Dog Training Archives - Page 24 of 29

Dog Training: How To Make Dog Training A Family Affair (4)

July 19, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

A successful form of dog training is to play family-oriented games to help your dog master good manners and basic commands. And please be sure to supervise all play that involves children.

“Thank You, Take It”

This game will teach your dog to willingly release objects from its mouth when asked. Any object you start teaching this with should be large enough for your dog to hold one end while you hold the other. A length of heavy, soft knotted rope or a large, sturdy stuffed plush toy works well.

Start by wiggling the toy to make it interesting. In a playful voice, say “take it” and let your pup grab on. Praise and allow the dog to chew and play with the toy while you hold the other end. After a few moments, say “thank you” and offer your dog a treat from your other hand, holding it about six inches away from the side of his mouth. The dog will see and smell the treat and will let go of the toy to get the treat.

Don’t pull the toy away, just continue holding it. As soon as your dog eats the treat, offer the toy back, saying “take it”. Praise him for taking hold and let it play for a few moments before again saying, “thank you”, and trading it for another treat.

Repeat this sequence until your dog quickly releases the toy when you say “thank you”. Your dog will learn that it doesn’t lose the object by giving it to you. Then tray saying “thank you” without showing the dog a treat-swap.

Most dogs will release right away, expecting a treat. When it does, praise and immediately hand back the toy with a playful flourish, saying “take it”. The toy itself and the fun of grabbing and playing with it becomes a reward.

Ping-Pong Recall

This game teaches the dog to come when family members call it. Start by teaching your dog to come for a treat reward. When it’s doing this well, start adding family members to the game one at a time. Give each player several dog treats to use as rewards. Deliver one treat reward to the dog each time it comes when called.

Start with two people, standing about ten feet apart. First, one person calls the dog and rewards it with a treat, then the other takes a turn and does the same. More players can be added as soon as the dog seems to understand the game.

When the dog is eagerly racing each person who calls it, start increasing the distance between players. As your dog gains skill and enthusiasm for this game, try playing in more stimulating environments, like the beach or the dog park.

Tug of “Peace”

Offer your dog a toy and pull lightly to start the tug game. Be gentle – rough tugging can hurt a young pup’s jaws and neck. An adult dog can handle stronger tugging. After a moment of tug play, say “thank you”, cueing the pup to release. Praise and hand back the toy with an exciting “take it”.

Play as many rounds of tug as you like, but remember – you, not the pup – should always initiate and end this game. Tug should never be a competition between you and your dog. It’s much better to make it a cooperative game that doesn’t have a winner or loser, hence the reason it is called tug of “peace”; dog training has never seemed easier.

Dog Training: How To Make Dog Training A Family Affair (3)

July 15, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Dog’s do not come into the world knowing polite manners, so don’t expect your own family pet to abide by rules that it doesn’t know yet. Dog training is a process that takes time and repetition. Both management and training will be necessary to keep your dog out of trouble while it’s learning how to behave properly.

While teaching your dog good manners, you’ll also need to find ways to prevent it from engaging in undesirable behaviors that might turn into bad habits.

If you let your untrained dog have free run of the house it will potty in all the wrong places, chew your belongings, steal unwatched food from tables and counters, pull curtains down, dig holes in the flower garden, and maybe run into the road. Dogs don’t know any better than to do these things – until they’re taught more appropriate actions.

Begin by limiting your dog’s access to places where it might secretly misbehave. Don’t allow him to have the full run of your home until it’s completely housetrained and has learned what’s appropriate to chew and what isn’t. Keep the dog in the same room you’re in, so you can watch it carefully and prevent messy, dangerous, costly mistakes.

One Labrador owner that I know came from a successful day of fishing, dropped a dozen mackerel she’d caught on the counter, then fed her young Lab and left the room to change her clothes. She returned five minutes later to discover that not only had her dog finished its kibble, it had also gobbled down all 12 fish!

A proactive approach will give your dog the opportunity to get used to your general household routine and to practice the good behaviors you are teaching it. If the dog tries to slip away when you get distracted, either block the room’s doorways with baby gates or leash your dog to your belt to keep it with you. During times when no one is available to keep an eye on the dog, confine it in an enclosed puppy-proofed area either indoors or outdoors.

Keep Training Consistent

Training can be fun and fulfilling for the entire family or it can be fraught with frustration. Which way it goes depends upon how consistently you and your family keep the dog on track. The best way to be consistent is to decide on a set of rules everyone in the family can follow and get the family positively involved in your dog’s training.

Raising a great canine family companion isn’t a job for just one person. Dog training takes a village – or at least a cooperative family – to raise and train a well-behaved dog.

Fun With Leash Training

July 11, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Leash training should be fun, while puppy training. If the puppy is timid, walk him up and down indoors, pulling gently and coaxing to keep him in motion and in line with you. Then try it in the yard or up and down a quiet street. Never jerk violently, or choke him if he refuses to move. Let him wander off at will; if he sits down, pat and laugh at him a bit, and wait a moment before beginning to get him going. He will soon realize that the leash is a tie between him and you.

Puppies learn more quickly from other dogs than from us. If you have a friend with an older, leash trained dog, walking together will soon put the idea over to your puppy. When he finds leash training means “We are going out!” it becomes a friend, not a foe.

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Training Tips To Get Your Dog To Obey!

If you’d love to discover EXACTLY how to get your dog to stop urinating on your carpet and actually ring a bell when he needs to potty. . .

Train puppies to NEVER chew on furniture or expensive rugs – even when you aren’t there to supervise. . .

Learn simple techniques for getting any dog to stop barking at strangers or from begging you to let him back inside –

Plus a TON more step-by-step dog obedience strategies THOUSANDS of regular people are already using, check out –

The Hands Off Dog Training Method

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Like the collar, it is a signal he soon learns, and will bring to your attention when he wants action!

You are teaching him this when you pick it up and say “Here is your leash, we are going for a walk!” At first, start him on a long leash.

Go as far away from him as the leash permits, then call “Come (dog’s name)!” As you do this, give the leash a little jerk toward you.

If he resists, pull gently, and the moment he is within reaching distance, pet and praise him, this reinforces good behavior throughout leash training.

Dog Training: How To Make Dog Training A Family Affair

July 9, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Teaching good manners while dog training is not just something to be left up to the adults of the house. Although mom and dad will usually bear the most responsibility for the family dog’s training, including children in the process is important, too.

Your needs to know that it must respond and behave politely for all members of the family. Plus, giving the kids the opportunity to really help with their dog’s education can be a wonderful learning experience for them. Being involved in training a dog can teach children patience and compassion – and succeeding at the task will promote positive self-esteem.

Dog’s don’t generally view children as authority figures so any training techniques that rely on physical corrections tend to backfire when kids try to pursue them. Children are usually more successful using reward-based training techniques such as lure-and-reward or clicker training methods. This works better for everyone, because most dogs tend to work hard to earn treats, toys, and other enjoyable rewards.

Any family member can take part in training, feeding, and grooming your dog – just make sure they’re up to the job. Most children younger than ten (and some older kids, as well) need ongoing supervision and parental support to keep them on track.

Don’t expect more involvement than your child is mature enough to give, and remember to check daily that their jobs have been done – your pet’s safety and comfort are at stake. Yes, children need to learn responsibility – but this should never come at the expense of an animals welfare.

It’s usually best for an adult to start the dog on any new lesson before adding young co-trainers. That way the dog has a general idea of what to do and the children won’t be starting from scratch. Training will go more smoothly this way and the kids will experience less frustration and greater success.

To get kids involved in your dog’s training, first let them watch you working with the dog, then show them how to do it themselves. Stand by, at least in the beginning, to coach and support – and to get the lesson back on track, if necessary.

Some children actually turn out to be better trainers than many adults. If your child is one of these marvels, celebrate this success by allowing him or her to take on more of the training and teach the dog new tricks and tasks. Many positive dog trainers now encourage children to fully participate in their obedience classes so check around – there may be one that you, your dog, and your kids can attend together; this is crucial for the success of dog training.

Avoiding Stress In Training Your Puppy

July 6, 2010 by admin 1 Comment

The main purpose in puppy training is to build a communication system between the two of you. You are teaching your dog how to learn. In contrast to the positive approach of puppy training, many obedience classes use a lot of leash jerking and a certain amount of punishment if the dog is not performing well. There is a fine line between the two attitudes and it is a vitally important difference.

With a young puppy, if you are forcing him to perform perfectly and punishing him even mildly if he does not, you may be asking for trouble later on. After a puppy is six to eight months old, he can usually begin to handle corrections and accept much more firmness when training your puppy but not at three, four and five months of age.

————————————————————–

Training Tips To Get Your Dog To Obey!

If you’d love to discover EXACTLY how to get your dog to stop urinating on your carpet and actually ring a bell when he needs to potty. . .

Train puppies to NEVER chew on furniture or expensive rugs – even when you aren’t there to supervise. . .

Learn simple techniques for getting any dog to stop barking at strangers or from begging you to let him back inside –

Plus a TON more step-by-step dog obedience strategies THOUSANDS of regular people are already using, check out –

The Hands Off Dog Training Method

————————————————————–

Stress should not be a specific part of training your puppy. That comes later when the pup is six to eight months old and ready for a more formal training. Of course, it is not possible or necessary to completely avoid stress because there is often a small amount in any of a puppy’s activities.

However, stress should be eliminated as a planned part of the actual puppy training.

Dog Training – Group Dog Training Classes & What Questions To Ask The Instructor

July 5, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Are you looking for the most efficient way of training your dog in the fastest time possible?

We would all love to learn how to be world-class dog trainers and teach our puppies and adult dogs all they need to know when it comes to basic training, however, for most of us it just isn’t practical. We have busy lives and hectic schedules and there isn’t enough time in the day to devote a lot of training towards our pets.

This is why joining a group dog training class is ideal. Not only is it fun to watch your dog interact with the trainer and the other dogs, these classes can be a very efficient way to teach your dog the basics when it comes to the minimum requirements for an obedient pet.

One word of caution though, and that is to be very careful about which group training class you and your dog participate in. To help you become aware of what questions to ask the trainer of these classes, below are a few pointers to get you going.

1. For starters, ask the instructor exactly what your dog will learn in the class. You want to be sure that the basic commands are going to be taught. Such examples are learning to Sit, Stay, Come, Heel, and Down. And on the same note, ask the dog trainer if he or she will also take time to go over these commands with you so that you can help your dog master them in your spare time.

2. Group dog training classes should not be too large in numbers. To avoid getting involved in a class that has too many dogs, be sure to ask the instructor the number of dogs and puppies that will be participating. A good rule of thumb to look for in terms of members is between five and fifteen. 15 dogs is of course on the high side. Any more than that then you may be paying for classes without your dog getting the full benefits of training that is offered.

3. Dogs and bad behavior sometimes go hand in hand. It’s the nature of the beast, literally. So ask the instructor if he or she discusses behavior problems during the class. It is not typical for a group class to go full-blown into dog behavior training because it is this area that becomes a little more personal and unique to each individual dog. However, it is a good sign if the class discusses basic behavior problems and how to counter them in training your dog.

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