To teach your dog tricks even easy ones you need to have some small reward treats, be in a quiet suitable place and keep the training sessions to 10 – 15 minutes or your dog will start to get board, remember when he gets something right lots of praise and a reward treat, just be careful not to get him over excited or he will loose concentration.

Getting your dog to give you his paw, first get your dog to sit, then as you say the word ‘paw’ take your dogs paw in your hand, give the dog a treat, repeat this, after a few times do not take his paw so quickly, say the word, count to one then take it, you should notice he is bringing his paw up as you say the word if he does not go back to saying it at the same time, do it a few more times then slow your response again. After 2 or 3 sessions most dogs pick this one up quite happily.

The high five, like a lot of tricks the high five is a progression of an earlier trick, in this cast the paw trick. Hold a treat in your fingers and raise your hand slightly higher than you would for the paw trick. You dog will think you want to do the paw trick and will reach for the treat with his paw as we taught him earlier, as he reaches up you say “high five” and give him the treat. Once your dog has mastered the paw trick this one should be very easy to learn and with just a few sessions he will be doing it on hand signal rather than voice control.

Getting your dog to jump through a hoop. Before you start this one I would just like to ask you to be a little sensible and not hold the hoop too high as you do not want your dog to hurt himself while doing the trick. Sit your dog on one side of a hoola hoop, get the dogs attention on your hand on the other side of the hoop. Take a treat in your hand and give the dog the command to release him from the sit.

At first they may attempt to go around or under the hoop. If this happens start again. Your dog wants the treat and will soon learn that going around or under does not get it so they will soon start going through it. When he does say “hoopla” and give them the treat. They will soon be jumping through the hoop on the command of “hoopla”. When I started doing this trick I had a medium sized dog (a Labrador) so I started with the hoop 6 inches from the ground and slowly raised it to waist height. If you have a smaller dog you might want to start with the hoop touching the ground so the dog just goes through the hoop and then slowly raise it as they gets used to the trick.

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We all dream of caring for a perfect dog, a puppy who is a good canine citizen or a good dog and is well behaved and can be relied upon at all times. Good dreams do come true if the training is done with full attention and dedication. Remember puppies learn from day one and need to be taught what is right, what is wrong, and proper socialization.

Puppies are like children, they need constant supervision and training. Training a puppy doesn’t need to be full of trials all that you need to remember are a few simple rules:

Watch Your Puppy

1.) Until your puppy learns, you need to watch them at all times. When you can’t, you should to crate them. Create a schedule for your puppy and this will help the puppy settle down quickly. The schedule should include things like hourly bathroom visits, meal times, rest periods, walks, play time, training, and so on. A puppy that has a busy day doesn’t have time to get bored and be naughty.

Get Respect

2.) Teach puppies to respect you. Dogs live in groups and instinctively follow a leader. If you build your leadership without any conditions, training will be easy because the puppy will obey you at all times and not challenge your authority.

Keep Things Positive

3.) Use only positive training methods. Never shout, hit or punish a dog. This is not only cruel but can cause behavioral problems. The use of electric shock, branch collars, sprays, etc. can injure the animal.

No Free Rides

4.) Teach puppies “nothing in life is free.” This is a system that is widely recognized as a useful training tool. If you practice this, the puppy will learn that to get something like love, take a walk, or treat, they must behave well.

No Means No

5.) Teach the meaning of “No,” from day one. Don’t encourage behaviors such as jumping, babbling, tugging, barking, or running out of open gates and doors. Praise good behavior and ignore them or walk away when there is bad behavior. The puppy will learn that if they act unfairly, they will lose their friend / playmate.

Catch Them In The Act

6.) To improve a behavior, you must catch the puppy in action and surprise them by shaking a can filled with rocks. After you do this, make them improve their behavior and immediately offer them treats and praise. The puppy does not remember what happened before so scolding him after an event is of no use.

Positive Name Use

7.) Always call / use their name positively. Never say “Bad Fido,” or “No Fido,” this will cause confusion and the puppy will think that if you call their name then that is something bad. The puppy must associate its name with happy events such as hugs, petting, walks, treats, and the like. If this happens, they will come voluntarily when you call his name.

Schedule

8.) Keep your training schedule short and sweet, say 10 minutes three times a day. Long repetitive lessons can be boring and puppies will lose interest in learning. Make learning fun and use training tricks to teach commands like sit, down, come and so on.

Bonding

9.) Bond with the puppy and both of you will enjoy your lessons. Puppies should expect to spend time with you and not avoid you by running away or hiding. Be sure to socialize the puppy early. Socialization is one of the most important lessons. Puppies must learn to be around other animals, humans, sounds, vehicles, and other activities. So, slowly introduce the puppy when they are little to daily activities and sounds. Take them to the mall / park, introduce them to children and other pets, and make them not afraid of the vacuum and the garden hose.

Learn About Training

10.) Learn all about crate training, rope walking, house breaking, as well as food training. These are “kindergarten” lessons that every puppy must master. Know about all the peculiarities and idiosyncrasies of their breed. This will give you valuable insights on how to train your puppy successfully.

Conclusion

As a pet parent, you have many choices. You can choose to train your own dog or enroll in a professional training school. Even better, if you can, train your puppy yourself! ((Click HERE For a FREE Training Course to get you started) Dog training has many stages: kindergarten, obedience training, doggy sports, shows and conformation. Also other aspects such as dog therapy, hearing dogs, and so on. The level you choose to train your puppy depends on you and your dog’s learning ability.

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Have you ever asked yourself, “What is my dog trying to tell me?” Dogs do know how to communicate and they do it well. It’s just that they speak differently to us, mainly using body language.

Understanding the body language of your dog is essential to adapt to them and thus form a relationship of trust between the two of you. Plus that will help you better understand the needs of your four-legged friend. By the end of this post you will know what your pet is trying to tell you in different situations. Knowing this will help you support and guide them better. Maybe you can share this video with a dog lover you know to help them also.

The key areas to which you need to pay attention are their ears, tail, eyes, snout and how they are behaving. These areas will help you assess their mood and what they are trying to say. Here are some different moods that your dog may be in to find out how they feels look for the indicated signs

Number 1 – Relaxed and Approachable

When your dog is relaxed and willing to engage with you they usually show the following signs:

• Tail down and relaxed
• Ears up but not forward
• Head high
• Mouth slightly open and with the tongue pulled out
• Loose posture without tension
• They stand and walk confidently with their body flexible and upright

In this state your dog is saying that they are relaxed and do not feel threatened by the environment around them. Also they have no problems. This is the best time to train and enjoy time with them as they feel confident in the environment they are in and those they are with.

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Number 2 – Playful

I hope you have a lot of energy when you see your dog behaving this way because they are indicating that they want to play.

• Tail up and wagging
• Ears up
• Dilated pupils
• Open mouth and tongue out
• Body inclined forward with folded front legs
• Jumping from side to side
• Staying still for a moment before jumping again

Here we have the basic invitation of a dog asking to play. This behavior can be accompanied by excited barking or running with energy. Depending on the breed, the personality of your dog and how rested they are they may or may not openly invite you to play. If you have some free time and energy to burn go looking for that toy that makes your pet jump for joy and initiate playtime.

Number 3 – Alert

Observing the following characteristics be aware as your dog is attentive to something in their environment.

• Tail in horizontal position and moving from one side to another
• Ears up put forward listening for sounds
• Eyes wide open
• Snout and forehead straight
• Closed mouth with tongue inside
• One paw slightly in front of the other
• They stay still so as not to produce noises that prevent them from hearing more clearly

Here your dog is telling you that they have detected something of interest or something unknown. They still do not know if what they have detected represents a danger or not. But with these body signals they are informing you that there is a possible threat. And that they must be alert in case they have to act. If you know what it is that has them in this state and you know that it doesn’t represent danger there is nothing left but to enjoy your pets over-dramatic response. But if you don’t know what’s got them in this state it’s best to detect what it is in case it’s something that may cause your pet any stress or harm.

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Number 4 – Dominant and Aggressive

If you observe the following characteristics in a dog you must be careful and act with caution. That is because they are telling you that they feel threatened and may act aggressively at any time. These are the signs to look for:

• Tail lifted bristling rigid and vibrating from side to side
• Bristly hair
• Ears forward slightly extended towards a v-shape
• Wrinkled forehead
• Retracted lips teeth and gums visible
• Rigid posture with the body inclined slightly forward
• They may sit still or move slowly looking to position himself better in case of confrontation.

Your dog is telling you that they feel distrustful. They are poised to threaten any possible danger and could act aggressively if challenged by something or someone. If the cause of this behavior is known, such as encountering another dog, it is best to remove them. This should be done preferably with a lead from the object that is disturbing them. At this time we recommend you leave your dog alone in a quiet place until it calms down.

Number 5 – Fearful and Aggressive

If you observe the following characteristics in your dog…

• Their tail between their legs
• Crouched body
• Bristly hair
• Ears turned backward
• Wrinkled nose
• Dilated pupils
• Curved snout and the
• Corners of the mouth stretched back
• Teeth slightly visible
• They stand still in that position ready to attack if necessary

….then they are telling you that they are scared but they are not submissive and may attack if they are challenged. A dog usually gives these signals when they come face-to-face with a person or animal that is making them feel threatened. They think that they may have to attack or defend themselves. That is why they take a stand that allows them to get out of the situation quickly in the form of an attack. They may also bark as a threat as if to say do not come near me.

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Number 6 – Stressed Out

Not just people get stressed out. Our pets can also suffer from anxiety. Look for the following signs to see if your dog feels this way:

• Low tail along with their body
• Ears backwards
• Dilated pupils with sad look
• Rapid breathing
• Mouth corners pulled backwards
• Moves clumsily and avoids confrontation

Your dog may be either stressed and embarrassed or irritated. If they are embarrassed maybe they feel ashamed of something they think they did wrong. Possibly after receiving the blame for something that they think they deserve or perhaps they feels irritated or upset. Dogs also have bad days. Maybe they were punished and they do not understand why. Or there may be something that bothers them like an irritating noise.

Number 7 – Fearful and Worried

To find out if your dog is fearful see if they show these signs:

• Tail between their legs
• Crouched body
• Ears back
• Scared look
• Little to no eye contact
• Raising paw and moving it to get your attention

Your dog is trying to get your attention with these signals because they want your help to solve a perceived problem. When you observe them in this state try to see if they are pointing something out. Like a wound or the place of something they find threatening. Follow them and observe them carefully while testing possible solutions such as hiding objects that they may find unnerving. There are insecure dogs that may show this state constantly. For them it is best to help them gain confidence little by little making them feel safe. But if you know that your dog is not usually in this state. And they have been like this without an apparent cause for a while. Take them to the vet to make sure that there isn’t anything more to it.

Number 8 – Extreme Fear and Complete Submission

Pay attention to these traits because they indicate your dog is having a really bad time.

• Laying upside down
• Tail touching their belly
• Ears back
• Head tilted on the ground
• Eyes slightly closed
• Mouth closed expels drops or squirts of urine

They are indicating their total submission here. They are trying to say that they surrender before a leader of greater rank than them. Or at the threat they feel in order to avoid a physical confrontation. When your dog shows submission they tend to sit or lie on the ground taking a quiet position near you. They may avoid looking into your eyes possibly embarrassed or avoiding any confrontation.

Also if they feel very insecure they may start to make small shrill yelps like a kind of crying. If you see them in this pitiful situation first make sure nothing in your demeanor could be seen as threatening. Drop objects that you may have in your hands and kneel calmly beside them. Speak to them softly and with a reassuring tone until they shows signs of calming down. If they stay in this state of terror for an extended period of time seek professional help.

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Number 9 – Sick

The first step to know if your dog is sick is to observe if they show any of these signs:

• Tail down and hidden
• Look lost and eyes without shine
• Dull and rough hair
• Laying down most of the day
• Apathetic
• Dry nose and clogged eye corners
• Lack of appetite

A dog that trembles could be scared or shy but it can also indicate some kind of illness. If you know the character of your dog and you see that there is no reason for them to be scared it is likely that they feels sick. Find out what they have eaten in the last few hours as they may have an upset stomach. Ask other people in your family if they have seen them do anything strange.

Try to collect as much information as possible as it will be very useful to the veterinarian if you need to visit one. Look for any wounds and with great delicacy touch different parts of their body to see if they show any pain in a particular area. If there is no explanation for their condition and there is no sign of recovery take them urgently to the vet. Come prepared with a list of things your dog has been doing and eating in the lead up to their symptoms presenting themselves.

Number 10 – Feels Lonely

If you see that your dog:

• Puts their head between your knees or under your hand
• Touches you with their nose
• Lets out little whimpers looking for you to hear them
• Looks at you trying to maintain eye contact

They are looking for attention, informing you that they need you. If they touch your hands with their nose they want you to pet them and spend more time with them because they feel a little lonely and require your company. A curious situation can arise when your dog brings you a toy of theirs, you throw it for them to play with but they ignore it and stay with you. In this case what your dog is trying to tell you it’s not that they want to play but they want you to give them the same attention you do when you play together. Bringing you a toy is their way of telling you “hey I feel lonely and bored treat me like when we play with this”.

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These have been some of the most common behaviors of our dogs and as you can see that to understand your dog is very helpful as it allows us to know how to make them feel better. We hope that these tips help you better understand your pet and achieve a special bond with them. If you want to learn more about your pet don’t miss our posts on the best ways to keep your dog healthy.

Thank You!

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What TO Do And NOT To Do If Your Dog Runs Away And Doesn’t Listen

Today I’m going to talk to you about what to do and what not to do if your dog were to suddenly run away from you and not listen when out and about. Here’s a story about what happened yesterday at the park showing what not to do.

I was walking my dogs and this loose dog ran over. As the owner approached her dog acted fearful of her and then ran away. Luckily a stranger was able to capture her dog for her. As she approached her dogs she obviously was feeling emotional. She probably felt embarrassed and angry. So what happened was as she took her dog she took out her emotions on her dog. She most likely was thinking that by acting angry and aggressive towards her dog it would teach the dog to listen to her. Also to not run away from her.

But what she actually was teaching her dog is that if her dog is loose and she approaches her dog something terrible will happen when she actually catches her dog. She literally was teaching her dog to avoid her if the dog were to run away from her in the future. That is probably the same reason why, when her dog was sniffing my dog’s, that as she approached her dog acted fearful and then ran from her.

Keep Your Emotions In Check

It’s very hard for us as humans to not act emotionally. But in order to train our dogs we have to put our emotions on the side. We Must think about what will affect their behavior in the future. So I’m going to tell you what you should do if your dog were to suddenly run away and not listen to you.

If your dog were to run away from you it’s important to quickly assess how dangerous the situation is and act accordingly. For example, if your dog is running towards a busy road and you know that yelling at your dog is going to get your dog to stop in his tracks then do it. Worry about your dog’s safety first and what will keep your dog safe. And then you can think about training later. But in the next example I’m going to talk about what to do is if there isn’t a dangerous situation happening.

If There Isn’t a Dangerous Situation

Say your dogs run away from you at the park and they’re safe. What you can do to get your dog to want to come back to you is to act happy and excited. Instead of acting angry and annoyed which usually makes dogs want to stay away from you. So you can use a high-pitched voice calling them and pat your legs. I wouldn’t suggest approaching your dog but you can go to the side. If your dog is out in front of you, you can run sideways back and forth. Running away from your dog can help but obviously you’re creating more and more distance from your dog. So I suggest zigzagging to the left and the right. And you can actually even approach your dog without them knowing it by slowly zigzagging towards them.

Another idea is dropping treats and running. Still another idea is laying down on the ground and making high-pitched noises. Most dogs find that it’s not a threat if you were suddenly to lay down on the ground. Now if none of that works I suggest going over to your dog in an arc. Especially if they’re distracted by something. Instead of a direct approach you’re going to arc around and try not to look at your dog as you go to approach them.

The Final Step

And the final step is when you do get to your dog. When they’re distracted by something, like a stranger or another dog, you’re going to get your dog in a neutral manner. Because this is going to train them in the future that nothing bad happens when you actually do get them. So say they’re sniffing on the ground you go over and you grab their collar in a neutral manner. Or maybe pick up your little dog in a neutral manner. You must try your hardest not to take out your emotions on your dog. It is going to be a little bit embarrassing if you’re out in public and your dog’s not listening to you.

There are a couple of things you can train now to set yourself up for success if this situation were to happen to you. One is proofing a recall with distractions. Another is teaching tricks that will, as a result, get your dog to come to you because they want to do that specific trick.

Tricks You Can Use

Here are some tricks that you can use. One of them is asking your dog to touch your fingers. Basically you say touch and your dog comes and touches your fingers and then you have a dog that is with you. Or maybe a little dog learns a trick where they jump into your arms. If you have a little dog you can say jump up and then you’ve got your dog. That’s my favorite one for little dogs! Maybe they like weaving through your legs or going between your legs. You can give them that cue and if they love it they’ll come running to do that behavior.

The other thing that you can do is teach your dog what to do if they are ignoring you. Say they’ve run over and they’re smelling another dog and you want to now collect them in a neutral manner. Without training some dogs can find it extremely punishing to be picked up. Also having their collar grabbed and pulled away from something that they like. So in training sessions you can teach your dog to find these behaviors neutral or even pleasant. That way if you do need to go and get your dog they are not seeing you as this really horrible thing that’s coming and spoiling their fun.

For Little Dogs

One thing to do with little dogs is first handling and then work on picking them up. So you’re just going to touch them on their sides and use a marker word. Gradually work on picking them up until they feel comfortable with it. If you have a dog that’s very uncomfortable with being picked up you can teach them to jump on your lap. You bend down and then they jump into your arms rather than them being picked up.

If you have a larger dog you’re obviously not going to have them jump in your arms or carry them. But you can teach them the collar grab. Basically teaching your dog that when you take their collar and lead them it’s simply a cue train with positive reinforcement. It just means move with me in the same way you would train a recall. This way your dog enjoys coming to you and your dog is enjoying being led by you.

Without prior training a lot of dogs find this extremely punishing and intimidating. So when they’re loose and you have to grab their collar and you haven’t trained it you’re basically training your dog not to be caught by you. Then they’re going to start avoiding it if they find it to be a punishing experience.

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So I suggest in your training, it’s really important if you see a behavior that you don’t like you have two options. Number one, figure out a way to prevent that behavior by managing the environment as you train your dog appropriate behaviors. Or number two, you need to interrupt that behavior as soon as you see it.

So if you see your puppy going to chew on your furniture you need to interrupt your puppy immediately. A lot of people believe that you have to use punishment to interrupt undesirable behavior. But this is really not true. I’ve been training dogs with this method for over 15 years and I’ve never seen any issues arise from this method. And I actually believe it’s a better way of training. The reason I use it because you don’t get any of the side effects that are associated with punishment.

I don’t believe that it’s cruel or inhumane to tell your puppy or your adult dog no when they do certain behaviors you dislike. But I really believe that by using an interrupter that you’ve trained with, like a cue, that tells your dog what to do is a much better way of training because you don’t get the baggage of punishment.

Here’s a list of the different ways that you can interrupt your dog without using physical or psychological intimidation:

1.) Attention noise
2.) Recall
3.) Leave it
4.) Stationing behavior
5.) Drop it
6.) Let’s go
7.) Alternate behavior
8.) Treat lure
9.) Release cue
10.) Move the dog

First you need to set up training sessions to train your dog these behaviors. You might only need one or two depending on your situation. But once you’ve trained your dog the behavior you then need to prove the behavior in proofing sessions. This simply means asking for the behavior in different scenarios and different environments to make sure the dog understands that no matter what situation the same behavior is required.

1.) Attention Noise

Now I’m going to discuss all those different behaviors on the list starting with the attention noise. I think this is the easiest and the quickest interrupter to train. I use it with new rescue dogs and puppies who haven’t had any prior training because it’s quick and easy. Now all you have to do is make a kissy noise and when your dog looks up at you you mark and reinforce your dog for looking at you. Once you’ve trained and proofed that behavior then if your dog is doing something that you don’t really like you can make the kissy noise your dog looks at you to say what?

Then you tell your dog what you do want them to do.And if they don’t know any cues yet you can show your dog. So say if your puppy is chewing on a chair you can make the kissy noise and then show them their ball. Now it’s really important when you’re interrupting behavior that you understand that it’s not the interrupting of the behavior that is important in creating a well-mannered dog. The really important thing is training your dog what you do want them to do. Puppies chew. So if you are simply just trying to punish them for chewing your furniture they’re going to keep wanting to chew. The best solution is training them what to chew on which is their dog toys, their bones, etc.