Posts Tagged ‘Basics’
Everyone who owns a Labrador retriever puppy knows training them is the very first thing you should do when you get your puppy. You may want to get your puppy professionally trained, but letâs face it, unless you are rolling in dough, you may want to consider training them yourself. Labrador retriever puppy training is not hard to do, and while saving you money, you will also bond with your puppy which is very important to do when they are young.
If youâre wondering where you should start, I recommend you start with house training. If your puppy is going to be living in your home, and in America alone 90% of our dogs do, then you will need to make sure your lab has good house manners. Labradors are a very loyal breed of dog and will listen to you well which makes training them a breeze⦠sometimes. Nevertheless, it still takes patients from you the trainer but if you set a routine and stick to it, you should have no problems.
Obedience training should also be on your list of things to teach your Labrador. After all, you donât want your lab to grow up to be a big bully, jumping on guests, barking all night, it really becomes a pain. The easiest solution is to train them when they are young. Itâs never too early to start training your lab; unless they are younger than 8 weeks, if thatâs the case you may want to wait.
The Labrador retriever was bred to be a hunting dog retrieving game from the water and bringing it back to the hunter, so getting along with people is in their nature making them a great family dog. They do however require exercise regularly though; otherwise they may become bored and want to act out. Swimming is the best way to keep your puppy in shape. Itâs easy on their delicate joints and will give them a good workout.
Exercise can be a bad thing to. While your puppy is still less than 18 months of age, the bones and joints in their legs are not yet fully developed. If they are taken for long walks on hard surfaces like a road, these joints may become damaged causing problems later like arthritis. Keeping this in mind is important and a good rule of thumb is to exercise your lab only 10 minutes a day until they get a little older.
As you can see Labradors make great pets⦠but you already knew that. While training them is important to do, donât forget to spend some quality time with your puppy. As I mentioned before, bonding with your lab early on is important to do, your lab will respect you and listen to you better, and if you keep it up, you will have the dog you always wanted in no time.
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If you have recently brought a new puppy into your family, you may be realizing how much work taking care of a puppy requires, and you may also realize that it would be in your best interest to give your puppy some basic dog training. You can either train the puppy yourself or hire a professional trainer to do it for you.
As with anything, there are pros and cons with both of these methods. A trainer can become quite expensive, and you also have to transport your dog to and from the trainer’s location; however, the trainer is experienced in this type of work. On the other hand, if you train your dog yourself, you have the ability to do it virtually expense free, and you can also do it from the comfort and convenience of your own home; however, you need to acquire a bit of knowledge on proper dog training before you can begin.
The three basics of dog training are quite simple. They include the commands sit, stay, and come. A helpful tool for teaching these basics is some sort of small dog treat, such as a dog biscuit. The first, and easiest of the three of these commands, is teaching your dog to sit. The best way to begin is to first choose a place that has little or no distraction for your dog, such as your living room when no one else is around but you and the dog, and the television or radio is not blaring. Then, you should simply show the dog the treat in your hand, and then hold it high above the dog’s head while repeating the command, “sit,” over and over again. Holding it high will force your dog to sit and look up in order to see the treat. If this does not work to make your dog sit, just gently push his bottom down until he is in a sitting position, and once he is, simply give him his treat, some head patting, and some praise. This will eventually reinforce the idea that the command “sit” is associated with a treat and praise.
The second command is “stay.” This command must only be taught once your dog has mastered the sitting command. This is a bit more difficult than “sit” because your dog’s natural instinct is to follow you around. Make your dog sit in once place as you gradually begin to walk away. As you walk away, repeat the word “stay” over and over again. You also must maintain eye contact with your dog, and if he tries to get up and walk over to you, simply and firmly say “no” and start the procedure over. As this is a more difficult command, it takes much more patience and time, and it may actually be helpful if you can have someone else helping you who can hold your dog as you walk away. Once your dog has learned the “stay” command while maintaining eye contact with you, the next step is to walk away without looking at your dog. The same process applies. When your dog rises to follow, simply say “no” and repeat the process. As with the sitting process, do not forget the rewards and praise.
The final, and somewhat easier command, is to “come.” Once your dog has mastered the stay command while you walk away, you can teach him this final command. After walking away for a bit of a distance, simply turn to your dog, pat your legs, and very cheerfully say, “come.” Your dog will almost surely follow this prompt, and when he does, give him plenty of praise and also his tasty treat. Don’t forget that praise and reward are much better for you and your dog, as dogs respond much better to positive rather than to negative reinforcement. Following these dog training basics will surely leave you with an obedient and happy dog, and it will make you proud to know that you are the one who made him this way.
Dog training mistakes are always human mistakes. Surprised? Don’t be. Many pet owners get frustrated when puppies “have accidents” or grown dogs bark like crazy at the doorbell, while, in fact, these and other problems cannot be faulted on the animal. If people don’t know what they want their dog to do instead, like sitting instead of jumping, going to their bed (when the door opens) instead of bolting out the door, dig in a sandbox instead of the garden, chewing appropriate objects, etc., the dog can’t figure it out either.
Mistake #1: Not Socializing a Dog Properly
Proper socialization is one of the kindest acts people can provide for their dogs. Natural by-products of proper socialization are activity, time with your dog, mental and physical stimulation. A dog that has been taught to socialize properly can adapt to changes in the environment and should be able to deal with a variety of situations. Lack of socialization early on in the life of an animal can lead to fear, anxiety, and aggression. The better adapted a dog is to his environment, the less likely he is to engage in unpleasant behavior.
Mistake #2: Giving Up Too Soon
Being impatient is one of the major problems owners face. Although it’s unrealistic to expect a puppy to be completely housetrained in a few weeks, many owners anticipate just that. It takes time and patience for a dog to understand the basic concept of sitting or staying; it takes even more time to change previous behaviors (such as jumping on the counter) or control urges (barking, digging in the garden, etc). Dogs get the short end of the stick in many situations. People think they should learn things very quickly, but do not always spend the time teaching them. The first step is to be calm and patience when teaching dog training basics. If you’re calm and enjoying the process, your dog will too. Don’t make the training a chore. If you feel yourself getting frustrated or angry, walk away and come back to it later.
Mistake #3: Making Training a Chore
Owners are not the only ones that get frustrated during training. Long or repetitive sessions can also be tedious for the dog. A bored dog usually stops paying attention and will have a harder time learning. Keeping the training sessions short, from 15 seconds up to five minutes a session. Practicing many of these sessions throughout the day is much better than doing one or two long sessions everyday. If you focus on making the session a fun activity instead of a chore, dogs will pick up on tricks faster. Some breeds are more prone to boredom than others, but to be safe, concentrate on making the training session as dynamic as possible.
Mistake #4: Being Ambivalent
Consistency is very important in training. If, at the beginning, of teaching a new cue, sometimes you say “Come” and other times you say “Come over here” you can cause confusion. On the other hand, dogs can understand the meaning of numerous physical and verbal cues to mean the same thing. It is important to teach one cue and then add more later. Confusing your dog will lead to failure. When you stick to a specific command or word, your dog is likely to grasp the concept better. It all has to do with the memory process. Repetition forms a “grove” of sorts in our brain which allows information to flow and connect. The deeper the groove, so to speak, the easier it is for the information we’ve stored through repetition to be accessed.
Mistake #5: Using Physical Punishment
Do do use physical violence ever on your dog! Treat dogs with the same consideration and respect that you would treat your children, grandparents and themselves. Positive reinforcement is the key to success. Training your dog out of fear is wrong! Nonviolent animal training is also more effective than earlier techniques. You can change behaviors such as destructiveness and excessive barking by finding what your dog is doing right and praising him for it. When your dog engages in negative behavior, you can choose to ignore him and hold back praise. Dogs usually pick up on it really fast. Nonviolent dog training allows you to create a partnership with your dog using gentle persuasion based in kindness, respect, and compassion.
People who are too busy or too lazy should reconsider getting a dog or any other pet in the first place. Getting a dog that’s too difficult to handle, either because of breed or size. Some breeds are easier to train than others; some breeds are naturally more submissive. Getting upset and screaming are not appropriate. The last thing you want is an animal that’s scared of being around you.
Joining a class and then giving up after the first lesson because you didn’t like the trainer. Not every trainer is a good fit for everybody. Some trainers are better with smaller dogs while others are experts at managing larger animals. Before signing up, ask to observe a class, see how the animals interact, the trainer’s attitude, etc.
I believe nonviolence fosters nonviolence. Because of the link between dog and human behavior, positive dog training contributes to helping build a world of peace for humans and dogs. When people, especially children, are successful using nonviolent methods with animals, they feel good about themselves and they are encouraged to have a kinder, more positive attitude with their friends, family, and the environment.
A calm, obedient and faithful dog – it’s what we all want, right? To begin with, obedient and trained dogs are happier dogs, less likely to get into tussles with people or with other dogs. Another reason is that many communities require that the dogs living in their neighborhoods be well trained. This is especially true for many breeds thought to have aggression and behavior problems – large dog breeds such as german shepherds and rottweilers to name a couple. And of course pit bulls are almost synonymous with aggression in many people’s minds.
Now, I have a rottweiler myself, and she’s the soppiest thing out. So I don’t personally subscribe to the view that particular breeds are necessarily aggressive. But nevertheless, large dogs certainly do need to be adequately trained, just because of their size. Larger dogs can be very intimidating to people.
And of course, training your dog well will also make he or she a much better family companion, especially in households where there are young children. Many studies have shown that proper dog training makes a big impact when it comes to cutting down the number of dog bits and other behavior problems encountered by dog owning households.
When considering training your own dog, or having someone else help you train it, there are certain basic commands that must be mastered in order for a dog to be considered truly trained. These basic commands include:
No – The word No is one word that all dogs must learn. Training your dog to respond to this important word can save you a ton of trouble.
Sit – Training your dog to sit on command is a vital part of any dog training program.
Down – Lying down on command is more than just a cute trick; it is a key component of any successful dog training program.
Stay – A well trained dog should remain where his or her owner commands, so Stay is an important command in dog training. (The Stay command is not used by all dog trainers. Some are of the view that the command to Sit means “Sit, and stay there until you’re given another command” – this makes a lot of sense. But many people do like to use the Stay command).
Heel – it is important that any dog learn to walk beside its owner on a loose lead, neither pulling ahead nor lagging behind
Dog training does much more than just create an obedient, willing companion. Training your dog properly actually strengthens the bond that already exists between dog and owner. Dogs are pack animals, and they look to their pack leader to tell them what to do. The key to successful dog training is to set yourself up as that pack leader.
Establishing yourself as pack leader is a very important concept for any potential dog trainer to understand. There is only one leader in every pack of dogs, and the owner must establish him or herself as the dominant animal. Failure to do so leads to all manner of behavior problems.
A properly trained dog will respond properly to all the owner’s commands, and will not display anxiety, displeasure or confusion. A good dog training program will focus on allowing the dog to learn just what is expected of it, and will use positive reinforcement to reward desired behaviors.
In addition to making the dog a good member of the community, obedience training is a great way to fulfill some of the dog’s own needs, including the need for exercise, the security that comes with knowing what is expected of it, a feeling of accomplishment and a good working relationship with its handler. Dog training gives the dog an important job to do, and an important goal to reach.
Giving the dog a job is more important than you may think. Dogs were originally bred by humans to do important work, such as herding sheep, guarding property and protecting people. Many dogs today have no important job to do, and this can often lead to boredom and neurotic behavior.
Basic obedience training, and ongoing training sessions, provide the dog with an important job to do. This is especially important for high energy breeds like German shepherds and border collies. Training sessions are a great way for these high energy dogs to use up their extra energy and simply to enjoy themselves.
Incorporating playtime into your dog training sessions is a great way to prevent both yourself and your dog from becoming bored. Playing with your dog helps to strengthen the all important bond between you – the pack leader – and your dog.
Brigitte Smith runs two websites dedicated to dog training, dog care and dog health:
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