Dog Training Tip

Dog Training Tips

The whole subject of training your dog so that he can live a happy and stable life with his hopefully, lifelong owner is quite a huge one. Quite often, dogs and owners get along happily enough with not much of a structured training program in place, and both dog and owner get by with both of them having their little quirks and foibles and no great trauma. Sometimes however, problems do arise and this is where a good solid program of training will make life so much better for all parties concerned.

Here, you will find a little list of dog training tips that you may not have come across, but which you may find useful whether you participate in a full blown dog training program or not.

Dog Training Tip 1

Right from the first day that you bring your puppy home, don't let him jump up. It's all very sweet when he's little and you just want to cuddle him all the time, but when he weighs 100lb and he's covered in mud, Auntie Veronica is not going to be pleased when she calls in for tea and buns in her sunday best. When you want to be near your puppy, bend down to him.

Dog Training Tip 2

If your puppy has a toilet accident in the house, you must never punish him. This can easily lead to problems further down the line, such as him not toileting when you are around. If your puppy has had an accident, I'm afraid it is down to you not spotting the signs that he needed to go.

Dog Training Tip 3

When toilet training a puppy, try to remember that scheduled food in, 9 times out of 10, means scheduled poop out. There will of course be exceptions to this, during times of illness for example; but generally, it's a fairly reliable system.

Dog Training Tip 4

When your puppy goes out to the garden for a toilet trip, you must go with him. Don't just send him out on his own. You have to be close to hand to pile on the praise when he does his business; to reinforce the fact that doing his toilet in the garden is a good thing. If he gets to assume that just doing his toilet away from you is what you want, he may begin to slope off upstairs away from you and pee on the dirty washing!

Dog Training Tip 5

Using food as a reward or treat is a topic of debate that will never be over. The short answer is that there is no right answer. Sometimes it's right, sometimes it's not. The most important thing to remember is that it must only ever be used as a reward, once the correct behaviour has been carried out, and not as a bribe, where the dog won't walk up the street unless you feed him a cookie every 5 yards. (Yes, I see a woman do this everyday with her chocolate labrador!)

Dog Training Tip 6

The one way to be able to get your dog's attention no matter what's going on around him is to teach him to only have eyes for you. This basically involves saying his name, move away, just a couple of steps, praise him for following, whip out a treat and give it to him. Repetition, repetition, repetition is the key here. It doesn't matter if his name means 'incoming cookie' to him; being able to get his attention in a split second could save his live one day.

Dog Training Tip 7

If you have a big dog, and he has serious trouble with the sit-stay command when other obedience issues are going in the right direction, it may be worth getting his hips checked out at the vets. It may be as simple a thing as it's actually uncomfortable for him to sit for more than a few seconds at a time due to a hip problem. It will then however, be a hip problem that needs sorting, and that won't be as simple.

Dog Training Tip 8

If you have a puppy, training him or her to accept and stay in a crate is a vital part of his education. It can help with such times as dog fearful visitors, travelling, vet visits and overnight stays. All these events can be traumatic enough and the security of being in the familiar environment of a crate the same as at home can help no end, aside from the practical implications. It's important that a crate becomes a place of security and safety to your puppy and not a punishment area.

Dog Training Tip 9

When you bring home a new puppy, it's important that they haven't been taken away from the litter too early. They need to have a good bite inhibition instilled into them, and this is done in the litter environment. The bite inhibition training continues and needs refining in the home environment. Human skin is more easily damaged and sensitive to pain than a dog's and it's important for a puppy to learn that teeth and skin should not come into contact with each other.

Dog Training Tip 10

I think the most important dog training tip to remember over all these things and the endless other points that all contribute to basic dog training is that whether you mean to or not, you are constantly training your dog.

So after your training session when you've been training him not to jump on the furniture, and you sit down on the sofa with a cup of tea and you pat your lap for your little pooch to jump up for a cuddle....think on...!

In order to find out more about training your dog, and I'm sure that as a responsible dog owner, you will, have a look at Secrets of Dog Training here. You can get a free report here, and also get a free 6 day mini course from here, delivered straight to your email inbox.