Dog Training Basics

Archive for June 13th, 2009

Your relationship with your dog is considered symbiotic. He showers you with undying, unconditional affection and companionship. For your part, you provide him with meals, dog treats, a roof over his head, periodic trips to the vet, and your friendship. In many cases, it is a perfect match that only grows with age.

Unfortunately, even the most experienced dog owners at times forget a few of their responsibilities. In today’s article, I’ll give you a few reminders of basic things you need to do (if you haven’t already) in order to keep your canine companion safe, healthy, and happy.

Tip 1 – Leash your dog when not at home

A lot of owners feel leashing their dog is cruel and inhibiting. While taking a stroll around the neighborhood, visiting parks, or going to other public places, they’ll leave the leash at home. That’s a bad idea. Even if your pooch has been properly vaccinated and has his tags, keeping him on a leash is best for everyone – including him.

Tip 2 – Spay Or Neuter Your Pet

Unless you’re a professional breeder, there’s little reason to avoid spaying or neutering your canine companion. By doing so, you can help your dog to a more healthy and longer life. Also, it’s worth noting that one of the leading causes of homeless mutts is that their owners fail to have their pets “fixed.” That leads to a greater number of pooches being placed into shelters and eventually euthanized.

Tip 3 – Enroll Him In Obedience Training

Dogs begin learning how to behave immediately. What’s more, they continue learning throughout their lives. If their bad habits are not curbed, those habits can develop into frustrating behavioral problems. Enroll your pooch into obedience classes. Not only will he learn what type of behavior is acceptable and what isn’t, but the training will also improve the relationship you share together.

Tip 4 – Give Him Exercise

Your dog requires plenty and physical activity for a multitude of reasons. First, if you spend most of the day away from home, he’s going to have pent-up energy. He needs a way to release it. Second, daily exercise keeps your dog healthy and enthusiastic. Take him for a walk in the morning and again during the evening. You’ll find that providing exercise for him will keep him happy and healthy.

A Lifetime Of Loyalty

Having a dog is a lifelong commitment of responsibilities. Indeed, keeping your canine companion healthy and safe requires ongoing vigilance. But, by providing him with the essentials he needs, especially in the beginning, you’ll lay the foundation for a lifelong friendship. Most owners agree that the loyalty and love they share with their dogs is irreplaceable. Take care of your pooch and he’ll remain faithful to you for the rest of his days.

The act of chewing seems to be a matter of individual preference among dogs: some have an innate desire to chew as a pleasurable activity in itself, and some seem to have no need to chew whatsoever unless they’re driven to it out of sheer boredom.

The phrase “destructive chewing” may sound redundant, because – by its very nature! – all chewing can tear things up. With a mouthfull of sharp, pointy teeth: just about everything will show the effects of her chewing. To be clear when I use the phrase “destructive chewing” I am referring to chewing your possessions and house items instead of hers.

The three main reasons why dogs chew:

– All dogs have a natural desire to chew. And really it’s fun and passes time a self-rewarding, self-reinforcing activity.)

Chewing is an outlet for a nervous bored or lonely dog. To a dog the repetitive act of chewing is soothing just like we eat comfort food.

If dogs are not exercised to burn up their excess energy they often turn to chewing to give themselves something to do.

– How to prevent destructive chewing -

Dogs can learn not to chew your things – you just need to work at it.

1. Take control and manage your own possessions. Your first step should be to dog-proof your home. Even if you have the best-behaved dog in the world, there’s still no reason to test her self-control – after all, dogs explore the world with their mouths.

Dog-proofing your home means taking whatever you don’t want to end up in her mouth, and making it unavailable. Consider how tall she is and her agility when deciding whether something’s out of reach:? Can she climb, or leap onto something else to reach the desired object? When standing on her back legs how tall is she?

Common targets in the home include books, eyewear, clothing, shoes, garbage, and small crunchy appliances like cameras, cell phones, and remote controls.

It should go without saying that all food needs to be put securely away: don’t leave snacks on low tables (or even countertops – you’d be surprised how acrobatic she can be when there’s food at stake!), put all food into containers or the pantry. Make sure you scrape out plates and rinse them before leaving them by the sink.

2. Prevent her from learning the joys of illegal chewing. The more times she manages to snatch a jaw full of a forbidden substance – a chair-leg, a pillow, a running shoe – the more readily she’ll target those items in future. If you can prevent her from chewing your stuff in the first place, it’s a lot easier for her to understand what you expect of her. Practically speaking, this means confining her in a dog-proofed area until you’re confident of her understanding of the house rules.

3. Don’t set her up for failure by blurring the boundaries between her stuff (OK to chew) and your stuff (not OK to chew). If she has gotten caught with household articles then don’t give her similiar castoffs to play with, there is no way she would know the difference.

4. Give her lots of different, good tasting alternatives to your things. If she doesn’t have anything to play with, you can hardly blame her for targeting your possessions. Just think, most dogs need to chew; especially if she’s an adolescent or a puppy. Pick up several toys and chews and give her more than one at a time. Rotating the available toys every few days will keep things novel and interesting for her.

5. Spend a lot of time in one on one supervision. Yes, it might be easier for you to just keep her penned up in her crate, run, or the yard – but that’s boring and horrible for her, and hardly much fun for you either (if you wanted a pet that you don’t need to interact with, you’d have got a goldfish, right?) She can’t learn what you expect of her if she’s spending all her time boxed up in the dog-proof zone: she needs the opportunity to explore the boundaries of your expectations, so she can understand what’s appropriate and what’s not.

6. Make a loud noise like clapping your hand or make an “Ah-ah-aaaah” when you catch her chewing something you don’t want her to chew!” noise. Then, immediately hand her a tasty and dog-appropriate alternative (a rawhide bone or other chew toy); as soon as her jaws close around it, praise her lavishly. There is no better way to get your dog to understand that chewing “her” toys equals praise from you, but everything else equals trouble.

– Keep a productive attitude-

If nothing else, keep your expectation realistic. Neither you or your dog are perfect and there will be a good chance she will tear up something you cherishe.

Particularly in the early stages of your relationship, she’s still learning the ropes: it’ll take awhile before she’s completely reliable (and even then, if she’s left by herself for too long or feels neglected, she may choose your stuff over hers to occupy her time and jaws with.) Remember to give her time to learn the rules, and plenty of ‘you-time’ to help her learn faster – and don’t forget to take precautions and keep things out of reach until she’s got the hang of the chewing rules!

For more information on dog training techniques and how to deal with problem dog behavior (like chewing), check out Secrets to Dog Training. A complete manual to fast-track your dog’s learning.

Basic Puppy Training

Crate training is the first step in house training a new puppy. Its importance in house breaking a new puppy cannot be underestimated, nor can it be dispensed with.

Crate training is an integral part of basic puppy training, and knowing exactly how to carte train is very important.

Crate training without knowing what to do is just as good as not crate training at all. In fact, if a puppy is crate trained the wrong way, there would be no advantages gained, the puppy would not have learned or been taught anything good and the puppy may have been given a bad habit or two on the other hand.

Crate training is an established program with certain do’s and don’ts. It has its set advantages if done the proper way. There is a specific purpose in crate training, and to gain those ends carte training has to be done properly.

The basic and most important part of crate training is the size of the crate. The size of the crate used has to be directly proportionate to the size of the dog.

The uppermost need for crate training is to prevent the dog from peeing in the house, or in places he is not supposed to pee in.

By nature and basic instinct a dog will not lie down or sleep in its own urine or faeces. It will never pee or make its business in a place it has to lie down in. A dog is confined in a crate to prevent it from doing these things inside the house. While confined in a crate of proper size a dog will restrain itself from urinating or moving its bowels.

To achieve this, the crate has to be big enough for the dog to make a full circle while standing. It should be just a few inches longer than the body of the dog from the tip of the nose to the end of the rear rump, and a few inches taller than the standing height of the dog,

The size of the crate should not permit the dog to jump up on its hind legs or move from one end to the other. If for example, a large crate is used for a small dog, it would pee at one end and sleep at the other.

What to put in the crate and when not to confine the dog in the crate is another very important part of crate training.

The only thing that should be in the crate is the puppys chew toy or play toy and nothing else. No food or water should be placed in a crate.

A dog should never be confined in a crate for too long a time.

The crate is not a punishment room, and the dog should not be confined in the crate just because it s being punished for doing something wrong. If we use the crate to punish the dog, it is going to distrust the crate and become anxious about it

The dog should regard the crate as a place of safety and security, for it to be happy in it while it is alone and its owners are away from the house.

Knowing when, where and how to release the dog from the crate is also an important part of crate training

A dog has to be released from the crate periodically in an area where it can relieve itself.

The dog will relieve itself immediately it is let out from the crate. Once the dog has relieved itself it should be praised or rewarded to reinforce that peeing iside the house is not allowed.

The type of crate is another important aspect of crate training.Most all crates are steel wire cages. The insides and outsides of the crate should be smooth and free of any sharp or rough edges.

After being confined for a few hours the first time a dog will get agitated and try and escape. In attempting to do so it should not scratch, cut or hurt itself on the crate.

Crate train your puppy properly and you will have it house broken in no time fulfilling your task of basic puppy training.

To learn more about crate training your puppy please visit www.basicpuppytraining.net