Dog Training Basics

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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Training to Your Dog's Personality

You'll have more success training your dog if you tailor your approach to his personality.



Some dogs are so sensitive they need little more than a disapproving look to get the message. Others fall into the happy-go-lucky, thicker-skinned camp, and may need a more insistent delivery to get down all the rules. A third group might generously be called creative thinkers, as they can sometimes give their people a hard time. "These independent-minded dogs might wonder, for instance, whether it's only in this house that they can't sleep on the couch," says trainer, behaviorist, and contributing editor Kelly Dunbar. "Or whether they can't chew on shoes only when you're not home. These are also the dogs who can occasionally push back when you push them."

Basic training

Dogs may have different learning styles, but they all benefit from structure, routine, and consistent enforcing of boundaries. As pack animals, they're also looking to you for gentle, benevolent leadership. Yelling, hitting, and other techniques that inflict pain or fear are never the solution for any dog--they can create a behavior problem or make an existing problem worse.


Different dogs, different training styles
Some dogs fall cleanly into different personality categories. Others are harder to identify and may straddle categories. If you can't figure out where your dog fits in, maybe our behavior assessment test can help.

Highly sensitive
They learn quickly, are very tuned into their environment, read their owners like a book--and can be positively flattened by forceful behavior. Even praise, if too exuberant, can rattle them. They need a quiet, calm style of teaching.

Training strategy:
A gentle, light touch works with these dogs. Because they're so attuned to you, they can be quick studies and easy to train.Bear in mind: Their sensitivity means it's easy to do damage to these dogs. Yelling, striking, or otherwise harshly treating these extra sensitive creatures can result in fearful, shy, and nervous behavior. They also don't do well in environments that are noisy and chaotic, and they may withdraw to protect themselves. Examples of highly sensitive breeds: some Pit Bull terriers, Border Collies, Australian Shepherds, German Shepherds, most toy breeds.

Happy-go-lucky
These are the guys who roll with the punches. Thick-skinned and generally easygoing, these dogs can tolerate more than most and bounce back from rough situations. They're generally good for novice owners because you can make mistakes and they won't hold it against you. They also do fine in active, bustling, loud households, which is why these dogs tend to make good family dogs. That said, they need gentle, sensitive direction just as all dogs do.

Training strategy:
Your direction needs to be straightforward, obvious, and you will most definitely need to repeat yourself in the course of training these dogs. Boundaries need to be set and regularly enforced before they're well understood.Bear in mind: Their high tolerance for excitement and change sometimes means it's hard for these dogs to switch channels and move from rambunctious to quiet behavior, for instance. They can also get more caught up in what's going on around them than in what you'd like them to do. Examples of happy-go-lucky dogs: Labradors, Golden Retrievers, Bernese Mountain Dogs.

Creative thinkers
They need consistency and firmness--more so than other dogs. These independent thinkers may have different ideas than you do as to what's acceptable and what's not, but that doesn't mean they're challenging you. Basically, if you're not giving clear guidance and communication, they're just more likely than other dogs to come up with their own rules.

Training strategy:
Training is one of the best ways to help these dogs see you as the leader of the pack; you practice calling the shots, your dog practices obeying. When training, give your commands in a firm, low tone of voice, not a questioning one. Be consistent in enforcing house rules and commands, and never shrug it off if your dog disobeys. Also, ask your dog to sit, lie down, or obey some other command before you do or give him anything he wants--a meal, a walk, a toy, and before walking out the door or jumping out of the car.


Bear in mind: If you aren't consistently firm with these dogs, they can try to take advantage of you and do what they want to do. But treating these dogs harshly, by rolling them over, or physically dominating them, can backfire and turn them aggressive, even hostile, to humans. Examples of alpha dogs: Your dog's behavior, not breed, is the best indicator of whether thinks he's the boss.

(photo can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/73991847@N00/3549850869/, article can be found in its original format at http://dogtime.com/training-by-personality.html)

Training an Alpha Dog

If you own a dominant dog-- especially a dog that has exhibited aggressive behavior-- then you'll need to follow these guidelines for the rest of your dog's life. They will help create a more natural relationship between you and your dog.

But don't be fooled: This approach also works on shy, timid dogs--
because the shy, timid dog gains confidence by knowing that you are
a strong leader who will protect and keep him safe.

Following this approach will create a balanced, harmonious and more natural relationship between you and your dog.

Remember: Dogs are not "hairy children." They have different drives and instincts than children do. And although there are some similarities-- your dog will interpret your behavior through the eyes of canine genetics that have evolved over several hundred years of domestication.

1. Neuter or spay your dog. Not only will it eliminate the possibility for various types of cancer to develop, but it will also reduce hormonal dominance levels. Have your veterinarian give your dog a full health check-up.

2. Stop roughhousing and playing tug-of-war type games with your dog. It teaches your dog that challenging you is fun. It is not a productive activity in any manner, for the dominant dog. When your dog wins, he thinks he is stronger than you; and stronger dogs are always higher in the social hierarchy of the pack.

3. Teach your dog the down-stay exercise and use it throughout your day. Instead of letting your dog wander around the house or go where he pleases, make him hold a down-stay while you're preparing dinner, watching television, changing your clothes, etc... Make your dog stay down for at least a full 30 minutes every day.

4. Do not reward your dog if he hasn't first earned the praise. That is, make him "work for the praise." If your dog approaches you and demands to be petted, then make him sit, first. Or hold a down-stay. Or some other exercise. He needs to learn that nothing in life is free!

5. Only issue commands that you are in a position to enforce. In other words, don't use the formal "Come" command if you're not in a position to physically make your dog come. Do not tell your dog, "Down" if he's not wearing a training collar and short leash (tab). Otherwise you'll be teaching your dog that your commands are meaningless. And in the pack, when the alpha dog wants a subordinate dog to do something... he's never ignored, as this would jeopardize the survival of the pack.

6. Don't wait to see if your dog will obey a command. If you're having dominance problems with your dog, then every command needs to be enforced, immediately. Eventually, your dog will become conditioned to respond to commands -- and at that same time, you will have noticed your dog has begun to see you is his pack leader. But until that point (which can take several months) ... you need to enforce commands, as soon as you give them.

7. There's an old military slogan: Lead, Follow or Get out of the Way. In short: You need to be the leader. This means that you need to be the first one to walk through doors, the first to eat, and the first to decide where you're going to walk. Alpha dogs never walk behind the pack. They always lead. If your dog is pulling on the leash or walking out in front of you-- you need to change this and learn how to get your dog to walk on a loose leash and pay more
attention to you than anything else that may be going on.

8. Your dog needs to "work" for everything. Does he want you to throw the ball? Then he needs to lay down first. Is he hungry? Then he needs to sit and stay there, until you tell him that it's okay to eat.

9. Your dog should be wearing a leash and training collar, anytime you're with him. You cannot enforce a command if your dog isn't wearing a short leash and a training collar.

10. If your dog is not wearing a leash and training collar, then he needs to be confined in his crate or dog run. Free run of the house is no longer permitted. Seems harsh? Only to us humans. Remember: You're dealing with a dominant dog. Act like the pack leader so he'll view you as the pack leader! Note: Never leave a training collar on your dog when he's unsupervised-- even in the crate or kennel run.

11. You can create your own short leash by buying short piece of rope (or plastic coated cable if your dog is a chewer) and then tie a knot at the end of the rope. Attach the other end to a harness snap. It just needs to be long enough that you can grab, create a bit of slack, and give a tug on the tab when you're correcting your dog
for bad behavior.

12. Do not let your dog sleep on the bed. And do not let your dog sleep on your child's bed. This is very important. More dominance and aggression problems are created by people who let their dogs sleep on their bed, than probably any other single behavior. The pack leader always sleeps on higher ground. Subordinate dogs sleep on lower ground. Being higher (or on top) is a dominance behavior.

13. Work short obedience sessions, throughout the day. 5-15 minutes. There is no limit as to how many obedience sessions you can work with your dog. The more, the better.

14. When your dog does something right, praise him. The way to effectively praise you dog is by saying, "Good dog!" and then making physical contact. Dogs are very physical animals. And don't be shy. Some dogs like to be patted, while others like to be stroked. Observe which style of praise your dog likes best, but always make physical contact when you praise your dog.

15. Correct your dog every time your dog exhibits an unwanted behavior. There are many different ways to correct your dog. Remember: You must make sure that your dog gets corrected every time he exhibits an
unwanted behavior. (See point #10, above).

16. Dogs live in the moment. You should, too. If your dog exhibits a bad behavior, correct him for it and then forget it. It's not personal. Dogs don't do things out of "spite." They do not possess the ability to use long term logic.

17. You decide when your dog is allowed to meet visitors. Do not let your dog immediately run up to visitors and greet them. You need to decide when and how-- which in most cases, should be after holding a sit-stay or down-stay.