Dog Training Tips

Train Your Dog While It's A Puppy

How many times have you entered a friend's home, all happy, nice and clean, only to leave perturbed, covered with slobber, fleas, paw prints on your clothes, a few good scratches, a new fur coat, and smelling like a kennel? More than once, eh?

After all, who hasn't experienced the warm affection of an overly excited and well meaning dog? Or worse, an overly excited, well meaning and HUGE dog! We're not talking Chihuahuas here, but one like my neighbor's dog, named Rowdy.

Rowdy is one BIG lovable pooch! But, unfortunately, I now prefer to pet Rowdy from my side of the fence. They don't call him Rowdy for nothing!

The problem was that every time I'd visit my neighbor's, Rowdy would be in the house, and would climb all over me, happily letting me know how glad he was to see me. Under normal circumstances, I would say, "no problem." But this particular dog weighs a ton and whose giant paws could give a man an unwanted change of gender, if you know what I mean!

The sad thing is that Rowdy's bad behavior was encouraged ever since he was a puppy. I told my neighbor, who is also a dear friend, how to train Rowdy to stop him from jumping on others, but as of yet, he's never put it into practice.

And as Rowdy gets older (and bigger), his chances of successfully being trained diminishes. That's why it's always better to train your dog when it's a puppy. The older it gets the harder dog training becomes.

And I have a feeling that Rowdy's rowdiness will get to be unbearable for his owners, and I'm afraid he'll someday become neglected. If he's not properly trained soon, my friends will lose control of him and just keep him in the back yard, alone most of the time. How sad!

At this point, I have to say, that this is the fault of my neighbor's, not Rowdy's . Dogs are not capable of understanding why they're not receiving the attention they got when they were puppies. I know this may sound silly but, dogs have feelings too you know! You've heard of separation anxiety in dogs, haven't you? Your dog loves you and craves your attention. Please don't neglect it.

And if you have a puppy that you know will grow into a medium to large sized dog, you have all the more reason to have him properly trained while it's still young. The sooner, the better. If you do this you'll have a wonderful relationship with your dog as long as you take action now.

My next article will be on how to stop this bad behavior in your dog while it's still young. So be sure and come back for more dog training tips you can use.

Dog Training Tips

Dog Training Tips Exclusive - How To Train A Puppy to Sit

When you get a new puppy, the first thing you'll most likely try to do is train it to sit. Training your dog to sit is really no big deal and is actually pretty easy for a puppy to accomplish. After all, a dog already knows how to sit. Nobody has to teach a dog something that comes natural. The trick is to get your dog to associate sitting with your command to "sit", and is actually included in the first of the dog training tips listed below...

1. Here's what you do. Just start by saying "sit" every time your puppy sits on its own. By doing this you're teaching the puppy to associate sitting with the command to sit.

2. Discover a treat the puppy likes such as a piece of bacon or sandwich meat. Be sure and break it up into small bite sized pieces, so your puppy won't have difficulty swallowing it. Now hold the pieces in your hand to parcel out for quick rewards.

3. Sit on the floor with your puppy and try to get on its own level. When you do this, you are making yourself less threatening to your pup. Also, when you are sitting closer to it, you can easily reward him quicker.

4. Now slowly move your hand and hold the treat over your puppy's head. The idea is to get your puppy to smell the treat you're holding and let him follow it with his nose. Closely move your hand over his head in such a way that he has two options. Either it can back up, and stand, or it can sit down, which is much easier. You might want to place an object behind your pup so that its best option is to sit.

5. The split second he sits you say, "sit", then give him the treat. This is one of the key dog training tips. The exact same moment the dog does what you want it to do, you reward it.

6. Show how happy you are with the puppy's response and praise him for it. Let your dog know that he has pleased you. Of all the dog training tips on this blog, this tip is one of the most important.

7. Repeat these steps four or five times but don't over do it. If your puppy's not having fun you'll get nowhere. If he gets bored, stop and try again later.

8. Once you've successfully trained your puppy to sit, try the above techniques while standing up. Without holding your hand and the treat over its head, say "sit." If the puppy sits, show him how pleased you are and praise him for it. If he doesn't sit, don't get upset. You should never act disappointed when your dog fails to respond correctly when being trained.

And that's it for training your puppy to sit. I know this is probably the first in a long line of things you may want to train your puppy to do. So be sure and read my other dog training tips, and see if you can find something else you can use.

If by chance you're in a hurry or need something more precise, I highly recommend the unique resource listed at the top of this page. It possibly has the best dog training information you'll ever find online . The page may be a little slow to load due to the traffic it receives, but is worth the wait.

Whatever you do, don't give up! Never stop training your dog. The rewards will far exceed the work you put into it. That's a promise!

P.S. - Come back in a few days, I'll have listed more dog training tips.

Dog Training Tips

Understanding Your Dog's Behavior - Why your dog bites

We've all heard the old adage, "Dogs are mans best friend." Right? I believe that's generally true. Among the animal kingdom, it seems that dogs have had the closest relationship with mankind.

I can already hear someone saying, "Hey, what about cats? They're pretty close to people too, you know!"

Yeah, yeah, I know. But, we're not going to discuss those particular ringworm carrying "fur balls" in this article. This one's about dogs. I'm sure our beloved pooches would appreciate this small gesture, and respond with a nice, wet, slobbery kiss.

Yet, I must admit, there was a time when I thought all dogs were my mortal enemies. Like when I was three years old and my neighbor's dog sunk its teeth into my right hand as I reached out to pet it, ( I could have sworn that dog was looking at me with the "pet me" look ).

With the passage of time and a little more wisdom, I began to understand the old adage and came to agree with it. Dogs really are "mans best friend." But, not all dogs. That is, the ones we don't personally own. If you think all dogs are "mans best friends," then I dare you walk across the street and hop the neighbors fence. We'll see if you still think so then.

But sometimes it doesn't have to be the neighbors dog you should fear. Sometimes it's that cute, cuddly little puppy you brought home that can grow up and put the serious hurt on you.

This is why it's important to train your dog as early as possible. As your dog gets older, it will become much harder to gain its respect or teach it anything.

But to train your dog properly, we should first understand why dogs behave the way they do. Especially when it comes to biting. We need to understand why dogs bite

First of all, dogs are very possessive. It seems that dogs have a natural inclination to protect what they feel belongs to them. Therefore, when people get to close to what a dog considers its personal property, the dog's tendency is to bite. It's saying in effect, "This is mine, leave it alone!"

Another reason is the dog might not be feeling well. When a dog is under the weather or is experiencing aches and pains, it doesn't have the ability to reason why. In other words, a sick dog, or one who is in pain, does not understand why it feels the way it does. Therfore, if you touch it, even if you're it's master, the dog may think that you're the one causing the pain and fight back by biting you. Ouch!

And last but not least, dogs, like humans, can be easily startled, or become fearful. It may be naturally afraid of loud noises, water, strangers, or feel threatened in unfamiliar surroundings. In such circumstances, you might get bit. In the dogs mind it's only protecting itself, or what it feels is his. Here's a dog training tip : avoid startling your dog!

I suppose I should also mention the tendency dogs have to get overly excited. When dogs play, and since they don't have hands, they have no way to grab anything except with their teeth. And since that is the case, the dog may unintentionally hurt someone during playtime. When this happens, you should be reasonable and recognize that it was an accident on your dog's part. Over excitement is a behavior that needs to corrected and punishment would only confuse your dog.

Always remember that your dog lacks the ability to think things through. Dogs are smart, but are unable to understand its surroundings. If it feels threatened in any way, it will bite. If it feels ill or in pain, it might bite. And, if its excited, your dog may accidentally hurt you. So be careful of this specific behavior and don't give your dog, or any dog for that matter, a reason to bite you..

Dog Training Tips

Eight Take-away Dog Training Tips For Humans

Here's a short list of dog training tips us humans should always bear in mind. I've decided to mention these because, I believe, they are the most important.

To be honest with you this list has more to do with teaching ourselves how to communicate with our dogs, than it does with dog training tips. Because, when it comes to dog training, we too need to be taught in a sense.

We humans need to learn how our "best friends from the animal kingdom" think. If we send our dogs confusing signals when training, we won't get the positive results we're aiming for.
Perhaps I should have called this article, "human training tips" instead. Oh well, let us begin:

1.) When ever you're feeling a little cranky, you might want to put off training your dog till a later time. If you're not enjoying your training session, most likely your dog won't enjoy it either. So for take-away dog training tips number one I would say, "If you're in a bad mood, don't do it, you'll only make things harder on yourself and the poor mutt."

2.) You want to make each training session as much fun for "Fido" or "Fluffy" as possible. That way, in the future, your dog will respond with alacrity to your commands rather than fearful obedience. Take-away dog training tips number two: "For crying out loud, stop scaring the dog and have fun!"

3.) Never spend too much time training your dog. Usually fifteen to twenty minutes a day will be sufficient for your dog to learn. Take-away dog training tips number three: "Take it easy, no need to over do it."

4.) Always praise your dog when your training sessions come to an end. That way your dog will know that you are pleased with its progress. Take-way dog training tips number four: "Don't worry about your dog getting a big head. Dogs don't have egos." ( Yeah, I know. I don't know your dog, right? )

5.) Whether training or not, always reward your dogs good behavior with praise and maybe a treat. Take-away dog training tips number Five: "Read tip number six."

6.) Not to many treats though, or you won't have a dog anymore! Take-away dog training tips number six: "Don't over do the doggy biscuits."

7.) Don't punish your dog when it behaves badly during training. Try to correct it. If it doesn't do well, or is confused with a new command, resort back to one it knows. That way you can praise your dog and try again later. Take-away dog training tips number seven: "Lighten up! If your not perfect, neither is the pooch."

8.) If you become angry at your dog during training, resort back to tip number one. Remember, you want to make training as fun as possible, for you and your dog, not a chore. Take-away dog training tips number eight: "This one speaks for itself."

I decided to keep this one short and sweet so you could take-away something to chew on. Us humans can only take-away so many dog training tips, right? Stay tuned! More dog training tips coming your way!

Dog Training Tips

Dog Training Tips

Welcome to my dog training tips blog. Here you'll find some great articles that will make life easier for you and your dog. Training tips to help you with all aspects of your furry friend's bad behavior such as aggression, barking, biting, chewing, digging and all the other annoying things dogs are famous for. My hope is to make this blog as fun and entertaining as possible for you while giving you some really helpful dog training tips. Come back often, learn, laugh, and enjoy!