Lovely Dog Supply

Archive for August, 2009

Do

• Practice in your home and garden first, before trying commands in public areas
• Start training with your new dog or puppy as soon as possible
• Keep sessions short (15 mins. max.) and fun
• Train him when he is hungry – before his dinner time he will try harder for his treats
• Reward or treat him on a random basis, once the new command has been learnt
• Try to use hand signals with verbal commands, as some dogs may find it easier to recognise these
• Keep commands clear and consistent
• Take your time and be patient
• Stick to one command per training session at first to avoid confusing your dog
• Consider going to a good local training class
• Try to finish on a high note – your dog is more likely to want to train again next time!

Don’t

• Let your dog get bored – stop immediately if you see this happening
• Tell him off if he gets it wrong
• Shout or physically punish him – it will make him scared of you and may cause him to become aggressive
• Train him if he is tired
• Chase him when you want him to come – he’ll think it is a great game and will run away even more
• Try to train him in an area with lots of distractions, such as other dogs, people, noises, smells.
• Expect too much too soon
• Expect him to understand a command until you have taught him what it means

• Hold a reward over you dog’s head and make sure that he can see it.
• Once you see that he has his eyes on it, command him firmly to ‘sit’, push your dog down gently into the sitting position.
• If he sits down, give him the reward but if he jumps up and tries to grab the snack say ‘no’.\
• Repeat the command ‘sit’, and push him into the sitting position.
• Give him the snack only if he sits and praise him a lot.

Make it fun and repeat the sit command all over again. Don’t begin teaching another command right away. He is small and it might get confusing to him. Now that you’ve practiced the sit command, you can repeat it during meal times, or at times when he comes up to you for a cuddle.
Command him to sit and once he does so—pick him up and hug him. He will learn that to ‘sit’ is a desirable action with desirable outcomes and he will most likely do it again.

After you see him patter around a bit, pick up the other end of the leash and walk him to the potty spot again. This time
make sure you are well ahead of the potty schedule because your dog is going to walk the walk to the elimination spot! The idea is to begin from where his food bowl and his crate are. Do not move from the living room or the front door. Begin the first walk to the elimination spot from the dog’s space. That would orient him to the path because your dog needs to know how to get to the spot on his own. This is his first orientation to learning the mapped route and it should
continue over the next few weeks.
Lead your dog on the leash. Do not allow him to lead the way. Remember, you are the alpha and you have to show the way. Walk him up to the potty spot and let him sniff along the way but do not let him dilly-dally. If you allow too much sniffing, you can rest assured that he will potty on the way. Be firm, say ‘outside’ and lead him to the spot.
Once there, use the command words, ‘Potty time’. Praise him when he follows you.Once you get there you can let him sniff again (yes—there is a lot of sniffing involved where dogs are concerned!) and don’t let go of the leash. Once he does his job, praise him and walk him out of the elimination spot and out for a little surprise walk. Please be careful to make sure it is not strenuous or away from the house because puppies can catch infections very easily and you need to wait for a while before you can venture out of the house and the yard.
Make it a short walk around the flowerbeds or a little stroll in the balcony if you live in an apartment. Let him associatea surprise walk with both the elimination spot and the leash! This way he is also getting in a little bit of exercise and working up his appetite. You are also channeling the abundant puppy energy as well! On day two—put a leash on your dog and walk him to the elimination spot so that he learns the path. Always start from where his crate is kept and walk from there in exactly the same route. The repetition is the key to the dog’s learning.

• Be the one in charge to carry the dog to the elimination spot on the first day. You can have other family members come with you but it is better that the main caregiver is the one in charge of the training for now.
• Do not leave food and water lying around, just because you think that your dog hasn’t eaten enough. 20 minutes is the right amount of time to allow a dog to eat, not matter what the breed or size. More than that would be overfeeding.
• If there are accidents (there are bound to be accidents) do not be upset with the dog unless you have caught him in the act. If you catch him violating the rules, say a firm ‘no’ enough to startle him and carry him off to the elimination spot.
• If you have accidents, clean the place thoroughly with a good odor eliminator that neutralizes the smell of urine. If the smell lingers, you dog will sniff it out and do it again in the same spot—that’s what his instinct will lead him to.
• Take your dog to the potty spot every hour, unfailingly. Also make sure that you take your dog out 10 minutes and 30 minutes after every meal
• Take your dog out to the elimination spot after every nap as well as in-between the play sessions.
• Watch out for the obvious body language like sniffing, wandering, suddenly stopping and beginning to squat etc. They will be your cues for tomorrow.

Well not literally with a whole lot of work but get him to follow you around. You have to ensure that he’s walked around enough and played around so that he is tried enough to sleep the whole night. This is first night away from the familiar kennel and in a brand new house. It could be traumatic and he might cry and miss everyone when he sleeps. So tire him out. Play with him and let him go in and out of his crate or chew at his rubber bone. Be careful to ensure that he does not end up chewing the wrong things. A simple and firm ‘No’ is enough the discourage him.
Do not let him sit on sofas on his own. You are the alpha,so you must sit first and put him on your lap. It would be better if you are in and around the area where his crate is and where he is fed. Hug and cuddle your dog and let the family members do so as well. Discourage growling. Your dog might growl at people other than you. If this happens you must say ‘no’ and put a hand over his muzzle and hold it down. Your dog has to respect all the family members and that’s something he has to learn from day one.