Which is the right training program for your dog?

Any search of the web will reveal a multitude of different courses, ideas, concepts, videos, and programs aimed at obedience training for young and old dogs. Many are cutting edge and some are out of date and no longer accepted by experts as being the right way to do things.. How do you go about finding one that is right for training teaching your dog?

For many dog owners there are some very basic reasons for wanting to mold the behavior of their pet. A dog without some basic dog obedience training can be like that annoying uncle in the family who has none of the social graces, always loud and obnoxious, makes a mess of the house, always adding his opinions into other peoples business – you know the sort. You still like him but you just wish he wasn’t there so often.

Well, you should always want to be around your dog. Isn’t that why you introduced him into your home in the first place, to be your faithful friend and companion? This will happen when you find a reciprocal level of respect and understanding. This in turn grows out of discovering the right way to communicate with your dog  to make sure he fully understands what the rules are and what you expect from him or her.

Common to all good dog obedience programs should be the understanding and acceptance of the following basic principles, though they may be explained slightly differently:

* It’s essential to understand that dogs are pack animals and are much happier when there is clearly defined leadership and they know what is expected of them. This is important for you to understand how a dog’s mind works.

* It is your job to be the pack leader – consistently, repetitiously, persistently, and patiently.

* Tied in with patience is the tone of voice you use. Commands should be given firmly with no ambiguity, but with patience and with no shouting. Your dog must not be confused once he knows what it is you want him to do. There can be no refusal or ignoring of your commands.

* Rewards and corrective actions are also important concepts in any dog training or obedience course. Rewards should be in the form of praise a treat, or a ‘click’ (clicker training) while corrective action could be in the form of holding back praise, treats, a scratch, or a firm ‘No.’

It’s always good to start with the basics. Look for a program that starts with these fundamental concepts and commands:

The Come or Come Here  command is very important for control of your pet. Nobody wants a dog that ignores them nor do you want to have to mount a search party every time he is outside and off his lead.

Stand and Stay, Sit and Stay, and Down and Stay commands are very helpful especially in situations where there are groups of people and activities where your dog needs to be kept away or out from underfoot.

Walking on and off lead, sometimes called ‘heeling’ is very important training as there is nothing more unpleasant then having an uncontrollable dog pulling and tugging on the leash and lunging at other dogs, animals, and people.

In addition to these basic commands many methods will include turns, fetch and carry, back up, crawl, shake hands, catch, climb ladders etc., and all of these with hand commands as well as verbal commands.

Other behaviors or problems that will be dealt with in a well organised dog training for obedience program are house training, excessive barking, biting and nipping, chewing, digging up the yard, aggression, and jumping up on people and furniture. There may also be some discussion of the best dog obedience training equipment to use.

This is a basic idea of the things to look for in a reputable dog obedience training program. Of course a good method and system for training are key to the welfare and safety of your pet, but also to your peace of mind and enjoyment of your canine companion.

Don’t give dogs or other pets as presents this Christmas

Every year around Christmas time the RSPCA in the UK , and other animal charities around the world,  make appeals to everyone to think twice before buying a new puppy or any other pet as a Christmas present. The repeated message is “A dog is for life, not just for Christmas”. This prompt is to make people think, and to consider the implications of owning a pet of any kind.

It is a wonderful experience to see your child’s face light up when you present them with an adorable puppy. There’s no getting away from that, however it doesn’t last very long and it is only one side of the coin.

Puppies can be very hard work. They chew, they soil, they can interrupt sleep, they dig and they demand a lot of attention, it’s rather like taking on another unruly child.

Although puppies grow quickly, their education is a slow process, even if you have an intelligent breed. During your puppy’s education and socialisation you need to remain calm and patient at all times, and above all you must be consistent, even if you are at the end of your tether. One small slip up confuses your pup and can set his education back.

Puppies tend to take up a lot of time, Just like a child. Your puppy would need walking (come rain, blizzard or shine) training, feeding, brushing, cleaning up after, as well as playing with. Children soon loose interest with all these chores and they inevitably fall to the parents. Do you have time for all these little jobs every day? If not your bored depressed little puppy will probably eat your sofa.

Of course puppy farms are applying hard sell tactics in the run up to Christmas. They prey on people who are unsure if they should buy a puppy or not. The puppy farms force people into making rash decisions that are not thought through properly. The salesmen may say “Well, someone else is interested in this pup”, of course there isn’t anyone else, they just want to force the sale by making the buyers think that they may loose the chance of buying the cute little puppy they have shown interest in. The puppy farmers are not concerned if you are ready and able to take on a puppy, they are only thinking of the wonderful Christmas they can have once they have their hands on your cash.

Christmas day will no doubt be a wonderful day with your new puppy and your happy children. Any puppy mishaps will be regarded as little accidents and mischievous behaviour and all pups’ naughtiness will be heart warming and laughed off.

Six to eight months down the line, puppy is still having little accidents. Puppy is now a big puppy, and proving to be a bit of a handful. The kids have lost interest and everything is covered in dog hairs

This is when there is a boom in puppies that have been placed into the care of animal charities. The charities can not possibly re-home every adorable puppy that comes to them. Anyway, who wants your unruly puppy at the dogs home when they can go to the puppy farm and buy a younger, smaller and cuter puppy there?

The fact is that some cute adorable pups that find themselves at the dogs home have to be destroyed, due to no fault of their own, other than nobody wants them.

Happy Christmas Puppy!

How good is your dog on the lead?

A while ago I came to the stage whilst training my dogs, that my alsatian was as good as gold when off the lead, but a nightmare on it.

Off the lead he would happily trot beside me or just in front of me without running off, never being nasty at all, and would respond to every command I gave him.

Then, on the lead he would pull like mad and drag me around wherever we went. This was a problem that had to be corrected quickly. He was still not nasty to people or other dogs, but he would not just walk alongside me, he had to pull like his life depended on getting somewhere fast.

I know I am not the only person who has come accross this problem, I see plenty of people being dragged around by their dogs every day. Although I am strong enough to restrain my dog and prevent him from dragging me in another direction I still had to sort this problem out quickly.

Do you recognise this problem? Do you have the same problem with your dog?

The answer was quite simple, but took a little bit of patience on my behalf to sort out. Before long he was happily walking alongside me without trying to drag me anywhere. Now my wife and son can also take him for a walk, whereas they never could do before.

For a simple solution to this problem and other new dog training issues, just click on the ‘please train me’  button below:

Teaching your dog the lie down command

The lie down command is a very useful command and is fairly easy to teach your dog. After teaching the sit command, this command should be a breeze for you. Getting your dog to lie down and wait while you go into a shop or walk away is a very useful command and is also good for gaining trust and a good relationship with your new dog.

The command should be firstly taught indoors or in a comfortable place where your dog is used to learning and doing commands for you, such as its regular walk place if suitable. Then as time goes on and your dog gets better with the command, you should take it into a public place with lots of interests and new smells to distract them. This should test the strength and commitment your dog has for obeying commands.

When to start training your dog

To start with, you should begin the training process before mealtimes when your dog is hungry and where they will be more than happy to please you if it means they get a treat, this will encourage training and will help the progress of your dog.

When you are ready and you have your dogs favourite treats to hand, start by getting your dog to sit for you, followed by a reward .Then let your dog know you have another treat in your hand for him and slowly lower it in front of him, going lower and lower, as the treat gets lowered closer to the ground your dog will be forced into the down position with their belly firmly on the floor and paws ahead of them.

As soon as your dogs belly touches the floor, the command ‘down’ should be said and you should reward them with praise, encouragement and their favourite treat. This makes the dog associate the command with the action and the action with a reward. Dog training, especially new dog training should be an enjoyable experience for your pet for best results.

If your dog steps out of line during the exercise, gently punish them accordingly and do not give any reward. After you have learnt this command and you now think you’re ready for the next step, try taking your dog into a distracting place or area, or playing with their favourite toy around them. When you have your dog under control at all times using the down command it is time to move on to more advanced dog training and you have now got a new trick to show your friends and family.

Good Dog!

This story is absolutely true, and really makes me wonder what some people must be thinking !

I was out walking my dogs this morning over Cannock Chase, a forest just down the road from my house, and met up with a woman with her 2 dogs and we got chatting as the dogs ran around together.

She told me that last Friday, walking along the same path as we were on then, a flasher had jumped out in front of her. Apparently there have been a couple of reports of this flasher in the last week or so.

Protective Dog has surprise of his own

When she reported it to the Police later that day, she was asked if she could describe the flasher. She told the Police that she was a 60 year old widow and hadn’t been looking at his face …

 Victim Support phoned her up shortly afterwords. When they said who they were, she laughed at them and said they should be talking to the flasher. The last time she had seen him he was disappearing back into the trees screaming, with her Alsatian stuck to his ass!
Cannock Chase park dog walk

Use a dog trainer or train your new dog yourself?

This is an often discussed subject. Which is best? Use professional dog trainer or train your new dog yourself?

There is no generally right or wrong answer here, it is all down to you and your dog.

Is your new dog a puppy or an older dog you have rescued?

What is the current level of your new dog’s training? (toilet training, obedience etc)

Do you have the time and knowledge to train your dog?

Do you have the money to spend on a professional dog trainer?

What breed is your dog?

All of these questions will have an impact on whether it is best for you to train your dog or use a professional dog trainer.

Some problem dogs (I have that term but many people understand it) may need a professional dog trainer to get rid of certain habits. But a ‘problem dog’ is usually the result of a ‘problem owner’ who has not given the dog the correct signals during its training or up-bringing so bad habbits have formed.

Most dogs are very receptive to training of some degree. Each breed may be better at certain things, but all dogs naturally want to learn and please their owners. How you train your dog depends on the dog you have.

If you have the money but not enough time to train your dog then maybe using a professional trainer is fine. But if you had already chosen that option you would not be here on my blog page.

So here we will just look at the option of training your new dog yourself.

Old dogs can learn new tricks

Whatever age your dog is, he or she will still want to please you. Old dogs can learn new tricks, as I proved on numerous occasions with my old dog who lived to be 19 YEARS OLD!

So age is not a problem. All you need to be able to train YOUR dog is the knowledge of how to do it. Training a dog is not difficult IF you do it properly from the start. Even rescue dogs who have had bad experiences can be trained quite easily by their new owner. A new owner to a dog is a new start, they may bring some bad experiences or habbits with them but they are very receptive to you and what YOU want them to do. Do things right from the start and you will make life much better for you and your new dog (or old dog).

For dog training you need just a bit of free time

Now if you have had your dog for a while and it still needs training don’t worry. Even if you have not done everything right from the start you can still train your dog now. Don’t underestimate the intelligence of your dog or it’s willingness to please it’s owner. ALL dogs can be trained if you know how.

And that is the important bit. HOW can you train your dog quickly and have fun doing it?

The answer is quite simple, as I eventually found out. Just click the link below and you can get a copy of the information I used to train my dogs and make my life a lot easier.

Click here for full new dog training details

Puppy Training can be very rewarding

When a new puppy comes into the household, chaos usually follows, at least for a little while. It has just left the safety of litter mates and mama, and now it has to listen to and depend on this giant hairless being. What are some training methods to follow? Is there a right and a wrong way?

The following puppy training advice will get your puppy started towards becoming an excellent new family member.

Crate Training – Housebreaking a puppy can be frustrating, but using a crate can make this process run a bit smoother. Make sure there is a comfortable bed in it, toys, and plenty of room. Dogs, in general, don’t make a mess of their sleeping quarters. So a puppy is less likely to mess where it is crated.

There will be yelping and whining at first. Just tap the door and firmly say, “No!”. Eventually, the puppy will get the idea that being in the crate is comforting. Rotate toys so the puppy doesn’t get bored. And make sure to not leave the puppy crated for more than two hours at a time, with an hour of crate-less playtime in between.

Play with your new puppy dog

Play Biting – Biting is a puppy’s way of playing, it does it to litter mates, so why not the human? If it bites, yelp in pain and stop playing, maybe even walk away. With time, it will get the idea that biting equals no playtime. This is especially important when children are in the house. Socialization with other pups of the same age can be a good idea, then it can rough-house with peers.

Jumping – Teaching a puppy that it isn’t alright to jump up on a person is beneficial for both puppy and humans. If the puppy starts to jump, turn around and refuse to look at it. Have treats available for when the puppy isn’t jumping.

Giving a treat when the puppy is sitting or at least has all four feet on the ground will teach it that it is better to not jump.

A final piece of puppy training advice is to have a routine to follow. Consistency is the best way to remind a puppy what the desired behavior should be.

When you get a new dog at home, we know how they can be irresistible, so he or she sleeps in your bed the first night. Note that if you do not want your dog to sleep in the bed at all, then you should not do so, not even once. In doing so, the dog will think it’s okay for him or her to sleep your bed and a habit will be formed instantly.

New dog  needs to know the rules of its new home

We do not let either of our dogs sleep in our bed, both dogs sleep downstairs in their own beds.  If you prefer your dog box or bed trained, then you should start from the first day. Don’t make things hard on yourself right from the beginning. The dog will be more than happy wherever it sleeps – it just needs to know the rules of its new home.

Your dog is intelligent

The first time your pet home, you need to start training him or her to wear a collar. The collar should be placed on your pet while you are there. Every time you leave, while the dog is getting used to the collar , you may want to remove it from him or her in order to prevent strangulation. In time, your pet will be ready to take the collar at all times.

When the pet is accustomed to the collar, it’s time to introduce the leash to him or her. Soon, your pet will be walking side by side with you on the leash. As you walk him or her, also can be taught the basic commands of sit and stay. Your dog is intelligent and I know you will see that as you are doing your dog training.

Every day train your dog

Every day, your dog will learn a little bit more, but you need to ensure you have the patience and confidence in your new dog. When you have confidence in them, they trust you and become happier and calmer animals.

Click here for full new dog training details

Everyone has heard the term ‘ A dog is for life and not just for Christmas’ and that really is worth bearing in mind when choosing the right new dog for you and your family.

This is not a guinea pig you are taking on, a dog will be there with you for many years and will need a lot of looking after. It is essential that when you are choosing the right new dog for you that you bear this in mind.

How much of my time does a dog need?

Before you take on a new dog, you should consider details such as how much time you have available to exercise the dog?  (big dogs need much more exercise) , do you have children in the house? (then a puppy may be better than a rescue dog who’s background you can not be sure of), do you have experience with any particular breed of dog?  (it might make training it easier for you), what is your financial situation? (big dogs eat more food and can cost you lots of money).

Do I really want new dog

You must also consider whether you REALLY want a new dog or if it is just a passing fancy. Too many dogs get abandoned a few months later when their owners realise just what they have taken on, and the commitment involved. If you are not SURE you want a new dog and can commit to looking after it properly then don’t have one.

I lost one of my dogs a couple of years ago, he had a stroke and had to be put to sleep. But he was 19 YEARS OLD! so he had been given a good long crack at life and enjoyed it right up to the end. Other breeds of dog may last just 10 years or less, but either way you will be committing to years of your life with the dog. If you can’t commit to that then don’t get a new dog.

This is Pepsi, who lived to be 19 years old:

These are my 2 current dogs, both well behaved and (eventually) well trained:

If you do decide that you want a new dog, and are sure that you are choosing the right new dog for you, then the next step is getting them trained as quickly as possible. The link below will help you there. It saved me a lot of time and money having this information and I’m sure it will also help you.

Click here for full new dog training details

“That dog needs Training!”

If you keep hearing this from your family and friends, then you need to read on…

I heard the same thing from my wife after taking on a very energetic Alsatian puppy. New dog training all over again. After a fairly good start he soon went backwards in his learning and left us the odd puddle on the carpet, barked at anything that moved, and was a total nightmare on the lead when it came to walkies.

This is him, Eddie, my White Alsatian dog.

I thought he might learn on his own … bad mistake! More puddles, barking and pulling me down the street every time we went out.

I tried a few different things to teach him how to behave, all the old stories you hear about rubbing their noses in the mess, shouting at them when they do wrong, dragging them back when they pull. And it turns out they are all totally wrong. k9 training is a bit different to popular beiefs.

I  spent a lot of money on dog training books and guides

I also spent a lot of money on dog training books and guides, and even took him to a dog obedience class. He just went mad at the other dogs. This dog was a real problem.

Eventually I found the information I had been looking for. A way to train the dog myself by using training techniques that actually worked.

I wish I had found this in the first place, it would have saved me an awful lot of time, money, and slippers!

The only downside was printing off the details so I could carry them round with me everywhere I took him, shame this isn’t available as a book from the shops. No doubt it would sell like crazy.

Anyway, that was a small price to pay for turning our lives around and ending up with a very happy and well trained dog.

You can teach your dog new tricks

If you have had problems with dog obedience, toilet training, excessive barking, pulling on the lead, or any other problem behaviour from your dog then you need this information today. I have been told from a very good source that this dog training information works equally as well on older dogs as it does on young ones. You can teach old dogs new tricks!

Having a problem dog can cause all sort of stress. Instead of giving you pleasure it can leave you tired and frustrated.

I know, I’ve been where you are now.

I have included the link below so you can get the same new dog training information yourself, and you can turn your problem dog into a well trained and happy family pet.

Click here for full dog training details

regards

Mark B