Edie MacKenzie

Edie MacKenzie is a published author, traveler, dog lover, and tortoise enthusiast. Passionate about what she does, her books provide peopel a firm grounding in the dog breed and their unique characteristics with a nice touch of humor.

Incredible Dog Training Tips That Work!

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In dog training, the most simple acts often produce the best results. In any dog pack, the alpha sets the rules and the rest follow. Therefore, by establishing yourself as the alpha, you can be sure that your obedience training sessions will be that much more productive. The following is a list of 8 simple things you can do to teach your new puppy or unruly dog that you are the alpha in your pack.

1. Never feed your dog from your plate while you’re eating. A dog must learn that your are the alpha and that it can only eat when you are finished with your meal.

2. Never allow your dog on the sofa or on your bed. And if your dog sits on your path, gently shove it out of the way with your foot. By setting boundaries, you will instill in your dog that it must obey the alpha.

3. Never allow your dog to chew on your towels, socks, shoes, or clothing. Use bitter apple to discourage these behaviors.

4. NEVER HIT YOUR DOG FOR MISBEHAVING. Instead use the tone of your voice and a collar/leash to teach and make corrections.

5. Never allow a puppy to chew on your fingers. Otherwise, it will become a habit that will be very hard to break when it becomes an adult. Spray you hands and fingers with bitter apple and then allow the dog to proceed. The dog will learn not to bite your fingers without associating any negative thoughts about you as the alpha.

6. Never leave a hyper dog unexercised. Playing ball before you leave for work and after you return can help alleviate your dog’s pent-up energy.

7. Never keep your dog alone in a yard for days at a times. Without proper socialization your dog will become aggressive towards other dogs as well as other humans. A dog needs contact with its own species in order to learn how to behave in a dog pack equally as well as it must learn to behave in a human pack. A dog left alone for long periods of time will believe itself to be the alpha and try to dictate to its master instead of the other way around.

8. Never allow your dog to jump on you or your guests. Its fun when your dog is a puppy, but it isn’t fun when it becomes a 100lb behemoth. Practice with a collar and leash and set up situations where a neighbor rings your doorbell while your dog awaits their entrance. Make a sharp correction and command your dog to “sit” when as your neighbor enters the house. And, of course, don’t forget to praise the dog as soon as it follows your command. Once the dog knows what to do, try the same thing off leash, but this time use a water spray bottle and spray your dogs face with water as punishment for jumping with a stern vocal correction of “NO”. Proceed to praise your dog once again when your dog obeys your command. This way, it will learn to associate praise with correct action.

By following these steps, you will establish yourself as the alpha. And, you will have a head start in training your dog because it will have already learned to respect your authority as its leader.

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Dog Training – Why You Should Never Shout At Your Dog

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If you have a new puppy in the house and are unclear about whether or not you should use yelling as a way to get him to stop doing something wrong or barking too much, then this dog training article should clear up your confusion about proper dog training.  If anything, you should learn the simple fact that yelling at your dog it does nothing to fix a problem, stop what he’s doing, or induce any type of positive reinforcement.

Yes your dog may stop doing a certain activity temporarily after yelling at him, but he will only return to whatever behavior he was displaying which made you angry in the first place. Why? Because when you shout at your dog it does nothing to fix the issue, yelling only works as a temporary solution.

Most puppies think of their owners as other dogs. And when you start yelling at your pet, it only increases how excited he is about the situation. You also cause your dog to create a negative association between yelling and how he feels around you.  He will soon start to connect yelling with the idea that he is disliked or unwanted, and will not have the ability to know that he is actually breaking a rule that you are trying to establish.

Not All Loud Dog Training Voice Commands Are Bad

Even though yelling at your dog is considered to be of poor communication skills, there are definitely times when dog training you need to firm up the tone of your voice and change the way you come across to him.  There are three general forms of communication in terms of the way you speak to your dog that you can apply:

1. The soothing tone of voice. A soothing and delightful tone of voice should be used whenever you want to give praise to your dog. When you communicate this way, you should be able to relax and soothe him as opposed to creating excitability. Speaking to your puppy in a soothing tone of voice makes him feel secure and proud knowing that you are happy with him.

2. The second tone of voice used when communicating with your dog is more of a direct tone. A direct tone would be the same way you give commands to your puppy when you want to get his attention. It should be short, firm, and authoritative.

3. The third general tone of voice you can use with your dog is more of a disciplinary tone. However, you must learn when dog training to draw a fine line between a disciplinary tone and a yelling tone.  Remember, you do not want to yell your dog but there are certainly times when you need to get across to him to back away from something quickly or to stop doing something immediately, all without actually scaring him off with shouting. Personally,when dog training, I like to use two syllables such as “DOWN BOY” or “SPARKY NO”.

Proper Discipline for Effective Puppy Training

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The idea of punishing when puppy training makes no more sense than the idea of punishing an infant child.

Have you ever heard of anyone spanking a baby?  The only thing that would do is make the baby cry, and make the adult feel badly.  A small baby won’t learn from punishment, and puppies are no different.

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Just like everything you do with a small baby is designed to let it feel loved, protected and close to you, the way your treat a new puppy can affect the way that dog views you for entire relationship.

If you choose to punish a puppy, the most you will do is scare it and make it wary of you.  If you smack a puppy, even lightly, all it knows is the pain of the strike and the fear it feels at that moment toward you.

It doesn’t learn that it was doing something wrong because it’s too young to understand that concept.

If your puppy is chewing on something for instance, and you punish it with even a light tap, of course it will probably stop what it’s doing.

It’s surprised and possibly feels pain from the smack, and now feels very frightened of you.

It doesn’t link the punishment with what it was doing, though, and has no way of predicting when it might be punished next.

Shouting when puppy training can also do damage to your relationship.  If you startle the puppy with a shout, of course it might stop what it’s doing. But again, the puppy doesn’t understand the relationship between its actions and your shouting.  Even the angry tone of your voice can cause your puppy to be afraid for a moment.

If you use these punishments on a puppy, the puppy will learn to be afraid of you, or at the very least it will learn that you can be mean.

The puppy might not trust you, because it doesn’t understand why you frighten it. This can keep the puppy from every really warming up to you, and you’ll be unable to have a good relationship as the puppy grows.

Some dogs are very passive, and will respond to you in a very defeated way.  Your dog might stay in line all the time, solely out of fear, but it won’t ever trust you.

Other dogs have a more stubborn streak, and because they feel threatened by you may attempt to dislodge you as the one in charge.  Dogs are pack animals, and if your dog thinks it should be the leader, you might be in for many behavioral problems big and small.

At the very least, you won’t have as good a relationship with your dog as you could have.

Just as you would do with a very small child, use gentle correction when your puppy does something he shouldn’t do.

Use gentle movements when puppy training and a kind but firm tone of voice, so that your dog understands to stop without becoming frightened.

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