Getting Started Training Your Puppy

Getting Started Training Your Puppy

The post Getting Started Training Your Puppy first appeared on Puppy Blog.

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1. Establish a routine for your puppy. This includes feeding times, potty breaks, and learning sessions
2. Socialize your pup early. Introduce them to other dogs and people in a safe, supervised environment.
3. Use positive reinforcement. Offer treats, affection, and verbal rewards when your pup behaves well.
4. Crate train your puppy. This will help them feel secure and make potty training easier.
5. Exercise your puppy often. This will help them stay healthy and tire them out, promoting good behavior.
6. Supervise your puppy at all times. This will help them learn what is acceptable behavior and what isn’t.
7. Teach your puppy basic commands. This will help them feel secure and give you control.
8. Be consistent with discipline. Don’t reward bad behavior or they may learn that it is acceptable.
9. Groom your puppy regularly. This will help them get used to being handled and will help build a bond between you.
10. Provide your puppy with plenty of toys and chews. This will help entertain them and keep them from chewing on inappropriate items.

Taking care of puppies can be a wonderful and rewarding experience. They bring joy and love to their owners and it is important to provide them with the best care possible. Puppies need a lot of attention and love, but also need to be taught proper behavior and obedience. As the owner, it is important to provide them with a safe and comfortable environment, proper nutrition, physical exercise, mental stimulation, and regular veterinary checkups. It’s also important to socialize puppies to ensure they are comfortable around other people, animals, and environments. With the right care, puppies can become happy and healthy members of the family.

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Basics of Dog Training

It’s essential for Dog parents like you to know certain basic factors that determine your relationship with your Dog and can go a long way in training him effectively.

Before you begin training your Dog, it is absolutely essential that you build a loving bond with him. This is important as it helps you to understand his needs and instincts and also allows your Dog to have complete trust in you.

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How To Bond With Your Dog

Building a bond with your Dog is the first and the most crucial step involved in training him successfully. As soon as you bring your Dog home, you must first try to develop a caring and loving relationship with him in order to win his trust and confidence.

When Dogs are secure in the knowledge that they belong to the family, they are more likely to respond better to their owners’ training commands. Just like with any relationship, there must be mutual trust and respect between you and your Dog.

Trust takes time to develop and respect comes from defining boundaries and treating any breach of those boundaries with firmness and fairness.

Without enforceable limitations, respect can’t be developed. And when there is no respect, building a bond with your Dog is almost impossible.

4 Golden Rules To Building A Relationship With Your Dog :

• Spend quality time together;

• Take him out in the world and experience life together;

• Establish and promote a level of mutual respect; and

• Develop a way of communicating to understand each other’s needs.

Building a bond with your Dog will not only help you manage him better but will also make your Dog calm, quiet and an extremely well-adjusted pet.

Love Your Dog and He Will Love You back

Once you’re succesful in building a bond with your Dog, you can rest assured that training him and teaching him new and clever tricks will be a cakewalk.

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How Your Dog Learns…

Your Dog’s learning period can be divided into five phases:

The Teaching Phase – This is the phase where you must physically demonstrate to your Dog exactly what you want him to do.

The Practicing Phase – Practice makes Perfect. Once a lesson is learnt, practice with your Dog what you have just taught him.

The Generalizing Phase – Here you must continue practicing with your Dog in different locations and in an environment with a few distractions. You can take your Dog out for a walk, or to a nearby park and command him to practice whatever you’ve taught him.

Practicing the learned lessons in multiple locations and in the presence of small distractions will help him learn and retain lessons better .

The Testing Phase – Once you’re sure that your Dog has achieved almost 90% success….he responds correctly almost every time you give a command, you must start testing his accuracy in newer locations with a lot of distractions.

Example: Take him to the local shopping mall and ask him to obey your command. He may not come up with the correct response the very first time you do this, but you must not lose hope.

The idea is to test your Dog to see how he responds in an environment which is new to him. Set-up a situation where you are in control of the environment and your Dog.

There are only 2 possibilities:

• Your Dog succeeds!!! (Trumpets please!)

• In case your Dog fails, re-examine the situation. Review and/or change your training. Then try testing again.

Keep on testing until he succeeds. Follow the rule of the 3 Ps – patience, persistence, praise.

Internalizing Phase – Finally, comes the extremely rewarding phase where your Dog does everything he is taught to do even without your commands.

Remember:

• Never scold your Dog if he fails. It’s not his fault. You have failed as a trainer!

• You must be patient and persistent for your efforts to show rewards.

• Appreciate and love your Dog when he does it right! A little encouragement will work wonders for your Dog.

• Dog Training is easy when you do it right.

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]]> http://puppyblog.org/title-all-the-things-you-should-know-about-your-dog-but-dont-want-to-talk-about/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=title-all-the-things-you-should-know-about-your-dog-but-dont-want-to-talk-about Wed, 25 Sep 2019 02:50:00 +0000 http://puppyblog.org/?p=2708 Summary: When you decided to get a dog, I’ll bet you daydreamed about the great times you’d have with your new best friend. However, there are many things that you need to consider in order to keep your pooch happy and healthy. Things that perhaps you’d rather not even think about! When you decided to […]

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Summary:
When you decided to get a dog, I’ll bet you daydreamed about the great times you’d have with your new best friend. However, there are many things that you need to consider in order to keep your pooch happy and healthy. Things that perhaps you’d rather not even think about!

When you decided to get a dog, I’ll bet you daydreamed about the great times you’d have with your new best friend. However, there are many things that you need to consider in order to keep your pooch happy and healthy. Things that perhaps you’d rather not even think about!

When you go to the veterinarian he may ask you to bring along a urine sample from your dog. How do you do this? Your dog surely won’t be able to hit a sample bottle. The easiest way to accomplish this is to tape a polythene container to the end of a yard stick. While your dog is out doing his business, position the container underneath his urine stream. This is easier to do with male dogs than female dogs but you can usually get a sample with one or two tries. Your veterinarian will want as fresh a sample as possible so if you won’t be taking the sample to the vet right away, keep it refrigerated until you bring it in. Your veterinarian will be checking the sample for a variety of things like bacteria and crystals. If bacteria is found it could mean that your dog has a urinary tract infection and will most likely require your dog to be put on a course of antibiotics. Crystals form in the urine whenever minerals bind together, there are several different kinds of crystals and these are most often treated with prescription diets.

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If your veterinarian asks for a stool sample it could mean that he suspects that intestinal parasites are bothering your dog. They can get these by eating fecal matter from another affected animal, carcasses, or other unsavory things. You will want to bring in a fresh sample. The doctor will examine it under the microscope and look for telltale eggs of parasites. Commonest parasites are roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, and tapeworms. Several of today?s monthly heartworm medications also protect against roundworms and hookworms. If you live in the country or your dog is outside for much of the day, he may need to be treated with a tapeworm wormer on a quarterly basis. Other diseases like coccidia, can also be seen under the microscope from your dog?s stool sample.

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What about anal glands? The anal glands are two small glands located just on the inside of your dog?s anus that secrete a foul smelling liquid. Usually the glands will be emptied when your dog defecates. Unfortunately, in some dogs, the anal glands become impacted and do not empty properly. If your dog is urinating more than usual or licking his hind quarters more often, there may be a problem with his anal glands. In this case it’s important to make an appointment with your veterinarian who will check the anal glands by gloved touch. If the anal glands are full, he will be able to empty them manually. it is possible, however, to learn how to do this yourself at home. Some dogs require their anal glands be manually emptied regularly. Some owners have their dog?s anal glands surgically removed but if you choose to do this, discuss the possible outcomes with your veterinarian as there is often a risk of fecal incontinence if the surgery goes awry.

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Occasionally in dogs, dandruff is just dandruff caused by skin allergies, nutritional deficiencies, or improper grooming. Sometimes, however, dandruff can be a sign of a parasite called mange of which there are a few different types:
a) Demodectic Mange is caused by a mite which all dogs have but are rarely adversely affected by it. Sometimes however, there can be an overabundance of these mites which causes skin irritation and hair loss.
b) Sarcoptic Mange (also known as scabies) is caused by another type of mite. A female mite buries herself in the dog?s skin and lays her eggs there. When the eggs hatch, the cycle begins again. This causes severe skin irritation and hair loss in dogs but is easily treatable.
c) Cheyletiella Mange is caused by a large mite that lives on the surface of the dog?s skin. This infestation is also known as ‘walking dandruff’. This type of mange causes minor skin irritation but is easily treatable with topical medication.

So, now you can talk about those unpleasant things! It’s important that you are properly educated and can recognize signs and symptoms so that you keep your dog as healthy as he can be.

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]]> http://puppyblog.org/3-easy-to-teach-dog-tricks/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=3-easy-to-teach-dog-tricks Fri, 30 Aug 2019 03:00:00 +0000 http://puppyblog.org/?p=2716 3 Easy To Teach Dog Tricks 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 […]

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3 Easy To Teach Dog Tricks

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.

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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.

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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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]]> http://puppyblog.org/10-ways-to-interrupt-undesirable-behavior-in-your-puppy-or-dog/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10-ways-to-interrupt-undesirable-behavior-in-your-puppy-or-dog Sun, 28 Apr 2019 00:24:26 +0000 http://puppyblog.org/?p=2476 Hey everyone, today I’m going to be talking about how to interrupt undesirable behavior, in your puppy or dog, without having to use physical or psychological intimidation to do it. A lot of people have the misconception that if you’re using positive reinforcement to train your dog that you’re supposed to ignore unwanted behavior. This […]

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Hey everyone, today I’m going to be talking about how to interrupt undesirable behavior, in your puppy or dog, without having to use physical or psychological intimidation to do it. A lot of people have the misconception that if you’re using positive reinforcement to train your dog that you’re supposed to ignore unwanted behavior. This is simply not true. And also a really bad idea because most of the behaviors that we find undesirable in dogs are usually self reinforcing. In other words the dogs enjoy doing them. For example chewing on your furniture or barking when they see a dog passing in the street. If you just ignore these behaviors they’re going to gather a reinforcement history. And they’re gonna be really hard to get rid of in the future because your dog has been rehearsing them for for a long period of time.

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.

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In this post I’m talking about interrupting behavior. But if the only training that you do with your dog is interrupting them then that’s the only time that you’re giving them attention. So if you were to use punishment and you were telling your dog no every time they touch things, and ignore your dog all the other times, your dog is going to start to want to do undesirable behavior to get your attention. Therefore with this training it’s extremely important to reinforce the behaviors you do want your dog to do like relaxing calmly when you’re ignoring your dog.

2.) Recall

The second interrupter is a recall. Say your dog is at a distance and you need your dog to move away from something. You can teach them to come to you when you call them. When they come to you they are moving away from the thing you wanted them to get away from. The recall response seems to come naturally to some dogs. For others, it’s a hard-won behavior. The good news is it’s not as hard as you might think. It just takes a commitment to regular practice, keeping it fun and happy.

Start by “charging” your “Come” cue. This will be a word that will always mean to your dog: “Absolutely wonderful stuff is about to happen and you better get over here fast or you’re going to miss out!” Say “Come!” in a loud, cheerful voice and feed your dog a very high-value treat – chicken, steak, whatever they think is totally wonderful. Repeat many times, until your dog’s eyes light up when they hear the cue. Always treat your dog or puppy nicely every time they come to you — kind words or a pat on the head are a must because little treats reinforce the good feelings.

Note: If you’ve already taught your dog that “Come!” sometimes means “bad stuff” then you’ve “poisoned” your cue, and you need to pick a different word.

3.) Leave It

The third interrupter that I like to use is the leave it cue. A lot of people ask me what’s the difference between a “kissy” attention noise, a recall and the leave it cue. For me I like to train the dog that leave it means don’t bother that specific thing but you can do anything you want. Leave it is one of the most valuable cues to teach a dog, and one of my favorites to train. Teaching a leave-it command is a practical and potentially lifesaving command that every dog should learn.

It works best to spend about 15 minutes per day in 5 minute sessions working on training your dog “Leave it”. Using small, pea-sized, treats to reward good behavior makes learning happen quickly and without overfeeding. If your dog is not interested in treats, you can substitute playing with him or scratching him where he really enjoys it for a few seconds. Try to tailor your training sessions so that they are easy enough for your dog to earn a reward most of the time. Setting him up for success will avoid frustration for the learner as well as the trainer.

4.) Stationing Behavior

Number four is a stationing behavior. Pick an area, or station, for your dog in each room, preferably a spot that is to the side or in a quiet corner. You can teach your dog to go to his bed or go to a crate or some other location. Then you can use that to interrupt behavior you don’t like for example if your dog is starting to play rough or get too excited. You could say go to their bed and then they could take a break. Then you could release them to play again. Or perhaps you have a guest come over and your dog gets a little bit excited. You can tell your dog to go to their bed and then they can relax. And when they feel more calm then they can interact with the guest again.

5.) Drop It

The drop it cue can come in handy if you have a puppy or a new dog that likes to tug on your clothes or pull on the leash. Or perhaps picks things up like your underwear or things on a walk. It’s easiest to start teaching a puppy “Drop It”. But most every dog can learn this cue if you are patient and consistent. You’ll want to keep your training sessions short and sweet. Practice each day for about five minutes at a time starting with low value items. You’ll need lots of yummy Dog Treats, and of course a dependable dog collar and leash for your dog. With your dog on a leash, give them an item to investigate. Make sure you begin with a low value item to start. If your dog loves socks, start with something a little less exciting like a T-shirt.

Place the object on the floor in front of your dog and allow them to check it out. While they are engaged with the object say your dog’s name and then “Drop It” (or whatever your relinquish cue will be). As soon as your dog looks at you say “Yes!” or indicate with your clicker and give them lots of treats. If your dog has a hard time relinquishing the object, use your leash to gently move them away from the object and then reinforce them. Repeat this exercise several times each day.

When your dog is responding consistently to the “Drop It” cue with low value items, begin challenging them with different objects. You’ll find that your dog will have a harder time with some objects than others. When you identify what objects are of high value to your dog spend lots of time working the relinquish cue. Don’t be afraid to use your leash to move your dog away from the object. But be sure your movements are smooth and gentle and ALWAYS reinforce your dog when they respond correctly.

As your “Drop It” training progresses, practice in different locations. Ideally, you want your dog to be able to drop a chicken bone they find in the alley without hesitation. But remember, this takes lots of practice, so always be patient with your precious pet. With plenty of positive reinforcement, patience and love, your pet will master the “Drop It” cue like a pro. You can tell your dog to drop it and then tell them what you do want them to do.

6.) Let’s Go

Let’s go! This is a cue that means I am moving, move with me. You can use it when your your dog is on a leash. It’s great if you have a reactive dog and you notice that they are getting a little bit worried about something in the environment. You can say let’s go and then move in the opposite direction. It gives your dog the opportunity to know that you’re going to be moving. That’s better than just startling them by pulling on their leash to go in the other direction. Another great use for let’s go is if dogs are meeting on a leash and then you see your dog’s getting a little bit too excited. Or perhaps the other dog is getting too excited. You can say let’s go to teach your dog to move away from that other dog.

7.) Alternate Behavior

Number seven is alternate behavior. If you have a dog that is doing a behavior that you don’t like you can cue them to do a behavior that is incompatible with the one that they’re doing. Behaviors that aren’t rewarded in some way eventually extinguish. Especially if you make it a point to reinforce an alternative and preferably incompatible behavior.

8.) Treat Lure

Number 8 – Using a treat lure to interrupt behavior. I like to use a treat as a lure to interrupt behavior. Especially in training sessions when I’m training behaviors. For example a down stay. Lets say that the dog was in a down stay and I raised criteria too quickly (walked too far away) and the dog doesn’t understand that to get the treat they need to stay. If the dog was to get up and follow me I could quickly get a treat and lure the dog back into the position (lure them into the down stay) with the treat.

I would not give them the treat because I don’t want them to learn that getting up immediately gets them the treat. Then I make the criteria a little bit easier than the last trial. Meaning maybe I went 30 feet away before and now I’m just going to go 5 feet away. And then I reinforce the dog for staying in the down position with a treat. From that point I would increase the criteria little by little.

The reason that I like to use this way of interrupting behavior is because if I set the training up to be too hard for the dog why should the dog be the one who gets punished for my crappy training plan. So I say to myself oops I messed up I’m going to reinforce this dog for an easier behavior. And then figure out a way to raise criteria where the dog is understanding what I want every step of the way.

9.) Release Cue

The 9th interrupt is using a release cue to interrupt behavior. I like to use the release cue for a sit stay or down stay for my dogs. I like to use this for dogs who guard space. So for example if a dog guards the couch and the dog has a sit-stay where the owner says sit and then they say release and the dog runs to them happily.

You can use that cue, which has a conditioned emotional response of “yay I love getting up”, for the resource guarder. Say your the dog’s laying on the couch and another dog comes over. Then you see your dog about to guard the couch you can release your dog off the couch by saying “free”. Then when your dog comes to you, if they haven’t guarded yet, you can reinforce them with a treat.

But if they have guarded you could then wait a little bit and use a different behavior that you like. Use something that in the future they’re going to do to reinforce that new behavior instead. You don’t want to always reinforce your dog quickly after you’ve interrupted them from doing a behavior you dislike. The important thing is doing training sessions where you build these cues to be reinforcing for your dog. Then they want to listen to you and they want to be doing these alternate behaviors. Use the cue to interrupt behaviors but don’t give them a treat. Instead give them a treat for an old alternate behavior, that you like, throughout the day.

10.) Move the dog

The final behavior that I’m going to be talking about involves moving your dog when your dog can’t listen to you. Either they’ve not had enough training or they’re too excited or fearful or scared. In that circumstance you need to move them. For example you have a puppy and they’re chewing on a power cord. You make your kissy noise, you try to encourage them to get away from the cord and your dog is not listening to you. Then need to move your dog. You also maybe don’t want them chewing on your really expensive furniture and your puppy’s not listening to you when you tell them to stop. Pick the puppy up and move them away.

Now you don’t need to do this in an intimidating way. The idea is that you don’t want to use intentional physical or psychological intimidation. Now it could be true that you pick your puppy up and they’re like whoa I don’t really like that. Then you say to yourself, “oh no my puppy doesn’t like being picked up”. So instead of just always picking your puppy up and turning being picked up into a punishment you want to spend many sessions training your puppy to like being picked up. Especially if you have little dogs. It’s so convenient to be able to pick up your little dog without them feeling like it’s some type of intimidation game.

Now for bigger dogs. If you have a very large dog and you can’t pick them up you’re going to need to take their collar and move them away from whatever dangerous situation they’re in. Or some behavior that you really don’t want them to learn. For example, putting their paws up on the stove. You want to get them away from that stove as quickly as possible before they get hurt. If they’re not listening to you you are going to take their collar and you’re going to move them off the stove or move them with your hands.

Now the idea is that if you don’t do any training most dogs find physical movement, pushing, shoving, moving them by the collar, really not fun and very punishing. So you have to set up training sessions where your dog understands that these behaviors are cues to mean move with me.

Say you’re walking down the street and you see a bicycle coming and they’re not gonna stop for your dog. You need to move your dog if they’re not listening to you and you. You say “let’s go” you stay calm and your dog doesn’t move you have to move them. So when you pull them on the leash most dogs don’t like it very much. They find it punishing. So what you need to do is set up training sessions where you teach your dog that when they feel pressure on their leash it simply means to turn and come with you. That way when you need to use leash pressure in emergencies the dog understands what you want them to do. And it’s been a reinforced behavior so they don’t find it so averse.

It’s great to use leash pressure with dogs who are fearful or reactive with other dogs. Because sometimes when they alert on the thing that they’re scared of you can prevent them from reacting by saying let’s go and if they’re not listening moving them further away on leash to an area where they can relax.

I hope you found this post helpful and it didn’t put you to sleep like it did my dogs!

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Leash Training Your Puppy or Dog

How to get your dog to stop pulling on a leash. So many people struggle with walking their dog, right? I’m going to give you 6 things, 6 very basic small things, that will help any owner and any dog master this very easily. We’re not going to use any tools no prong collars, no e-collars. This is so very simple that anyone can conquer this very important task.

Getting Out The Door

1.) The first thing you have to conquer is going out the door. Give your puppy plenty of space and don’t ask for anything. All that you need is for them to respect that space. So that means when the door opens they are not to blow through it. They should respect your space and relax and then you can move forward. That is number one! If you come blowing through the door with your dog you fail right there. You’re not ready to move ahead to walking, you have to conquer that first.

Verbal Markers and Release Commands

2.) Now the second thing that you need is a release word or marker. Some people use clickers but I use verbal markers like a lot of people do. So for the people that know nothing about dog training what that means is you either use a clicker or a verbal marker. Some examples of verbal markers are sit, stay, heal, stop. no, etc. You ask your puppy to do something using your verbal marker, they do it and then you follow with the reward.

The release marker is also very important. You won’t believe how many people I work with that don’t have a release command for their dog. It’s very important that your dog knows when they are to be in command. But it’s also important that they know when they don’t have to be in command. Commonly used release words are “okay,” “break,” and “free.”. It makes things very confusing when you don’t have that release command. Use a reward marker and a release command.

Leash Pressure

3.) The next thing we have to talk about is the dog has to understand leash pressure. What I mean by leash pressure is straight line please pressure. Your puppy has to learn how to yield to leash pressure. When I say straight line I mean you put it flat, parallel to the ground,and you apply a little pressure pulling toward you and they move toward you with the pressure. That’s very light pressure moving them. I know that’s very basic and very simple but you’d be amazed on how many people don’t teach leash pressure and the dog has to understand it.

Turnabouts

4.) Number four is turnabouts or 180’s. What that means is if your dog is on your left, which they’re going to be, you are going to turn 180 degrees away from the dog. So you are going turn to the right and go the other way. One of two things are going to happen. Either your dog is going keep going and when they get to the end of the leash they will feel the tension and turn and catch up to you. That’s a good thing, that’s what we want.

The other thing that may happen is the social pressure of staying with you will cause them to turn around. Just practice turning walking up and down the street. Turn in a 180 degrees away from the dog get them to follow you whether it’s the leash helping or them seeing your body going the other way and they just follow. Both are very beneficial!

Follow The Left Leg

5.) Next we have to teach the dog to follow the left leg. We want them along the left leg and only moving when the left leg moves. The easiest way to do that is to break it down into little baby steps. In order to show them what we mean by sticking by the left leg you move your right leg and you don’t want them moving. You want them moving with your left foot. Step slowly moving your right leg and make sure that your puppy doesn’t move. Now step with your left and have them move with you. Just repeat these slow steps and have your puppy move only when you move your left leg. Continue until they only move with your left leg.

Taking Left Turns

6.) The last thing is very, very effective and I never see anyone do this. It creates incredible results very fast. So a lot of people know that when they practice taking left turns they turn into the dog. The dog is at your left and you make a left turn into them and what happens is you wind up bumping the dog. So this method is a lot better than just making a left turn into them. What you’re going do now is as you are walking turn 180 degrees all the way around like earlier.

But this time not away from the dog but make a left 180 degrees into the dog. But most importantly is you take your right leg and swing it all the way around emphatically. What happens is the dog follows and is gonna stick to the left leg and it starts working on that rear end awareness where they start turning into it. So you are going swing the right leg and have the dog follow the left leg. Practice this over and over and it won’t be long before your dog is turning with with ease.

A Couple Of Tools

The e collar and prong collar. The prong collar works on the concept that evenly applied pressure is gentler and more effective on a dog’s neck than the quick jerk and impact of a choke chain. Also the steady, relentless pressure of a flat collar or muzzling and constant pull of a gentle-leader. The E Collar is a remote dog training system that usually consists of a wireless remote and a wireless receiver. E Collars allow you to remotely send signals to your dog to help them understand “good behavior” and “bad behavior.” If you start yanking the wrong way on a prong collar or you start hitting wrong buttons on the e-collar what you are doing right from the start is creating conflict.

The Prong Collar

Conflict is the biggest enemy in dog training. What a lot of people do is they put the prong collar on the dog the dog falls and they start yanking. That’s not how the prong collar is supposed to be used. And that’s why they’re always in the spotlight as a negative tool. But if you go through these 6 things and the dog understands leash pressure then the prong collar works wonderfully. With that I mean just fantastic it makes it very easy and effortless.

The E Collar

The same thing with the e collar. Don’t put an e collar on a dog if he has to be trained properly with it. How I do it is you go for a walk the dog starts forging and they’re pulling out. By using very little leash pressure just a tap tap on the e collar and the dog will fix themselves. The dog won’t even need leash pressure. If they start pulling ahead of you and they have their e collar on you just tap, tap they are going to fix themselves. It makes it effortless and the structured walk is the most important train training tool we have in dog training. It’s so beneficial and so effective and can create so many well-behaved dogs in the household for anybody. Every person and every dog on the planet should be capable of the most simplest form of dog training and what comes natural to a dog.

Conclusion

So what it does all of this mean? If you can master these things it creates happy owners and it keeps dogs out of shelters.

You have to master the structured walk. The structured walk again is walking at your side, you’re relaxed and there’s no tension. The dog is relaxed and their one job is to follow you. There’s no sniffing, there’s no pain there’s no stopping, there’s no fixating on anything. It’s just a very natural beautiful walk, very therapeutic for both you and your dog.

The release command is so important. Find a spot where you want your dog to be a free dog and let them be. You release your dog and now they know they no longer have to be in command. They can go do all their doggy things like pee on things for example. They can be a dog and that’s very, very important. This kind of simple stuff keeps dogs in the home and out of the shelter’s. It keeps dogs and owners happy. It is the most effective training tool we have and it’s not being utilized. You have got to utilize this piece of advice.

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Article from – Puppy Blog

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A national Valentine’s Day campaign was launched today to pressure politicians to close down puppy mills in Canada.

The letter-writing campaign was inspired by Ruby, a survivor of a puppy mill whose health was seriously compromised by six caged years of life in a mill as a breeding dog. Ruby, who was rescued by campaign organizer and author Mary Giuffre of Bewdley, died just two years after her rescue.

“So that Ruby’s life was not lived in vain, we have made a commitment to educate everyone about the horror of puppy mills,” says Giuffre. “Our plan is to let her example lead the way. Ruby’s Love Letter campaign delivers a serious message in a peaceful way, so we believe February 14 is the perfect day to spread the word. Imagine a flood of red envelopes reaching government officials on Valentine’s Day every year.”

The Ruby Campaign is intended to urge politicians to toughen laws and stop the growth of this underground multi-million dollar business…..

Read the rest of the story click here ►► Ruby’s Love Letter

The post Valentine’s Day Letter Campaign to Shut Down Puppy Mills first appeared on Puppy Blog.