The way your dog behaves depends on two things: the attention and training he received as puppy and the genetic history. The temperament of parents, their traits and so on do influence the habits of a dog, but we cannot do much about it. However, we can influence the dogs while they are still young. It is always better to train them during Puppyhood. Not only will you have an obedient dog, but you will also develop a good relationship with him. Read on to discover how you can change even the most stubborn puppy to an obedient one.

You can prevent aggression in your dog with a little hard work!

Reward DOES Magic

Praise your dog for good performance. Follow this practice religiously and ardently. This not only encourages your dog to follow the instructions correctly, but also develops an affable relationship between both of you. It does the same magic as it does when you buy an ice cream to your son for good performance in exams.

Punishment RETREATS Performance

Never punish your dog while training as it generates negative feelings in your dog. Penalize him, but don’t punish. It is important to understand the difference between the two. Penalizing may include ignoring him or a leash jerk. This will make him behave properly the next time. Even a sharp noise such as ‘No’ or a quick stomp, works very fine to tell him that what he has done is not acceptable. You can train him to do anything and everything. Books such as SitStayFetch bestow remarkable tips on daily obedience training. Besides, this book provides tips on doghouse training, curbing aggression problems and so on. It is an amazing product with strategies and methods that actually work.

Tensed Leash ENCOURAGES Aggression

Keep the leash loose. Use the leash jerks, if need be, but, cautiously. Pull the leash gently to make him sit and then release the tension. Hold it so that if need be it can be pulled easily to reposition your dog, but don’t keep it tight. Keeping the leash tight doesn’t keep the dog in control; it aggravates violent behavior instead.

Patience MAKES Training Fun

Your patience is equally important for your dog’s behavior. Your dog may misbehave, but it is your calm and cheerful behavior that will help him learn what is acceptable and what isn’t. Don’t think the training to be a daily chore. The key is to enjoy the whole process and build an amiable relationship with him. Spend a stipulated time of five to ten minutes everyday, to train your dog and don’t forget to end it with a good note. You may end it with a play session or praise or a food treat to make it fun.

Conflicting Instructions CONFUSE

Ensure that everyone at home gives the same instruction. Giving conflicting commands to your dog may confuse him. Offer him the same signals for the same actions and that too in the similar manner.

Check out books such as SitStayFetch to get your hands on various commands that can train your dog easily. It is a good read for all those who want to train there puppies on basic commands such as sit, come, and so on. The book even guides you on fixing all dog behavior problems. The book is a virtuoso for dog owners.

Your dog should be happy to walk at heel, both on and off the lead. However, he cannot be expected to do this if you don’t take the time to teach him where the heel position is.

The heel position is next to your left dog, with your dog’s close to your left knee. You should be able to link this command to others, such as ‘sit’ or ‘down’. If you have more than one dog, they obviously won’t be able to walk with you in this position and it is usually the more dominant dog that will try to get there first. The other dog will then make do with walking close to your right leg. Going along with this arrangement should make it much easier to control the dogs.

TRAINING Heel position

1. With your dog standing in front of you and slightly to your left, hold out a treat towards his nose.
2. Take a step back with your left leg and use the treat to lure the dog in an arc around you, until his nose is just behind your left leg. Aim for him to step his hindlegs to the right and as soon as he does, click.
3. Now bring your feet together and lure your dog forward in line with your knee. When he is standing in the correct position, give him the treat.
4. Stand in front of your dog and repeat the exercise. As he begins to understand, you can build in a verbal command such as ‘dose’ or ‘heel’.
5. Practice this on both sides but mark each position with a different command, perhaps using ‘close’ for the left side and ‘heel’ for the right side.

As your dog becomes more proficient at getting into position he win begin to develop ‘back end awareness’. He win soon be able to swing his hindquarters actively around to get in close to you as quickly as he can.

TRAINING Walk on

Now that your dog understands where he should be, you can begin to walk with him and as you give the ‘close’ command he should maintain the heel position.

1. Hold a treat in your hand, down by your side, and walk around the room together. Without stopping, occasionally give him the treat and immediately retrieve another one from your waist bag. Your dog should always be focusing his gaze and his attention towards you in the hope that you will give him a reward.
2. Eventually you can try walking in more complicated patterns, such as circles or figures-of-eight.
3. Vary your pace from fast to slow and then back to fast again. Gradually build up the pace until you can jog or skip from side to side with the dog remaining in position, next to your leg.

If you’d like more information on unwanted behaviors that your dog’s exhibiting, you’ll probably be interested in taking a look at SitStayFetch. It’s a complete, A-Z manual for the responsible dog owner, and deals with recognizing, preventing, and dealing with just about every problem dog behavior under the sun.

A good trainer will not teach your dog for you, but they will teach you, the owner, to train your own dog. It can be very bad for your confidence in your own ability if your dog will do anything for a trainer but chooses to ignore you!

Your dog should enjoy his training sessions and not appear apprehensive about the experience. You can help him by making training a part of his daily routine, so that it’s not something he associates with a particular place or repetitive sessions and negative experiences. Remember, your dog will be happy to please you, especially if you generous with the rewards you offer him.

Finding a Trainer

If you have attended puppy socialization classes, you may already have learned the basics of training. Make enquiries about finding a reputable trainer for when your pet graduates from puppy school. Your veterinary surgery is a good place to get advice and recommendations about trainers.

Always arrange to meet the trainer and observe a few classes before committing yourself to signing up. Only use a professional trainer who advocates humane positive reinforcement methods that involve rewarding good behavior and ignoring unwanted behaviors.

Your trainer should be someone you can communicate with easily, so ask lot of questions and look for enthusiastic answers that encourage you to ask anything without feeling silly or intimidated by your lack of knowledge.

Top 10 Happy Training Tips

1. Wear a waist bag around the house and out on walks. Fill it with tasty treats so that you always have rewards available when your dog does something that pleases you.
2. When teaching something new, use treats or toys that he will view as high value, such as pieces of chicken or liver.
3. Use treats that are clearly visible and won’t crumble when thrown down. You want the dog to focus on you rather than spend his time sniffing around for crumbs.
4. Carry a clicker in your pocket so that you can mark good behaviors throughout the day.
5. Keep some exciting toys specifically for use in training sessions.
6. If your dog becomes confused about what you want him to do, go back to an earlier stage of his training and start again.
7. Be patient with him – some dogs take longer to train than others.
8. Always end a training session on a good note, even if it means going back to something the dog can do very well such as ‘sit’.
9. End the session with lots of praise, treats and a fun game or two.
10. Practice using different tones of voice. Use a lower pitched voice for low commands such as ‘sit’ or ‘down’, and a higher pitched voice for more active commands such as recall or ‘fetch’.

Your new puppy will probably be on his very best behavior at first, and as a new owner you will be so anxious to make him happy that you may be accepting more or less anything he chooses to do. However, once this initial honeymoon period is over, you may uncover a few problems. Generally speaking, these are not difficult to put right and your puppy will be happier for it.

Guarding Food

Although it may be cute if your puppy growls and puts his hackles up when you approach his food bowl, it definitely won’t be if he ‘s still doing this as an adult and you are too afraid to go near him. Some owners are too scared even to be in the same room as their dog while he’s eating.

If your puppy exhibits this kind of behavior, take the following steps:

• Put a small amount of food in his dish. If you use biscuits and wet food, put the biscuits in first.
• When he is eating, approach him and spoon a little wet food on top.
• Keep repeating this until the meal is finished.

Your puppy should soon get the message that you approaching the dish means more food going into it, and that you are not intending to steal his meal!

Jumping Up

This often occurs because puppies are so little that people can’t be bothered to bend down and greet them. Instead, they encourage the puppy to stand on his back legs and jump up towards them. It’s then not fair to punish him for this as he grows bigger, but you will need to retrain him.

Ask your family and friends to ignore the puppy until he is calm and not jumping up. Train him by putting him on a lead and asking someone he knows and likes to approach you. Have a treat in your hand and when the puppy jumps up ask your helper to stand still. Put the puppy in a sit and give him the treat. Ask your assistant to approach again – only give the puppy a treat when he is sitting calmly and allowing the helper to greet him. Repeat this with everyone you meet until it becomes second nature to your pet.

Chasing and Biting

Young children are naturally loud, fun and love to play – pretty much like your puppy! However, you shouldn’t encourage your puppy to play chasing games with them: instead give them some different training games to play, such as retrieving or hunting for a toy. Never allow play-biting – if this occurs, tell your child to stop the game immediately. Your puppy will soon get the message that biting ends the play session.

Barking

Barking is often triggered by the doorbell or knocker, so try to accustom your puppy to hearing this right from the start. Go outside, ring the bell and walk in, but ignore the puppy until he is quiet. Ask friends and family members to do the same. You can also ask someone a key to ring the bell and then wait for a couple of minutes before they come in. In the meantime, give the puppy a chew or treat on his bed. This will teach him to associate the doorbell with going to his bed for a reward.

RESEARCH

Studies show that more dogs than ever are classed as overweight. Some of this is attributed to their owners feeding too much of the wrong kind of food; in addition, an increase in demands on owners’ time makes it more difficult for them to exercise their dogs adequately. A combination of exercise and altered eating habits (not one or other on its own) is the most effective way to achieve and maintain weight loss.

If you take your dog for an annual check-up, his weight will be assessed and your vet can tell you if he is piling on the pounds. This is definitely not a happy situation, but thankfully it can be remedied.

Doggy Diet Tips

Many veterinary surgeries run weight-management clinics for pets, but if you prefer to work alone there are few dieting guidelines you should try to follow:

1. Avoid giving food treats as rewards, as these can soon build up extra calories. Use verbal praise, toys and play instead.
2. Give him more exercise. Relying on food deprivation will make your dog very unhappy.
3. Look for food that is high in fibre and low in fat. Your vet can prescribe canine diet food if necessary.
4. Be realistic about how much weight you expect your dog to lose. As with humans, a slow, steady weight loss is better than a rapid one.
5. Don’t try fad dog diets. They are nutritionally unbalanced and will deprive your pet of the essential vitamins and minerals he needs for optimal health.
6. Don’t forget that your dog may slow down and exercise less as he grows older, so you will need to make adjustments to his calorie intake.

Is He Fat?

A healthy canine body should look as if it is in proportion. You should be able to feel your dog’s ribs and not see visible folds of fat. If he is too fat, you will not be able to see his waist and his tail will look and feel thick.