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When you get a new puppy for your household, sometimes the excitement of the moment can replace your concerns. But when it comes down to living with this puppy in your everyday life, you realize that there's more to this "dog ownership" thing than you originally thought. One important part of working with a puppy that you just welcomed into your house is housebreaking.
Bringing up a new dog in your family environment means that you'll see the dog grow up alongside your family. But it also means you have a lot of responsibility to make sure that dog grows up happy, healthy, and exhibits controllable behavior. So it's time to learn how to housebreak your puppy in the most effective way possible.
Tip #1: Like humans, dogs are creatures of habit.
You won't get anywhere unless you can be consistent with your puppy and being consistent means that you'll have to follow through yourself. You can't let the puppy "slip one by" by any means; this will just communicate to the dog that your rules can be broken. That's the last thing you want your actions to say. Instead, remain consistent. Unless you can build up a new habit for yourself, you can't expect to build one up for your puppy, either.
Tip #2: Taking your dog outside isn't enough.
You have to remember that dogs don't speak English, nor can they read your thoughts. Just because you're bringing a dog outside doesn't mean it will know what your intentions are. Rather, you should work on stopping your dog at the point of using the bathroom and make sure that it goes outside. Keep the dog on a leash initially if you have too much trouble with it. You can't "convince" a dog to do something; you can only work with its habits in real-time.
Tip #3: Watch the puppy's preexisting habits and work around them.
If you notice that your puppy has to use the bathroom at a specific time in the morning, this would be a good time to take the dog outside for a small walk or simply moving around in the yard. This will help the puppy to begin associating the outdoors with using the bathroom. Once your dog makes this association, you might notice that it begins to wait until you let it outside in order to go. Congratulations! Your dog is housebroken.
Remember that with dogs, actions speak louder than words, and consistent actions will determine your amount of success. Don't try to convince or bribe your dog to make the right decision; guide it so that it makes simple associations like "outside" and "bathroom."
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Posted by Dog Training Pet on March 11, 2010 in
Puppy Training, Tips for Dog Owners
Do you make any of these common mistakes?
Although there are plenty of strategies that have been formed to train dogs, many people agree that there are a few principles to follow in almost every case. As our awareness of dogs and their behavior expands, these principles are reinforced, but we also learn some of the wrong ways to train dogs. Because dogs simply don't respond to some types of training, it's important for you to know these so that you don't make the same kind of mistakes.
Mistake #1: Taking out your frustration on the dog.
Dogs respond intuitively to human behavior. Having been bred alongside humans for thousands of years, many dog breeds are simply wired to work well with humans, giving them the title of "man's best friend." But because dogs have this kind of intuition, we expect too much from them. Remember: your dog doesn't speak English. Although a few key words - like the dog's name - will be picked up over time, you simply can't let yourself get frustrated because a dog doesn't respond to you.
Frustration leads to many more dog training mistakes, so nip it in the bud. Have some patience and understand that the dog might even be trying the best that it can.
Mistake #2: Treating the dog like a human friend.
Dog's might be "man's best friend," but that doesn't mean a dog should be your best friend. Sure, many people get dogs because they like their loyalty, friendship, and the bond that forms. But it ends there. A dog cannot replace a human being in your life, and you shouldn't treat a dog like a person.
This doesn't mean that you shouldn't treat your dog with respect. It simply means you treat it as it is: your dog. Respect your dog as a dog, and the clearly-defined roles in the house will be much healthier for you and your pets.
Mistake #3: Lack of persistence.
Ask yourself one question: is it easy for you to pick up a new habit right away? No? Then why should you expect that a dog will?
Dogs need conditioning, just like people, in order to change their habits. If you want to instill your dog with a good habit, then tackle that habit with persistence on a daily basis. The dogs will eventually know when it's "time to walk," for example, and will eventually respond much more attentively.
If you avoid these three mistakes, you'll be well on your way to understanding how to train your dog. Just remember to be patient and persistent when you try to teach your dog how to behave and you should do absolutely fine.
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Posted by Dog Training Pet on March 10, 2010 in
Dog Training
Dog Treats
How many times have you seen a dog who will sit for you once you reveal that you have a treat? In many cases, we feel that we are in a better position to bribe this dog and it will better listen to our commands, but we have to consider another factor. The dog might have been trained to associate the act of sitting upon command with receiving a treat. In order to "treat" your dog to better training, you're going to have to understand how dogs begin to make these associations, and how you can start doing it today.
The first principle of using treats to train your dog is to learn that you can't really bribe your dog to do anything. It doesn't understand that when you produce a piece of bacon and start shouting a new command, you're expecting it to perform an act. Remember that dogs don't speak English - they tend to learn through associations. So instead of bribing your dog with a treat, start to watch for the desired behavior, and then reward the dog for it.
When you use this principle, this means you'll actually "produce" the treat once a dog has given you the desired behavior. It might work to hold up a piece of bacon and say "sit!" but it won't actually help you train it very well. This is because the dog might already be aware of what "sit" is associated with. When you consistently give a dog a reward for a desired behavior, it will start to realize that this behavior produces positive results, leading to more instances of the desired behavior.
Don't use treats as motivation unless you're actually looking to teach your dog more difficult tricks. Why? Not because the treat helps them teach, but because the treat can be used to motivate them to an action that you want them to re-produce. If you want a dog to jump through a hoop, you can put a treat behind the hoop and say "jump!" After the dog jumps, it is then allowed to have the treat. Remember to wait until the behavior has been produced before you provide the treat.
Many people find it tempting to use treats as a way of winning a dog's affection, but really treats can't buy a dog's respect. A dog will definitely become more interested in you if you have something to give it, but this doesn't mean that you're training it well. Remember that you're in command, and don't let a dog's persistence coerce you into giving up a treat, especially if its behavior is not acceptable.
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Posted by Dog Training Pet on March 10, 2010 in
Dog Training
Dog outside at night.
You've read the books, you've searched endlessly for articles, and you've watched enough dog training television shows to make your eyes bleed. You are starting to understand the principles behind dog training, but when you look at your dog, you're not exactly where to start with it all. So why don't we start first thing in the morning, by actually the ideal day of dog training and what it will actually entail?
Wakeup time. Upon waking, you and your dog head out for a morning walk or a jog. If you're not exercising daily, this is something you need to take up regardless of whether or not you own a dog. Stick to this routine every day, and at least do some form of exercise with your dog for a good thirty minutes to an hour. This will keep both of your moods stable and balanced throughout the rest of the day. Note: Make it clear that this is your run, not your dog's run. Do this by walking out of the door first to enter and exit your home.
Feeding time. After the workout, if your dog has been calm and relaxed, feed it a treat and then its breakfast. Remember not to produce any reward for your dog - don't even present it to them just to see until they are behaving the way you want them to behave. Wait until your dog is calm and relaxed before you put down the bowl of dog food. This will happen a few times a day.
Training time. Presumably, after you've exercised and fed your dog, you had to go to work. After returning home, accept the dog's affection but don't reward any intrusive behavior like the dog crawling on you. Tend to your family and your own needs first: dinner, conversation, etc. Once you've got some free time, take one behavior you'd like to train into your dog and work on that for fifteen minutes to a half an hour.
Play time. At the end of a full day, it's time to simply enjoy some leisure with you, your dog, and your family. A great way to entertain a dog is to give it "dog" things to do: have it fetch sticks, chase a ball, or accompany you on an adventure into the woods.
Night time. Once the day is over, make sure the dog goes into its designated spot - correct it by giving it a stern verbal warning and directing it back to its spot. If you've previously done training (rewarding your dog in the morning, for example, for a calm night of sleeping where it was supposed to sleep), you shouldn't have many problems here.
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Posted by Dog Training Pet on March 9, 2010 in
Dog Training, Tips for Dog Owners
"I missed that, could you repeat?"
One of the chief mistakes that the dog owner without a lot of dog training experience will make is losing patience with a dog that doesn't understand the language you're speaking. We sometimes forget that most of what we say sounds like gibberish to the dog, except perhaps for its name and a few select commands. If you want to increase your dog's obedience and help it understand what you're communicating, you're actually going to have to teach it English - at least, a few English words.
In order for your dog to properly "understand" a word, it actually has to make a simple association. Most dogs understand basic commands like "sit" simply because the association between the sound "sit" and the act of sitting is constantly thrust upon them by pushy owners. You can't expect a dog to totally understand what "sit" means, but simply to respond to a command by producing an associated behavior.
If you want your dog to respond to your English commands, you're going to have to choose a few select words carefully. Why? Because there is plenty of work involved in getting each word into the dog's brain; you can't simply take a day and expect that a dog will get the new word. Instead, you'll have to focus on several English commands that you can teach your dog over time, persistently and consistently training them to better understand what those words are.
Remember to say a word and to reinforce the behavior through a treat after the word has been acted out. For example, don't hold up a treat and say "come" expecting the dog to pick up it. Instead, wait for your dog to "come," and then repeat the word and give it a treat. Once it realizes that this "come" sound simply means to come near you and perhaps receive a treat, it will gladly start to listen to your command.
With that in mind, here are some great words you can start with:
- The dog's name (most dogs pick up on this anyway since it is so consistently used)
- "Sit"
- "Come"
- "Heel" or "Down"
- "Outside" (for using the bathroom successfully outdoors)
- "Wash" or "Tub" (for getting in the tub)
Notice that nearly all of these words are monosyllabic and easy to speak. Don't ask your dog to do too much thinking; make sure you choose short words with distinctive sounds.
If you take responsibility for teaching your dog how to respond to certain commands, you take the burden off of the dog, who might want to understand what you're saying but simply can't will that to be the case. The more you reinforce a word to a dog, the better it will understand.
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Posted by Dog Training Pet on March 9, 2010 in
Dog Training, Tips for Dog Owners
Good dog!
It's one of the most common mistakes someone without a lot of dog training experience will make: trying to get the dog to "avoid" a behavior by punishing them for it. But does this really work, and if it did, wouldn't it be much easier to train dogs? One of the first distinctions that you have to learn in working with dogs is that they don't respond to punishment the same way humans will: in many cases, the dog doesn't even know what it's being punished for. Does this sound like productive training to you? It probably doesn't. Let's learn more about why you should avoid negative reinforcement training.
Most of dog training will actually occur at "the point of." This phrase simply means that you train your dog's behavior as the behavior is happening. If a dog is exhibiting a behavior you don't approve of, you simply remove the dog from the situation or give it a quick nip to take its mind off of what it was doing. If the dog is exhibiting a behavior you do approve of, you'll produce a treat or another reward (affection is a simple one) in order to reinforce that behavior.
Yes, dogs will avoid behaviors if they know that that behavior will produce some sort of negative response. That is the essence and theory behind negative reinforcement. But adding to a dog's fears and anxieties isn't exactly the most productive way to get them to become a healthy member of your household.
Instead, a dog will respond just as strongly to positive actions that lead to positive results.
You might say, "well, I've given Rex a treat to get him to come off my leather couch, and he doesn't seem interested."
You're approaching it the wrong way. Don't bribe dogs to do anything - they'll just perceive you as a provider of food, not the commander of the household. Wait until Rex comes off the couch and then produce a treat. Or give Rex a treat when he avoids the couch altogether. Rex will take notice that him being on the couch doesn't get him the rewards he wants, so he'll change his behavior.
The key is not to train the dog only, but to train yourself. You have to be able to provide consistent feedback for a dog to take notice. This is why many people misuse negative reinforcement and it only leads to more problems. Instead, be consistent with your dog, showing them affection only when they've earned it. The dog will learn positive habits and won't have the same fears that punishment can cause.
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Posted by Dog Training Pet on March 8, 2010 in
Dog Training
Dog in Wild.
Many people - especially those living in cities - don't particularly think that their dogs need a lot of their "natural" abilities to survive. And they're right. Dogs today live relatively well; they're taken care of, they're fed, and they don't have a lot of challenges to overcome. But for many people who are taking care of dogs, this is exactly the problem: their dogs, without enough challenges to keep them occupied, develop poor habits and face a lot of anxieties in their daily life.
So should you train your dog to get used to the agility and exercise it would typically get in the wild?
Many people ask this question and today you're finally going to get an answer. And you'll find that it's not a question of "can," but "will."
The first thing you have to consider is why you want to give your dog agility. For some, simply exercising with your dog in a variety of unique ways is reason enough to justify new agility; it's simply a way to get outside and keep your dog challenged. For others, their pursuits are more ambitious: they want to train their dog for very specific obstacles and courses, perhaps with an eye on eventually entering the dog in a competition of some sort.
What kind of dog trainer are you?
This will largely determine the level of agility you'll want to develop in your dog. There's no easy way, of course: even giving your dog a good workout means working it until it is reaching new levels of fatigue. A dog should feel relatively worn out after exercising; everything else just scratches at the surface of the health benefits of exercise.
If you want to train your dog for obstacles, a higher level of mental discipline, patience, and training will be involved: not only for the dog, but for you. You'll want to stay patient with a dog that is still attempting a way to move through an obstacle. You'll have to provide the dog with incentives to complete an obstacle course without the dog becoming confused. For many, training a dog to be a "competition" dog requires a whole new level of dedication and commitment that can often last throughout most of the dog's life.
Can you train your dog to be agile?
Yes. But how agile do you want your dog to be, and why do you want to seek that level? These are perhaps more important questions to answer when you think about the type of training you want to provide for your dog. And remember, there is no right or wrong answer because it depends on your specific situation.
Photo Credits: nafra cendrers
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Posted by Dog Training Pet on March 8, 2010 in
Doggie Exercises
Fun times!
Most people associate a leash with one simple act - walking your dog. When we head out with a dog, we expect to have them tied to us so that we can control them if need be, as well as preventing them from entering any potentially dangerous situations. But is this the limit of a leash? Might it have some other uses - like helping your dog training efforts? Let's take a look at the leash and see if there's some other ways it can be utilized in raising your dog.
First, a leash can be used to prevent your dog from running away when you're trying to train it. While you obviously don't want to be training your dog so poorly that it feels the need to run away, it can be helpful to have your dog on a leash even indoors. Dogs can be very good at avoiding your attempts at chasing it, and smaller dogs can be too agile and light on their feet to be caught. If you add a leash to the equation, however, you add to the dog's "size," essentially, making it easier to catch them.
Remember, however, that you don't want to use your leash as a punishment. Instead, you should probably be looking to reward your dog for positive behaviors rather than punish them for negative behaviors. If you do find yourself needing to control your dog indoors, however, let it walk around with a leash on every once in a while. Just don't make it a regular habit.
Second, you can use a leash to help a dog learn a new behavior. You can't reward a dog for something it hasn't attempted yet, and it's a bad idea to try to "bribe" it into doing something - it probably won't understand. Instead, you can use a leash to guide a dog into doing a trip, such as going through a hoop.
Once the dog has gone through the hoop and you associate the word "Jump!" to this behavior, you can then take the leash off, give the dog a treat and some affection for a job well done. Eventually, you can start going without the leash, simply presenting the hoop and saying "Jump!" There's a good chance your dog will eventually learn what this means and, because of the positive associations attached to it, be perfectly willing to jump through the hoop.
Remember not to make your leash a negative experience for a dog - don't use it as a tool of punishment to choke or yank on the dog with. If you have to make corrections with a leash, just give quick, solid tugs to keep the dog in line. Ultimately, you want the dog to remain calm and relaxed when you put its leash on.
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Posted by Dog Training Pet on March 7, 2010 in
Dog Training
Two or more dogs?
If you're a dog lover, then there's a good chance that at some point, you'll be bringing a new dog into a home in which there are already dogs. In essence, you're initiating a new dog into your "pack." This can be exciting, but it can also cause apprehension in your dogs if you're not careful. That's why you'll want to follow the tips in this article so that you'll be better prepared when you are going to introduce your new dog.
Things to Consider:
- The pack instinct in dogs is very, very strong. If you only have one dog already, you might feel tempted to believe that this dog somehow operates independent of these instincts, but if you continue to believe that, you're in for a rude awakening.
- The dogs already in your pack might be territorial. You've got to establish that this is your turf, and that if you choose to welcome a new dog into the pack, then that dog is new to the pack. This is one reason it's crucial not to coddle your dogs and treat them like friends; you don't want them believing they're in charge of the pack.
- If you're not the leader of your pack, one of the dogs will believe that it is. Keep this in mind.
How to Introduce the New Dog
It works better if you can establish a clear pack before you introduce a new dog - in general, the dogs you already own should be calm in your presence, non-aggressive towards other people, and should respect your boundaries, generally following your orders when it understands them.
Once you have this established, make heavy use of dog crates - you should already have some for your present dogs, even if they don't always use them. Bring the new dog in the dog crate and allow the dogs to get to know each other and smell each other before you let the new dog out. If any growling goes on, step right in and correct it. If you tolerate aggression, the dogs will feel fine with it. If you don't tolerate it, they'll understand that you're the pack leader.
Eventually, you can let your dog out if all of the dogs are acting calmly; it's a good idea to keep a leash on the new dog in case you need to correct it quickly. Remember to intervene if any aggression occurs, and to set the standards of behavior and enforce them yourself.
Photo Credits: TheGiantVermin
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Posted by Dog Training Pet on March 7, 2010 in
Canines, Dog Training
Need a Dog Trainer?
If you've been trying to raise a puppy or have received a dog well into that dog's adulthood, there's a good chance that you've at least made some attempts to raise your dog in a specific way as part of your household. Even if you aren't interested in dog training, some essentials like requiring the dog to go to the bathroom outside will be key to keeping both you and your family happy.
But if a dog isn't behaving properly, how do you know if it's a simple matter, or something that might require bringing in a dog trainer? How do you know when you can or can't fix a problem in your dog's behavior? This article will address those questions.
First, remember that dogs won't necessarily understand all of your commands right away. You can't expect a dog to be fluent in English, and this means some patience will be required. If you feel like you've tried to train your dog and none of the tricks take, but that's the extent of the problems you've been having, then there's a good chance that the problem lies with how you're training the dog, not with the dog itself.
But if a dog seems to be obedient in some areas while exhibiting some other form of erratic behavior that seems out of control - such as barking incessantly at strangers or other dogs, or even biting - then there's a good chance that you'll want to look into hiring a dog trainer. It's tempting to try to fix these kinds of problems yourself, but sometimes these problems can get outside the scope of amateur dog training.
At the very least, a problem behavior can be discussed with a dog training professional - if you're not sure that the behavior warrants bringing in a professional, try shopping the dog around. Talk to some trainers, tell them your problems with the dog, and see what kind of solutions they offer.
If some offer solutions that involve you hiring them, take that advice with a grain of salt. Make sure to contact plenty of trainers to get a well-rounded perspective; if one piece of advice seems to be a theme among these trainers, then there's a good chance that they're being both honest and accurate.
If you're going to decide to take your dog to a trainer, try to exhaust all of the other options first. There is a good chance that you might be able to help your dog without a trainer - if you have the research and know-how to make better decisions regarding the health and relationships of your family dog.
Photo Credits: Alan Stanton
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Posted by Dog Training Pet on March 6, 2010 in
Dog Training
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