STARTER PACKAGE: $375 – Want to get a feel for our training before purchasing a full obedience package? If so, The Starter Package is for you! This program includes training equipment and 1 private lesson covering the following commands: “Come”, “Sit”, “Break”, and “Off”. The Starter Package is ideal for dogs who just lack a recall (do not come when called), or dogs who are generally obedient but display some unwanted behavior such as counter-surfing, jumping, excessive barking, etc. ***Be prepared to practice daily for at least 30 minutes.***
Just as a child needs a caring parent; an athletic team needs a coach; your puppy needs a leader and a clear social hierarchy. If you do not take up the role of leader, your dog will; and you will end up with an unruly, disobedient dog. Many people try to win their new puppy's love by letting the puppy always have its way. Buckets of affection is a wonderful thing for most puppies, but it must be tempered with respect.
To start training your dog to “settle,” leash her up and take a seat. Step on the leash so your dog has only enough room to sit, stand, and turn around, but not stray from your side. Then, wait. Your dog may be excited at first, and try to jump up on your lap or run around the room. Let her figure out that she can’t go anywhere. Once she settles down on her own, say “yes!” and give her a treat.
Pull on the leash? Ignore your commands? Act aggressively to dogs or people? Bark all the time? Jump on you and guests? Steal things from the counters? Chew things it is not supposed to? Not come when called? Get way too excited? Act afraid or fearful? Have separation anxiety? Only listen when you have a treat? Have previous training but can't focus with distractions? Continue to be turned away or kicked out of other dog training programs?
Hi Caitlin, Kimberly recently had a baby and thus, is not currently responding to comments, but I wanted to thank you. We read through your thoughts and agree with many of them. So, we made some minor updates to our content based on your feedback and agree that this makes for a much stronger and more encouraging article. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts so we could make our content even better for our readers.
Learned helplessness occurs when a dog ceases to respond in a situation where it has no option to avoid a negative event. For learned helplessness to occur, the event must be both traumatic and outside the dog's control.[51] Family dogs that are exposed to unpredictable or uncontrolled punishment are at risk of developing disturbances associated with the learned helplessness disorder. Punishment which is poorly coordinated with identifiable avoidance cues or response options, such as when punishment takes place long after the event, meet the criteria of inescapable trauma.[41]
A dog with separation anxiety might try to escape from an area where he’s confined when he’s left alone or separated from his guardian. The dog might attempt to dig and chew through doors or windows, which could result in self-injury, such as broken teeth, cut and scraped front paws and damaged nails. If the dog’s escape behavior is caused by separation anxiety, it doesn’t occur when his guardian is present.
I applaud the author for finding creative ways to improve her dog’s life, but I am sure she could re-write this in a way that wouldn’t misinform and turn off novice dog owners. For example, she might say “I found that looking for other ways to connect with Sally, such as using play, life rewards, and affection in our day-to-day training, deepened our relationship. I also found that thinking about Sally’s behavior and our quality of life more holistically, outside of simple obedience cues, helped me address some overwhelming issues that I wasn’t sure how to tackle at first, such as getting and keeping her attention in distracting situations. While food treats are the easiest way to train a dog, they might not work for every dog and every situation. Even dogs that aren’t food-motivated can be trained.”
Very thorough and well written hub. I would like to direct you to the Anxiety Wrap. It is the original patented pressure wrap designed for dogs – and cats – by Susan Sharpe, a T-touch practitioner and certified professional dog trainer. I believe the Anxiety Wrap is a superior product and recommend it in my own practice with clients who consult me about their anxious and fearful dogs. In a recent study completed at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, the Anxiety Wrap was found to be 89% effective in study participants – dogs with Thunderstorm phobia. I have used it on dogs with separation anxiety and generalized anxiety, including my own dog and have found it to provide consistently effective results. Check it out – I think you’ll be quite impressed too, and thanks for writing such a detailed, well thought out hub!
Readers, you can use treats to train and it doesn’t cheapen your relationship. Your dog loves you unconditionally, remember? It isn’t “bribery” any more than using toys, attention, etc. is bribery. I can’t tell you how many times I stepped on my puppy’s toes while he was learning to walk on a leash, and he still loves me. And even if it were, your dog (and you too) deserves the best quality of life you can give him, which means clear expectations and an enriching life, which requires good citizenship. If you have one of those dogs that isn’t food-motivated, you can still use positive reinforcement.
I’m hoping you can give me some tips on how to get my dog to pay attention long enough to teach her more commands than “sit” without treats. Emily is a 4 month old golden retriever who I feel is too smart and stubborn for her own good…or mine. She learned to sit in four attempts, but that was with treats and she won’t pay attention without them. Even with them, I can’t get past that stage because she is so anxious to get another treat that she jumps on me if she as to remain seated for too long. If she isn’t treated for the sit, she can’t pay attention long enough to hear the next command. Then she adds biting to the jumping. She would rather fight me than listen or pay attention. If I get loud or try to demand compliance she ignores me and, if unleashed, she walks away pretending not to hear me. It drives me crazy listening to or reading so many trainers telling me to turn around and ignore her if she wont stop biting, as if she isn’t then biting me on the ass and ankles and tearing my shirt.
Puppies should be at least eight weeks old before they’re taken away from their mothers and littermates for weaning. The first eight weeks of a puppy’s life are a crucial time for him to learn social skills. Playing with littermates, wrestling with Mom and enjoying life with their own pack helps dogs understand how other dogs communicate and interact.
In this Article:Article SummaryPreparing for Dog TrainingApplying General Training PrinciplesTeaching the “Heel”Teaching the “Come”Teaching the “Listen”Teaching the “Sit”Teaching Your Dog to Lie DownTraining Your Dog to “Wait” at DoorwaysTeaching Your Dog Positive Food BehaviorsTeaching the “Take” and “Drop It” CommandsTeaching the “Stand”Teaching the “Speak”Crate Training Your DogCommunity Q&A13 References
this was very helpful.. we have had our shiba inu pup for nearly three months and he IS house trained although we do keep pee pads in the house in the event that i miss an outing and even then he will only use it for pees.. i am a stay at home mom with 2 kids and a cat and i find it difficult to keep a schedule, mostly because i am scatterbrained, but also because of our young ones.. but now our pup has been expressing stress anxiety, in the form of chewing up plastic toys that belong to the kids, toilet paper, or wooden anything, peeing in the house and barking, whining or crying if we leave the house.. we have tried to make him feel secure by getting him a kennel and keeping it in our room, so he can be near our smells.. i know he likes it because i have found him in there on his own just hanging out.. but the chewing and especially the peeing in the house isn’t getting better.. the most i try and establish, routine-wise, is playing with him one on one at night before we all retire to bed and walking him in the morning and at noon.. my husband chips in too.. but i was wondering if you could give me a little insight.. we are a military family, so we visit a lot and will have to move often, about every 3 years, so he will find himself in strange locations with strange people and strange smells isolated from his pack, we are also active in our community and our oldest will be starting school soon.. is it too much for us to expect our pup to adapt to all this? am i just going to have to look forward to more anxiety displays?
Very thorough and well written hub. I would like to direct you to the Anxiety Wrap. It is the original patented pressure wrap designed for dogs – and cats – by Susan Sharpe, a T-touch practitioner and certified professional dog trainer. I believe the Anxiety Wrap is a superior product and recommend it in my own practice with clients who consult me about their anxious and fearful dogs. In a recent study completed at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, the Anxiety Wrap was found to be 89% effective in study participants – dogs with Thunderstorm phobia. I have used it on dogs with separation anxiety and generalized anxiety, including my own dog and have found it to provide consistently effective results. Check it out – I think you’ll be quite impressed too, and thanks for writing such a detailed, well thought out hub!
The first and most important obedience lesson for many dog owners is housebreaking. Puppies should begin housebreaking at approximately 7 ½ to 8 ½ weeks old. Ideally, puppies should not be separated from their mothers until at least 8 weeks of age so you should not be faced with a puppy younger than this anyway. Sometimes older dogs need to be housetrained too when they are rescued from a shelter or rescue organization, housebreaking an older dog involves the same process as housebreaking a younger dog.
Thank you for your feedback, Tamara. We do not recommend using a pinch collar without proper training for the person first. I personally disagree that it is a negative reinforcement, but I respect your opinion. Sally has never been hurt using the pinch collar. I completely agree that using treats is a perfectly appropriate way to train a dog. However, treat training doesn’t always work for every dog, like in my instance with Sally. So I had to find an alternative and that’s when I sought out help from a trainer who recommended this method to me. Each dog has its own needs and its up to us as the pet parent to know their needs and help them be the happiest they can be.
I agree with this. The best way to train your dog is by shaping or capturing a behaviour. To be honest this is such stressful training! A dog should never be jerked around to learn. The dog looked confused and stressed… With good training through positive reinforcement they figure out what you want and how to do it by thinking for themselves. Look at Karen Pryor, Sian Ryan, Ian Dunbar, Jean Donaldson etc… They demonstrate how to teach you to teach your dog and it is so much satisfying and enjoyable for both you and your dog!
After reviewing their symptoms and their complete medical history, your vet will then be able to form a proper diagnosis. Your vet will first try to narrow down the issue and rule out any other potential health problem that may be causing the symptoms. From there, they will try to pinpoint the actual trigger that is causing the anxiety and advise ways to avoid this trigger from affecting your dog. If the issue is caused by a toxin in your dog’s system (such as lead or any other harmful substance), your vet will then conduct a blood test to analyze their physical health further.
Whining on the other hand is something you should never reward. When your dog whines and you go to comfort him, you are just reinforcing the behavior and he will continue to whine so you will come and comfort him. In this case, you will need to ignore your puppy whines — yes, it will be very difficult, but you will appreciate it when the whining stops and you can finally get a full night's sleep.
The 1980 television series Training Dogs the Woodhouse Way made Barbara Woodhouse a household name in the UK, and the first international celebrity dog trainer.[25] Known for her "no bad dogs" philosophy, Woodhouse was highly critical of "bad owners", particularly those she saw as "overly sentimental".[26] She described the "psychoanalyzing of dogs" as "a lot of rubbish".[27] Her no-nonsense style made her a pop-culture icon, with her emphatic "sit" and catch cry of "walkies" becoming part of the popular vernacular.[28]
Reinforcement can be anything your dog likes. Most people use small pieces of a “high value” food for training treats — something special — such as dried liver or even just their kibble. Lavish praise or the chance to play with a favorite toy can also be used as a reward. Dogs must be taught to like praise. If you give the dog a treat while saying “Good dog!” in a happy voice, he will learn that praise is a good thing and can be a reward. Some dogs also enjoy petting. Food is often the most convenient way to reinforce behavior.
BASIC & ADVANCED OBEDIENCE: $950 – Want to take your dog’s obedience to the next level? This program includes training equipment and 8 private lessons. The first 4 lessons will cover our Basic Obedience curriculum, and the last 4 lessons will cover advanced commands of your choice! Basic/Advanced Obedience is ideal for owners who enjoy working with their dogs on a consistent basis and want reliable control off-leash around distractions. ***Be prepared to practice daily for at least 30 minutes and schedule lessons 1 week apart.***
