Dog Training Basics

Archive for August 26th, 2009

Do you have one of those irrepressible dogs who is so excited to get outside that he runs out the door before you want him to?  Don’t worry if so, because I have some good tips on stopping this problem for you. Happily, you can easily learn how to correct this behavior with some practice.

• Start this training with your house’s inner doors-not the front door. This will make it a lot easier to control the dog until he learns not to go charging through doors in front of you. A dog with this behavior problem will try to get ahead of you so he can pass through the door before you can. You shouldn’t let this happen-instead command his with a firm tone of voice to sit and stay. When he gets in the desired position be sure to give him lots of praise. It might take a minute for him to really relax and settle down, so wait a little before  beginning to open the door again. OK, when he relaxes, go ahead and open the door. He will probably get up and try to go through the door, once he sees it open. This will probably happen at first, but don’t let it upset you. Keep working on getting him to sit and wait until you are sure he has it down.

• Now that you have him  remaining in sit and stay position, you can open the door a little wider-just enough for you to slip through. Opening the door only partway is a little less temptation for him to try to follow. If he again leaves  his sit and stay position, just return him to his spot again and repeat the command him to sit and stay. Until he shows you he can stay in his sit position even after you have gone through the door, you will just keep repeating this stage of the training.

• Now itt is time to try a harder test-the front door. Since he knows fun and adventure wait for him through that door, he will probably be much more eager to cross through it. You should be  ready for this, and have put a leash already on your dog so you can stop him from running through the doorway ahead of you. For a larger breed, it is a smart idea to put one end of the leash around the front doorknob, so that if he does charge out, he won’t get very far. If he does lurch out the door before you can stop him, this will bring him to a quick stop, and give him something to think about. If your dog does try to go through the door, you just need to go back to the last step and work some more on the basics.

• Keep repeating the training several times daily until it is well learned. To really reinforce this behavior, every time you come to a door (or curb or a boundary) make sure your dog sits and waits for your command to move forward. Making your dog stop at each curb is also is relevant to  boundary training your dog.

Well, now you know that it is a simple process to train your dog not to run through the doors ahead of you. If you haven’t previously obedience trained your dog, this article should have showed you that obedience training is a priority to enjoying a fun and trouble free relationship with your doggy For many more articles to help you learn how to solve behavior problems or to learn the basics of obedience training please click here- www.BehaveDoggy.com.

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I have learned about an easy and effective way to stop your dog digging in the yard and garden. I went out shopping with a friend of mine the other day. When we returned to his house about 3 hours later we couldn’t even drive through the gate. That’s because his pack of dogs had dug an enormous hole over 5 feet wide and a couple feet down. Since we live at the beach, his driveway is just sand, so it wasn’t difficult for the dogs to excavate a huge hole in front of the gate.  This was not the first time this has happened either. It was clear time to teach these old dogs new tricks, and stop their digging.

There are various reason that may be causing the dog’s digging behavior.  Some of the reasons for digging are boredom, an attempt to escape the yard, trying to dig down to cooler soil in times of hot weather, or because your breed of dog may have a predisposition for digging . I’ll discuss some possible solutions so you can prevent your dog from digging up your lawn and garden. Because my neighbor’s dogs had dug up right in front of the gate, it was probably a mass escape attempt.  At other times his dogs have dug huge holes which are nowhere near the gate, apparently out of boredom. It is also very hot at the beach, so the dogs will also dig up recently watered areas of the yard to get at the cooler soil underneath. The need to prevent these dogs from digging up the whole place at my friend’s house was long overdue.

We used a tip from my favorite dog training book to build his dogs a separate play area, where they could hang out and dig to their heart’s content, without messing up the rest of the yard. We enclosed the chosen area of the yard with some dog proof fencing, and because the ground is sand, we already had made the safe digging area for the dogs. We made sure the enclosure had some shade so it wouldn’t be uncomfortable for the dogs on hot days. My neighbor’s dogs even get to enjoy a little wading pool that he put in for them. These dogs get a lot of love. Now that the dogs stay in the enclosure while he is away from the house, he no longer returns to a yard full of holes.

Even if you don’t live at the beach, you can make the same kind of area in your own yard to prevent your dog from digging. You can find an area of the yard to enclose and create the substitute digging area for your pet by putting a sandbox filled with loose soil mixed with sand for digging. Pick an area to enclose that has some shade  (or add some shade cloth) and in addition to putting in a sandbox for digging purposes, be sure to put in his water bowl and some chew toys to keep him busy.

Besides stopping your dogs from digging up the yard, it also gives them a cool place to hang out while you are gone. Some dogs will stop digging up the yard once they get used to just digging in their play area, and you might be able to once again let him out in your absence. If your dog is digging to escape, though, he should probably stay in the enclosure while you are away. Give this method a try and you should have solved the problem of your dog digging up the yard problem.

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A lot of factors can be responsible for making a dog become aggressive. After all aggression is part of their natural instinct. Just to be able to survive, dogs needed to be aggressive. Aggression was needed in order to be able to hunt and catch food, and to protect their families and territory. Despite thousand of years of domestication, dogs retain the aggression instinct, and if a dog becomes overly aggressive you will benefit from knowing how to control your pet. In order to control your dog’s aggression it is a good thing to know how to recognize your dog’s body language for warning signs. Understanding the reasons for dogs becoming aggressive is a good way to go about stopping dog on dog aggression before it gets a chance to occur.

There are a variety of ways dogs try to show they are dominant, such as placing their own head over the other dogs, or by putting their paws on top of the other dog’s shoulder area. Growling and displaying teeth along with raising the hair on their back are also displays dogs use when becoming more aggressive. Try to make sure this stage of aggression doesn’t get a chance to happen. At this stage, unless the second dog doesn’t act submissively, a dogfight may be likely. Of course you have seen this type of dog behavior many times. By paying attention to your dog while walking him, these type of aggressive behaviors are noticeable, and you can avoid what ever is causing the disturbance.

Try out the tip  below for stopping dog aggression, and get your dog a new friend.

• You can take your aggressive dog on a trip to visit a friend of yours, whose dog happens to be friendly and non-aggressive. This will probably go best if the visiting dog is of the opposite gender of your dog, because dogs may be more aggressive to their own sex. If your friend’s place isn’t a good idea, at least starting in a neutral location is a good idea, so your dog doesn’t have the instinct to protect his turf.

• By keeping both of the dogs on leashes, you retain control in case the dogs react aggressively.  Have the dogs take the sit position far enough away from each other that they cannot touch. Keep your dog in the sit position and do not let him become agitated or aggressive. Show your dog you are happy when he stops acting aggressive by giving him a rewarding tasty treat and lots of praise. It is important for you to be consistent to get the  best and quickest results with your dog training. Don’t emphasize the negatives by yelling at your dog.

• After the dogs have showed that they will remain calm, let them get close enough to greet each other with a sniff. When relaxed dogs greet each other neither one is displaying teeth, growling or raising hackles. Your pet is already on the way to having stopped his aggressive behavior if he is still relaxed at this time.

• Meet your friend and his dog in different places to see if the aggressive dog was comfortable with his new friend in a variety of locations. The repeated meetings with another friendly dog will serve to desensitize your dog’s aggressive attitude towards other dogs.

• After the dogs seem like they have become comfortable around each other, the last test would be to have a meeting in your dog’s home territory. Be sure to have the dogs on their leashes, in case your dog acts aggressively at home. As long as your dog stays relaxed and non-aggressive, let them play with each other. Now that your dog is able to stop being aggressive with other dogs, you will feel a big relief.

Now you know a good way to stop your dog’s aggression problems, and the beginning of him being able to make friends with other dogs.

If you want to see good results stopping your dog’s aggression towards other dogs, try introducing him to a new dog friend.For more information on dog obedience training and solving dog behavior problems, please click here- www.BehaveDoggy.com

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Getting your dog house-trained does not happen in 24 hours.It’s usually done after your dog has aged a few months.As do other mammals, young dogs go through an adjustment period, getting used to life outside of mommy’s womb.They can’t hold it as long as olders dogs can but their bowel or bladder control improves as they age a little.

It’s impossible to monitor your puppy’s activities all day and all night but you need to make sure house-training continues even when you’re not there, therefore, you need to learn to do it the passive way.

Before proceeding, you can learn more with this article on Tips on How To Stop Dog Chewing.

While You Were Elsewhere.

The quickest way to ensure contnued house-training despite being unsupervised is paper training.Here are some tips on how to do it.

Assign one room in the house to be the puppy-toilet room.When you’re leaving for work and would be gone until sundown, bring your pet into the room and lock him in.Put a mat of papers on to the floor covering the entire floor area.Be sure you leave him in with everything – food and water bowl, bed and toys.

At first, you’ll be cleaning after your pet a lot as he will soil the entire room.Be patient when you come home. Pick up after your pet and line the room with fresh sheets.In time, your pup will manifest a preference for a certain spot on the floor for doing his business.When you can clearly see which area your pet prefers, start removing some of the papers.

Learn more from another interesting information sheet here Stop Dog Whining.

Begin removing the pieces of paper opposite your dog’s preferred poop spot.Proceed deliberately, removing an inch or two of the papering, toward the dog’s preferred deposit spot.After a while, a few pieces of paper left on the room floor will do.You’ll know you’re moving too fast when your puppy soils the area beyond where the papers are lined.Move back to laying more paper, recovering a larger space on the floor.When your pet’s showing dependable pooping on one or two sheets you put on the floor, begin working on moving it to your desired spot.

Inch the paper everyday toward the spot in the room where you’d like the dog to poop on.Inch it daily toward your spot, just like you previously did when removing pieces of paper from the floor.If poop winds up beyond the paper, you know what that means; move it back to where it was last.Restart the exercise and proceed as usual, until the paper is where you choose and your dog demonstrates he only poops there.

Some problems are Typical.

House training a dog requires an endless supply of patience.If your pup appears to be going back to old habits, don’t worry too much.Just revert to laying more paper on a wider area.

You can also read this article to learn more Puppy House Training Tips.