization they get with other dogs also teaches the puppy not to be fearful of other dogs and it helps them drain off their excess energy. Puppies that do not get the opportunity to socialize with other dogs also tend to be more hyperactive as they develop fearful and aggressive habits. A dog will tend to react aggressively in a new and unfamiliar environment if they had never been socialized.

A puppy should also be socialized with adults and children in order to become a member of the household and neighborhood. Introduce your puppy to both children and adults and help them to make the distinction between those who are their owners and between other people.

The ideal time to teach your little puppy to be socialized is when they are 3 months old or younger- this is when they catch on very fast. This is even more important when dealing with breeds that are typically less passive.

A key way of training your puppy not to bite is to get them to put their trust in you. Never hit your puppy as this will not help them to trust and respect you, It will simply cause them to fear you - which is not what you want. The confused little puppy won’t really understand why you did this and it will be not be very productive to their training.

And finally, enjoy your puppy, he/she will bring endless enjoyment to you and your family.

Tags: Dog Training

Have the Right Attitude

As a dog owner, you should convey to your dog a positive attitude. Thing about your dog like your child. Don’t be so controlling. If your dog is only taking orders, then do you think your relationship will blossom?

Let you’re dog know how happy and proud your are. Positive verbal affirmations are good for dogs, as they are for humans. Remember, telling your dog how proud you are is free. All you have to do is put in the effort when using praise.

Correct Your Dog With Care

Do you have any childhood memories of your parents getting mad at you. It might have been something simple like not cleaning after your own mess. It might have been because you didn’t eat your vegetables. Whatever it might have been, do understand that people react out of frustrations. Your parents didn’t really have to get mad. Maybe if they understood how to calmly communicate with you, things might have been easier to deal with.

I’m sure that you don’t enjoy being “told” what to do. In many cases, people don’t like people to yell at them and give them angry facial expressions. Unfortunately, those experiences are common habits that people do when taking care of their dogs. So if you try to correct your dog’s behavior, think of how you would treat your own child.

Treat Your Dog Like a Member of Your Family

Think about your dog like another person. When you’re shown the right attitude and care, you will benefit from the enhanced relationship. This is like a matter of respect. If you think about dog training like an obstacle, you’ll be putting an obstacle in front of you.

So how do you align with your dog? Allow your dog to be part of your activities. Treat your dog like another member of the family. Once you allow your dog to be part of your life, your dog will treat you and respect you more as your relationship builds.

Putting These Tips Into Action

So many times, we read advice in magazines or maybe on the internet. All that you have read is pure information. However, reading information is not enough. Knowledge only has power if you execute it. So read, and re-read these tips again. Once you understand them, put them into action. Doing so will help build the relationship between you and your dog.

Tags: Dog Training

Dog Obedience training is undeniably the most important factor in the relationship you have with your dog.

The question I get asked the most is what exactly is dog obedience training and is it really all that important in the relationship you have with your dog.

In a nut shell, dog obedience training is very loose term used to describe what can be accomplished with a variety of different dog training techniques.

There are a wide variety of dog training techniques available which I believe is cause for some of the confusion. Your dog can be trained in everything from puppy house training and dog housebreaking tips to guard dog training and behavioral modification just to name a few.

What ever training technique you decide to pursue first whether training your dog at home or at an appropriate dog training school, you should accomplish the following benefits.

1. Dog obedience training creates a strong, healthy bond between you and your new best friend.

2. The use of basic dog training clearly opens up the lines of communication between your dog and you. This will help you realize some of the basic idea’s of exactly what it is you expect from your dog and likewise helps your dog to understand what it is your are trying to get across to him.

3. Teaching obedience to your dog will give your dog the knowledge of the boundaries you are setting up with him. Boundaries will help your dog become more responsible to you and your family as well as other dogs, animals and people and create the manners you expect in any situation.

4. Dog training helps you in laying up ground work that actually helps your dog preventing the development of unacceptable behavior and bad habits such as chewing, digging, barking, biting, jumping, peeing in the house and many others.

5. Confusion is another prominent problem when your puppy or dog comes to his new home. Training your dog from the get go will eliminate all confusion and believe me, once your dog begins to understand what he needs to do, everyone life get a whole lot easier!

6. One more BONUS benefit: You will find that not only is it fun and rewarding training your dog but the confidence you will gain in knowing you can trust your dog no matter what the situation is truly relaxing. No stress in wonder what any situation may bring.

There are literally tons of benefits that every dog owner should experience by the proper training of your dog.

All to often I see so many dogs being neglected the proper training that would bring so much happiness to them, their owners and neighbors.

Believe it or not, your dog does get frustrated not knowing the rules of the road and it is every dog owners responsibility to teach them.

There are many ways to teach your dog that you can find online if you know where to look.

Please remember, it really isn’t about force or cruelty or dominance in teaching your dog.

Training your dog the right way the first time can be done in a fractions of the time and done in such a way that is fun for everyone.

Do it right the first time! You and your whole family will find a ton of fun training your new pet once those lines of communication are established and the benefits you will all gain by proper training will last the entire lifetime of your pet.

Tags: Dog Training

Dog training is certainly not a very easy job. There are a lot of factors that could pose as challenges, such as communication differences. However, it is important that you provide him with proper dog behavior training, so both of you can learn to co-exist harmoniously.

Here are several positive reinforcement methods that you can apply:

1. Think up your command words. One of the elements to basic dog obedience is coming up with your own commands or cue phrases. These are words that will allow your dog to perform a specific action. The common ones like sit, come, lie down, stay, roll over should be taught while your dog is still a puppy, so he can have more time to make them a habit. Furthermore, practicing this will help you be in command of the responses and movements of your dog.

It is important to stay consistent when using command words. This will help you from bamboozling your dog. Use the command stay when you want your dog to stay. Do not say don’t move or freeze. This can be confusing to your dog. Stay consistent and use the word stay.

2. Unearth the reward system. Think about it when you’re at work, doesn’t the reward system work. You work harder to get that bonus if your place in employment offers you one to achieve a certain quota. So when you’re using dog obedience training, give a reward. If your dog makes a good decision over something, or if your dog follows your instructions properly, give them a reward. It doesn’t have to be treats all the time. Some dogs will be pleased about it if you can spend time with them afterward.

If you’re worried about your dog becoming fat during training, eating all those treats a great reward is spending time with them. Whether it’s a simple game of fetch, or petting your dog, or lying on the floor with them they will love you for it.

3. Read dog online training programs and manuals. You don’t have to completely rely on your own ability when it comes to dog training. By reading what experts have to say, you will have better insight on how to go about more difficult situations, such as your dog eating their poop, or dog biting and nipping. Remember education is important, and with knowledge comes empowerment to help you be the alpha dog!

4. Make sure that you can build a strong relationship with your dog. It will be much easier for you to teach dogs new tricks and commands when they trust you. To make that happen, make sure that you can make him feel safe and secure with your presence. Never strike or hit your dog, and shower him with plenty of love and attention.

Tags: Dog Training