Dog Training - Who's Training Whom?

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You know, as I think on training things more, something comes to mind. Sometimes you have to wonder who is training whom? Afterall, as we humans are trying to train our canine companions to comply with "house rules" about keeping the "den" clean (i.e., going outside to potty), we find we have to learn things as well.

For example, when puppy is only 8 weeks old, you have to learn to watch her to see when she's getting ready to relieve herself so you can hustle her outdoors and start teaching her that is the proper place to go. Usually, if a puppy has her nose to the ground for more than a couple of seconds, that is one of the signals that she's hunting a place.

You probably already know that puppies cannot go more than an hour of busy playing without needing to relieve themselves. So, you start watching carefully and take the furry child out when she starts to look around for a good place.

Between three and four months old, puppy begins to gain some control of bowel and bladder and you two have begun to agree on a signal that outside is a good idea. The people that will tell you their puppy was perfectly house-trained sooner, are perfectly trained themselves. I'm not saying that's bad, just that it's so.

Eventually, the lesson will sink in with the dog, but then, you run into the dog teaching you her signal for needing to go outside. My Jack Russell mix will go to the door and bark once, then jump up at the door. If I don't notice, she'll repeat it until I do.

My Border Terrier, on the other hand, has a much more subtle signal. He'll come and stand by my chair. At first, I thought it was his way of telling me he wanted attention or scratching. He would stand there facing more or less away from me, but near enough to be petted. He finally trained me to understand that is his way of asking to go outside. As a secondary method, he's managed to teach the JR mix to bark like she has to go out, but then, when I respond, it's him that has to go, not her. She'll back away from the door.

My "heart dog," a full-blooded Jack Russell Terrier, used to trot between me and the door. The more imperative that she go out, the faster the trips. She'd come and look at me, then trot to the door. Come back and look, then to the door, until I got the hint.

Now, you can modify this behavior to some extent by encouraging a particular signal be used. Scratch at the door, ring a bell you've hung from the door, come and place a paw on your arm, just about anything that will get you up out of your chair to let her out. Perhaps it's a certain tone to the bark--a rather high-pitched yip? Maybe it's that breathy whine with the mournful look?

The upshot is, to be able to teach your dog a signal you decide on for this particular behavior and need, you first must learn what the dog's signal is indicating the need. So, who is training whom?

C. Rogers Upson has been training dogs and studying them for nearly 40 years. Her website is Dog Potentials and she has two dog-related stores at Keeping to the Borders and Dog Potentials-The Store.

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Dog Psychology - The Key to Successful Dog Training

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Understanding dog psychology and behavior is the key to successful dog training and therefore developing the best possible relationship with your dog.

For thousands of years there has been a mutually satisfying relationship between humans and their canine friends, one based on loyalty, protection, companionship, and, not the least of which, the ability to in various and effective ways communicate with each other.

Even the most dim-witted of dogs are able to let us know if they are hungry, need to go out, or want to play frisbee. My dog’s way of letting me know his water bowl is empty is to drop it in front of me with a loud metallic clang. There is no mistaking what he wants.

Dogs are very intuitive as well and have the amazing ability to interpret and react to human tones of voice and body language. They are capable of learning complicated tricks and procedures, and of course they have enhanced senses of hearing, smell, and low-light vision, thought they perceive colors differently and with less complexity than humans.

Even with all of these abilities and attributes we will still have a hard time understand dog psychology unless we understand that dogs deal with and process their world in a way very unlike that of people.

For Example: My dogs are routinely fed at 7:30 AM and again at 5 PM. They have been conditioned to expect to be fed at those times, and if I forget and let the deadline pass by even a few minutes, they will remind me. In dog psychology terms this is a classical conditioned response.

Always in the past when they reached a certain level of hunger or their “stomach alarm” went off, they got fed. If we are riding in the car at those magic times of the day and have no access to their food, they cannot process the idea that food is not available and they will have to wait until we get home. All they understand is that they are supposed to be fed and it’s not happening.

Dogs are very good at learning certain cause and effect relationships, and this understanding of dog behavior psychology can be used extensively and with great success in the training process using positive and/or negative reinforcement. But here again there is an obvious difference in how far this information gets processed by dogs.

Dogs can learn to respond to an amazing number of voice and hand commands and learn to perform complex tricks and service tasks such as guiding the blind, search and rescue, police work, and explosives and arson detection using positive reinforcement.

On the other hand, most if not all dogs will have a hard time understanding the cause and effect relationship of eating garbage and getting sick. They will do it every chance they get and therefore an additional and more immediate negative reinforcement may be needed to manage that behavior.

For more information on this subject go to Dog Obedience Training.

Protect your dog from toxic dog food and treats - Homemade Dog Treats and Meals is a Free ebook featuring 130 Gourmet Cookie, Snack, Biscuit and Meal Recipes for your Canine Companion.

Ira Nelson has years of experience in the dog care and training field. More information, tips, and techniques like the ones in this article are available at http://www.dogtrainingbasicsonline.com/

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8 Dog Training Tips Every Dog Owner Must Know

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Every dog owner wants a well trained, obedient dog. You can enjoy your pet so much more if they are well behaved, and the dog is happier because you are happy with them. The ultimate goal is to have your dog obey your commands while off the lead. This level of compliance, however, takes much training and time. Here are a few great dog training tips to help you along the way.

1. One of the most important tips for training your dog is to start training early. Don't wait for bad behavior to start. The sooner you teach your dog what is acceptable and unacceptable, the happier you will both be. Even a puppy can learn basic commands and household manners. Check out local puppy or dog obedience training classes and get enrolled right away.

2. Only reward desired or 'good' behavior. Never give treats or attention for bad behavior. Your dog wants your approval and attention. If you only give it to them when they are being good, they will learn to behave appropriately in order to get your approval.

3. Dogs have a lot of energy. Find an outlet for this natural energy. Many dogs enjoy activities like agility and fly ball. If that doesn't appeal to you, try regular walks or runs, playing fetch, or take a trip to a doggy park where your dog can run and interact with other dogs. If you give your dog a way to burn off their energy, training will be much easier.

4. Find a regular time that works for you and your dog. Regular training sessions are another one of the key dog training tips that will insure your success as they will have more of an impact than sporadic ones. Make sure that you are both in a good mood, and that your dog has been well exercised before the training session.

5. New puppies need to be handled a lot to ensure that they will tolerate it and become a good pet. A crucial dog training tip is to make the handling of your puppy a frequent and pleasant experience for both of you.

6. Don't ever hit your dog or yell at them. You want your dog to associate pleasant things with you. A dog naturally wants to please you, so if your dog is engaging in undesirable behavior, simply ignore them or remove them to a confined space where they are alone. Dogs are naturally social animals and not being with you is a very hard thing for them, therefore it is a very effective punishment.

7. After your dog has completed a command, make sure you praise them very quickly. You want your positive attention to be associated with the desired behavior.

8. Use a release word to end a command. For example, when a dog has been in a down, stay position and you are finished with the command, say a word like "free" or "release" to tell the dog that it is okay for them to get up. Try not to use common words like "Okay" since this can be confusing to the dog.

These are just a few dog training tips that you can use to successfully teach your dog obedience. Find the things that work best for you and your individual pet. Above all, the most important dog training tip is to have fun and enjoy your dog!

Get the latest on dog training by visiting http://www.complete-dog-training.com - a website that offers information and articles on training your dog including tips on clicker training, crate training and dog behavior training.

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Dog Training: How To Train Your Dog To Shake Hands

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One of the more advanced tricks you can teach your dog, once he has learnt basic obedience, is how to “shake hands”. Now before you try to teach you dog this, you need to have the basics of obedience (like sit, stay etc) down. This is because your dog needs to respect you to learn tricks from you.

You also need to know that some breeds of dog are better suited to this trick than others, so don’t be disappointed if your dog can’t or won’t perform this trick very easily.

With this in mind, let’s learn how to train your dog to shake hands.

The first thing you need to do is have your dog sitting on your left hand side. You then kneel down while holding your dog’s collar in your left hand. Then show your dog the food treat that you should have in your other hand.

The next step is to move your right hand downwards towards the ground. Go down far enough to have your hand in front of your dog’s paw. You want to make sure you’re holding his collar still at this point, otherwise he may want to lie down to sty close to the food treat.

Next, you need to push the food reward towards your dog’s paw. Your dog will then lift up his paw. When he does this, you need to put your hand underneath the paw, and lift slightly up and away from the ground.

When your dog’s paw is resting against your fist with the food reward, lift it up and give your dog the command “paw” or you may prefer “shake hands”. Then give your dog his well earned food reward.

Now it goes without saying that it will take a few goes for your dog to learn this. As with all dog training, persistence and patience is required. But if you stick at it, your dog should soon have learnt a nice trick that you can use to impress your friends and family.

Amy Howells is the owner of the Dog Owner Blog, where she gives free tips, lessons and advice on how to train your dog. She has recently started posting her dog training book for free, so make sure you go check her site out right now.

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Cut Training Time in Half with Clicker Dog Training

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Using a clicker to train your dog is relatively new in the dog obedience world. The clicker itself is a simple piece of equipment, nothing more than a small rectangular box with a metal button that clicks when pressed. Many trainers that integrate this training method in with more conventional obedience training have found that it can cut training time in half for some dogs.

The idea behind clicker training is that it is a type of enforced training without the punishment aspect. Dogs learn through repetition and when they do the right thing and are rewarded for it they will continue with that behavior. Dogs also like to please their humans and if they do something that earns praise and a treat they will learn this behavior because it makes us happy. The converse is also true. If they do not behave or do as commanded they then get ignored or told no in a strict voice. A dog soon comes to realize that when this occurs no praise or treat will be given and they do not like that.

Clicker dog training works on the principle that good behavior will be rewarded. For instance if you are training your dog to sit you give the command. When he sits you click your clicker and give him a treat. You repeat this process with each behavior you are teaching him to do. He will soon connect the clicking sound with a reward, whether it’s a treat or praise. The clicking sound acts as an event marker that instantly communicates approval of what he is doing. During the first sessions of clicker training it is best to stay close to the dog so that the click and reward or treat can be given almost simultaneously. This allows your dog to associate the two happenings quickly.

As your dog becomes more used to this type of training you can begin to delay the reward portion of the training. This will allow you to start training your dog at a distance, giving you the ability to control your dog when he is off the leash. Again, you will still click at the moment a command is successfully done, but the click is now a signal that there will be a reward in the near future.

The clicker should never be used as a punishment or with punishment as it will send the wrong message to your dog. While punishing your dog for bad behavior may work sometimes it can create other unwanted behaviors. Because dogs have little or no sense of time and they are usually punished after they have done something wrong they seldom understand why they are being punished. If you use the clicker at this time they will associate its use with being punished.

The interesting thing about clicker dog training is that the use of a clicker to train is used on other animals such as horses, birds, and dolphins. If you want to speed up the process of training your dog consider the use of a clicker. It is becoming more popular and it does produce great training results.

To learn more about clicker dog training and other training tips and tricks please visit the website Worfdog.com.

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