Dog Training Basics

Archive for March, 2009

As a pet dog lover, you always see to it that you give all the best in the world for your furry best friend. Some even would go through the extreme of enrolling their dogs to an obedient school for weeks or months. Well, that would be a great idea if you have the financial resources. They can also opt for a trainer who can train their dogs right in their own homes. If you have the budget, you can do so. But sad to say, most dog masters can’t seem to handle in investing in these things. That’s why, they would resort to going through the Web, browsing for an online dog training course and help them learn how to train their own dogs.

If you really want to train your dog on your own, this is also what you need to look for. There are many advantages in learning how to train your dog. To begin with, you can mold a strong relationship with your dog. Of all people, you are the only one or your other family members, for that matter, knows the personality of your dog and training him on your own can be much easier as compared to hiring a dog trainer. A dog training course that you can do on your own is much cheaper. You might, for example, find a software or an e-book guide which you will only pay for a minimum amount and you can train your dog with it and you can even apply your knowledge from what you’ve learned from a book guide on other dogs.

Last but not least, training your own beagle won’t really be a hindrance to your time and your other important responsibilities. You can set out your fixed schedule on when to train your dog effectively. But the question is, where can you find a good training course guide? If you go to the Net right now, you can come across some dog training reviews site which has compiled several guides on how to train your dog. From there, you can get to learn the different system and after reading them, that’s the time for you to decide to choose from among those options which you think will work best for you and your furry friend.

You’ve probably heard it a hundred times: “Don’t bother the dog while he’s eating.”  This is probably good advice for small children who shouldn’t be trying to play with the dog at mealtime.  However, a dog that’s always by himself when he eats may be learning a lesson about food aggression in dogs that you’d rather he didn’t.

In the wild, the leader of the dog pack is always the first one to eat, usually by himself.If you always leave your dog alone at mealtime, he may get the wrong idea.  This can lead to aggressive dog behavior in the form of him snapping or growling at anyone who ventures too close while he’s eating.

Don’t Let Dog Food Aggression Get Started

When your dog is still a puppy, always feed him after you and your family have already eaten.  This reinforces the idea for him that you and your family members all rank above him in the pack.

When you feed your puppy, anyone should be able to approach him while he’s eating.  Slipping a little treat into his bowl teaches him that it’s good for someone to get close.

Four Steps To Control Food Aggression In Dogs

An older dog who is already using aggressive dog behavior to protect his food will require different training.

Spend about ten to fourteen days on each of these steps.It will be necessary to do these things every time you feed your dog.  If your dog is extremely aggressive around food, you may need to keep him on a leash for your own protection.  

The first thing you’ll do is to put his food dish away for a couple of weeks.  Your dog will be eating out of your hand for a while.  Feed him just a few pieces of dog food at a time, until his meal is finished.

After a couple of weeks, you can progress to the next stop.  Get out your dog’s food bowl again, but don’t put anything in it.  After a while, walk by and drop a couple of pieces of kibble in it.  When he eats it, keep adding small handfuls of food every couple of minutes until his meal is finished.  At this point, he’ll probably be begging you to walk up to his bowl.

After ten days, you can try the next step, which is to put out a half-full bowl of kibble for him.  Walk up to him as he’s eating, and as you go by, drop in a couple of treats.  Then walk up again and add the rest of his food.

The last step is to put a full bowl of food down for him while he’s obeying the sit-stay command.Keep your control over him by not allowing him to eat until you release him from the command.  This is where the leash comes in handy, as you have control over him for this step, but hopefully you won’t need to use it.Break things up once or twice a week by calling him over to you while he’s eating and rewarding him with a tasty treat.  

Always use the sit-stay, wait, and take-it commands when you feed him so that your dog understands that you’re in charge of the food.  This reinforces your status as the alpha dog for him.

You’re back to step one if your dog reverts back to his old dog food aggression habits.  

Look For A Good Dog Training Course

Food aggression in dogs is a dominance issue that’s usually a symptom of other problems in the relationship between the owner and the dog.A good basic dog obedience course can be very helpful.  

Look for a course that includes a free consultation with an experienced dog trainer.  Check for testimonials from satisfied customers who have used the course material already.

Take this advice to begin solving your problem with dog food aggression now.

Now that you have brought your long-awaited puppy or dog home, you have found that he is driving you crazy. Is he running around like mad chasing his tail, barking like crazy whenever someone knocks at the door or is outside or to your horror chewing away at your favorite pair of shoes. If your puppy or dog is exhibiting any of these behaviors, then he is probably suffering from hyperactivity.

What is important to know is whether your puppy or dog is just being over energetic or is suffering from a condition called true hyperactivity. True Hyperactivity is a medical condition, fairly uncommon, which sees the dog exhibit frantic behaviors such as restlessness, panting, chasing his tail, and collapsing with exhaustion. If you think that your puppy or dog is suffering from true hyperactivity then it is advisable to seek the advice of your vet.

What you may not have considered is that your puppy or dog is hyperactive because that is the characteristic of its breed. An example is a Collie, a herding dog, which has been bred to have lots of energy to carry out is work. This is why it is so important to check out the specific characteristics of different breeds before you choose one to suit your lifestyle.

It will be a challenge to train your hyperactive dog or puppy, and will take consistent work. Outlined below are some tips which may help you with this.

An over energetic dog requires plenty of excercise to wear him out. This can be done by walking your dog for at least half and hour twice a day and playing games such as fetch, find and frisbee. This is not only exercise for your dog but also a great way to keep you fit and healthy.

If you find that your dog or puppy is barking excessively and inappropriately, then you should give him a command like “stop” or “cease” in a stern voice. If he carries on barking then pull him away from what he is barking at, e.g. the door, and give a correction such as a sharp tug on his collar. If your puppy or dog is outside and does not stop barking, you should command him to stop through the door and not open it if you are not ready to let him in. If this does not stop him from barking, you could try kicking the bottom of your door from the inside. Hopefully the loud noise will startle your puppy or dog enough to make him stop.

If you find that your puppy or dog is chewing his way through your prize possessions, you should place as many of them as you can out of reach. Choose some sturdy toys for your puppy or dog to play with. Play regularly with your dog with these toys in order for him to have positive associations so that he is more likely to play with them when left alone rather than chewing your possessions.

Using a crate is a good idea when during those times when you are not interacting with your puppy or dog. As dogs like the comfort of a defined and confined space, this will act as a tranquillizer and calm your hyperactive dog down.

Finally, it is extremely important to remember to give a positive reinforcement for wanted behavior and negative reinforcement for unwanted behavior. Now that you have some techniques on how to train your hyperactive puppy or dog, get out there and start putting them into practice.

Visit my Dog Training Tips website to read more about training your hyperactive dog and about how to solve other problems such as a biting dog.

Are you just plain fed up with the aggressive dog behavior your pooch is displaying?  Join the crowd.  Aggressive behavior in dogs is the most serious dog behavior problem that you’ll face as a dog owner.  

However, canine aggression is preventable if you understand why your dog develops aggressive behavior.  Read on to learn more about this common problem.

Your Dog’s Aggressive Nature Is Instinctive

Aggression is a valuable behavior in the wild.  A dog needs to be aggressive in order to hunt for its food.  It also needs to be able to defend its kill from other animals.  An aggressive dog also defends its territory and its mate.

In the centuries since dogs were domesticated, people have selectively bred most aggressive tendencies out of dogs, but a few do remain. And since dog do have sharp teeth capable of doing people serious harm, it’s necessary to recognize aggressive behavior in dogs and deal with it effectively.

Too many dog owners don’t know that there is more than one type of aggression in dogs.  The two most common are aggression towards strangers and aggression towards family members.Not only do these two types of aggression in canines have different causes, but you need to deal with them differently as well.

Aggression Towards Strangers

This type of dog behavior is very easy to recognize.  You dog may react in one of two ways:

Your dog will startle at the smallest sound, and will be jumpy and nervous.  You’ll see that he’s on the alert, acting fidgety, and pacing around while barking and whining.

Or, on the other extreme, he’ll be very quiet, sitting in one place without moving, while staring hard at whatever it is he’s suspicious of — whether it’s a visitor or your unsuspecting mail carrier.

The main reason a dog is aggressive around strangers is because he’s not used to them.It’s necessary for your dog to learn that strangers aren’t alway something bad.

Aggression Towards Family Members

Your dog may show canine aggression towards members of your family for two reasons.  

First, he’s defending something that he thinks he owns from a person he considers to be a threat.”Resource guarding” is the term for this type of behavior.  

In the wild, only the dominant individual acts aggressively to guard resources.  So obviously, your dog thinks he’s the pack leader, not you, when he displays this kind of aggressive dog behavior.

The second reason is that he’s unhappy about how you, or somebody in the family, is treating him.  

Discover How To Handle Aggression In Dogs

You don’t have to be at the mercy of your dog, and you shouldn’t be.  If your dog uses aggressive dog behavior to control you and get his way, this is a very unhealthy situation, as well as being potentially dangerous.  There are many emergency room visits every year because of dog bites.  You don’t want this happening to you or a member of your family, or anyone else your dog interacts with.

You can learn how to handle aggressive behavior in dogs.  You need a dog obedience course which includes a complete owner’s guide to rearing and training your dog to prevent canine aggression.  Be sure to read testimonials from other dog owners who have purchased the course to see how satisfied they are with the material.

Do yourself and your dog a favor and learn more about controlling aggression in dogs.

You may be pulling your hair out because your cute new puppy is chewing your house and possessions to bits. You may have now gathered that your little puppy can create a huge amount of damage, from scratching wooden floors and doors, to chewing your brand new pair of very expensive shoes. As with any negative behavior, there is always a reason for chewing.

It should be understood that chewing is a natural and healthy activity for puppies and shouldn’t be stopped. It is only when the chewing becomes destructive that it should be stopped. The aim of this article is to illustrate the main reasons for chewing, then to give you advice on how to end this.

There are many reasons why your puppy is chewing your house to shreds. The ones detailed below include teething, boredom and separation anxiety.

Teething
At about 3-4 weeks your puppy’s teeth start to emerge. By 16 weeks they will start to fall out when the first permanent teeth start to break through. When their gums are sore, they chew to ease them.

Boredom
Young puppies are quite likely to get bored quickly. They need an outlet for their energy such as exercise and mental stimulation. If left alone for too long, your puppy could easily become bored and will then turn to a destructive behavior such as chewing.

Stress and separation anxiety
Your puppy may start chewing in order to relieve his stress and separation anxiety especially if he is left alone too long.

Once you know what the reasons for your puppy’s destructive chewing, it will help you to take remedial action. Here are some tips to help you stop inappropriate chewing.

• Start by giving your puppy three or four toys. Make sure that they are different in texture, taste and shape and are sturdy so your puppy does not become bored too quickly.
• By playing regularly with your dog with the toys, they are more likely to play with them when left alone because of pleasant.
• Any items of value should be put out of reach. You can also discourage your puppy from chewing your furniture and other objects by spraying something like Listerine or other anti-chew deterrent. You puppy will not like the taste and will stop them from chewing.
• In the beginning it is important not to leave your puppy alone for extended periods of time. Start off with a short 10 minute period and gradually build up to longer absences.
• If you are away for a period of time or cannot watch your puppy, you could confine them either in a pen or crate.
• Always praise your puppy when you see him chewing appropriate items. This establishes the desired behavior through positive reinforcement. On the other hand if you see your puppy chew on something he shouldn’t, say something like “no” or “stop” in a stern voice. Consistently doing this will give a negative association.

Now that you understand the reasons for your puppy’s chewing, you should be able apply the necessary remedial course of action. It is very important to reward the desired behavior and to correctly teach your puppy what he is allowed to chew and what he is not allowed to chew.

Check out these links to read more about how to stop a puppy chewing, separation anxiety in puppies and boredom in dogs.

A new puppy is going to be your constant companion for a good many years and to ensure that the time that you share with him will be filled with joy you will first of all need to look at different kinds of puppy obedience training methods. Once you find a few options it is then up to you to decide which of them is most suited for your puppy. That you should begin training your puppy when he is still quite young is a given. What’s more, you can also choose between doing the puppy obedience training on your own or you can seek out a professional to do the training for you.

Fond Memories

Though there are many advantages to getting a professional to do the puppy obedience training for you, it will however still mean that you won’t have too many fond memories to enjoy later on. It is therefore a good idea to think about imparting puppy obedience training on your own. Obviously, there are right ways as well as wrong ways of going about puppy obedience training. The proper way means that you should approach the task with a positive bent of mind and also have the right attitude before even setting out to train your puppy.

The wrong way means approaching the puppy obedience training with a negative bent of mind and also being in a foul mood because of the difficulties that will be encountered along the way. However, you should not make common mistakes and instead must do things the proper way by for example choosing an appropriate place where you can begin the puppy obedience training. A backyard is as good a starting off place as any other place and so too is a living room.

Some of the simpler commands that must be taught to the puppy are “Sit” and “Stay”. Every time your puppy follows his puppy obedience training command you must then give him a treat and also praise him so that he understands that he is doing something right. However, at the same time there is not much that can be accomplished by scolding your puppy whenever he fail to obey the commands given by you.

Repetition is the key to succeeding with puppy obedience training and so you will need to be patient and consistent so that you give your puppy clear and unambiguous commands which must be obeyed at all times.

Puppy training pads are often used by pet owners to teach a puppy where he should do his poop. The best way to ensure that your puppy obedience training efforts pay off is to first call out your puppy’s name and follows that with the command you wish him to obey. Calling his name ensures that your puppy understands that he is being spoken to and this will ensure that he will respond to the command that follows his name.