That little puppy that looked so adorable at the pound has started to do some not so adorable things around your house. Your cute little puppy is peeing inside, rather than outside. He’s also been chewing on your shoes and jumping all over you. The good news is that the vast majority of dog behavior issues are easily lessened by consulting a professional dog trainer.
If you are keeping your dog in a crate, it’s important that you utilize tips for helping them realize this is their home. Feed them in their crate and keep it open for them to come in and out. They’ll build a positive view of the crate this way.
If you are trying to crate train your dog or puppy you must understand that you can not expect them to be able to hold their bladders for extremely long periods. You must provide times for them to go to the bathroom. They don’t want to go in their special place. So it is up to you to take care of them. If they have a accident don’t get mad at them, it wasn’t their fault it was yours.
Just because your dog is obeying you, do not assume that they are done learning. Your dog is always learning. Never stop reinforcing good behavior. This is especially important if you move. A new surrounding can be very distracting for a dog. You might have to reteach them a great deal.
Prepare to administer lessons to your dog repeatedly. Most dogs will not pick up a new command with just one or two tries. Sometimes it is helpful to focus on one or two commands a day so that through your sessions you are repeating enough times to fix the commands solidly in your dog’s memory.
Throwing out your dog’s food bowl can assist you with your training program. Studies have shown that animals respond well to working for their meals. Incorporate food as a reward in your training and also, use it for entertainment purposes. You can do this by putting the food in a toy or a puzzle.
During the dog training process, take care not to inadvertently reinforce bad behavior. Essentially, you must not give your dog something positive, like attention or a treat, when it behaves in a way you want to classify as negative. For instance, it will be difficult or impossible to train your dog not to jump on people if you give your pet a friendly neck-scratch when he or she jumps on you.
Pick a recognizable phrase to verbalize to your puppy during house training. Whenever you take your pet outside to use the bathroom, choose a phrase, like “go potty”, so he remembers what he is there to do.
Learn to read your dog’s signals when training, so that you can see the difference between confusion and disobedience. A different response is required from you when your dog doesn’t understand a command versus when they understand the command but choose not to obey. Understanding your dog’s signals, can help you to choose the more appropriate response.
Associate hand gestures with individual commands to help your dog remember what to do. While the command words themselves can be enough of a clue to tell the dog what to do – using a visual cue – provides a way for the dog to remember more easily how to perform.
Be consistent when training your dog. Your furry buddy will be easily confused when you vary your routine too much. Always give the same encouragement for a job well done. Use the same phrases to help your dog recognize what words are for what actions. Always say ‘good dog’ and don’t vary the tone.
Stimulate your dog every day to help prevent nuisance behaviors, such as barking. A bored dog is more likely to bark continuously in an effort to gain attention. If you get your dog out for regular walks and exercise, you may find that this behavior stops. You will have a happier dog, and be a happier owner.
Calling your dog by name is one of the most powerful tools you have in your dog training arsenal. Every time you use your dog’s name, you reinforce a positive relationship between yourself and your pet. The more you use your dog’s name, the more you reinforce a positive relationship between the two of you.
One tip to keep in mind when training your dog is to never play tug-of-war style games with it. This only enforces aggressive behavior – something that you rarely wish to bring out in your dog. This can involve anything from pulling on a bone in your dog’s mouth to playing with a toy. You also run the risk of injuring your dog with excessive force.
Many people are surprised to discover just how easy it is to significantly lessen canine behavior problems. So try some of the advice we mention and you’ll soon discover, just as many happy pet owners already have, that with just a little bit of work, and a lot of consistency, your dog will be much happier and better behaved.
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