Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Dog Behavior Training

Dog Behavior Training Is So Essential

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 handler. Dogs are pack animals, and they look to their pack leader to tell them what to do. The key to successful dog behavior 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 dog behavior problems.

Dog behavior training encompasses every aspect of canine education, from the species specific responses that's inherent to canines, to learning theory and operant conditioning, to traditional training methods. When these training techniques are properly implemented, most people notice results immediately. A well mannered pet is now within your reach, all you need to do is optimally structure your pet's environment.

Dog behavior can be thought of as responses that are specific to the species canis familiaris. These responses are controlled and directed by manipulating the social and the environmental variables. We call this training. Training can increase responses that are desirable, just as those that are undesirable can be decreased.

Your pet's problems are often a direct result of the animal's inability to cope with the stress of everyday life. The purpose of training is to raise the pet's stress threshold so your pet can tolerate higher levels of stress.

Get information on dog and pet behaviour training. You will find solutions to your dog behavior problem. It list downs the best basic behaviour dog training manuals available on agressive, basic, canine, leash and dog breed behaviour problems.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Puppy Potty Training Tips

Potty training a puppy is really a game of patience and persistence and that is something that a lot of dog owners don't have. If you really want your puppy to be housebroken, you need to resign yourself to the fact that it's going to take some effort on your part. You have to take the responsibility to train the dog, not the other way around.

One of the first things you need to learn when potty training your puppy is to recognize your puppy's signals when it needs to go potty. Most dogs have a ritual before they go potty. Some may walk in circles, while others run around sniffing the floor frantically. Your dog will no doubt display some sort of sign that indicates an accident is about to happen. If you suspect your dog is looking for a place to potty, immediately get him outside. Even if you catch him in the middle of an accident, pick him up (if possible) and quickly carry him outside to his potty spot.

Limit your dogs intake of food and water while you are mastering puppy potty training. Feed your dog several small meals daily instead of one or two large ones. Also, have your dog eat his food before offering him a drink. Drinking large amounts of water causes them to have accidents more frequently because their bladders are not developed enough to hold a large amount of urine.

Another method that you can use is crate training which will help out to avoid accidents because most dogs do not like going potty in an area that they sleep in. Some of the other methods are letting them circle around you on a leash, having a lot of patience is a big one. Remember your puppy while potty training is only a baby so accidents will occur and when they do try not to get upset at your puppy, remember he is only potty training.

You need to let him know that he did the right thing by relieving himself outside. Puppies want to please you so if you shower him with love and praise, he will want to do it again to get that reaction.One should never punish their puppy for wrong doings when potty training, but always praise lavishly for good deeds.

Remember, mastering potty training almost overnight is a reasonable goal. Having a positive, can-do attitude and providing your dog with consistency will make mastering puppy potty training an easy, enjoyable part of your dog's life.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Best Dog Training Ebook

This well written dog training ebook, written by an expert dog trainer and dog behavior expert, reveals cutting edge techniques as well as insider information that allow the reader to successfully train their beloved pet as well as solve their dog's behavior problems regardless of whether the dog is a puppy or an adult. Over 200,000 dog owners worldwide have made this ebook the best dog training book available.

This is not an average book filled with information you could find for yourself on the Internet. This book is a 260 page comprehensive, information filled resource written by an expert in the field. You will receive insights, facts, and instruction from an experienced instructor.

This wonderful e-book is chock full of valuable information and comprehensive training tips including:
  • Fixing any dog behavior problem
  • Tips and secrets to use in your everyday dog obedience training
  • Specific commands and tricks to teach your dog
  • The best way to select, buy, and raise a new puppy or older dog
  • This remarkable resource adresses issues such as:
  • Fighting behavior in dogs and how to curb aggressiveness
  • How to deal with a dominant 'alpha dog'
  • How to keep your dog from jumping on you and others
  • How to alleviate seperation anxiety
  • How to keep your dog from constantly barking and/or whining
Click here to learn more about the best dog training ebook available - Secrets to Dog Training.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

3 Dog Training Mistakes You Need To Avoid

Dog training may sound like an easy thing to do, but sometimes it's not as easy as it sounds. It all depends on things like their beed, background, and sometimes disposition. If you want to train your dog properly make sure you pay close attention to the following three things...

Before you start your dog training, you need to set a few golden rules. These are the foundations you will base all of your efforts upon, just like the foundations of a house, they need to be strong and sturdy, or else all of your hard work might come crashing down.

Mistake 1

Firstly, never ever shout at your dog during training, this may seem like an easy thing to do as your dog will know when he is doing wrong, but it's actually a very counterproductive thing to do.

It is very easy to get frustrated with your dog when he doesn't perform the tasks you want him to, but you need to realize that yelling at him will greatly slow down his progress. Your overall goal should be to have your dog obey the commands of your calm voice, not your shouting vioce.

Mistake 2

Secondly, your training sessions need to be kept to under 15 minutes, this is something which many first time trainers do not know of. Don't forget that your dog does not have the same attention span as a human, in my experience many dog's can't pay attention for any longer than 10 minutes. If you try and stretch your sessions out any longer than 15 minutes you will both end up becoming very frustrated.

Mistake 3

And lastly, please don't forget to treat your dog every time they obey a command. It's very easy to forget about those treats in your pocket, but they are the key to letting your dog know when he is doing something right. If your dog is expecting a treat and he doesn't get one, he will quickly lose his motivation.

More dog training resources:

Aggressive Dog Trainin
Dog Training For Dummies
Dog Ebook - Dog Owner's Guide
Dog Behavior Training
In Home Dog Training - How to Train Your Dog at Home

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

How to Train your Puppy to go Outside

Attach a leash if you want your puppy to go outside. If you are not in control of your dog you can't control the enviroment.

Below we will discuss how to teach your puppy how to potty outside
  1. Put a couple of your puppies favourite treats in your hand.
  2. Put a cue on the outdoor training - use a verbal command - but use the same command every-time - something like "lets go potty" or "wanna go outside."
  3. When you are outside watch your puppy for signs that he is about to potty - he may paw at the ground, start sniffing or actauly assume the potty position.
  4. As soon as he starts to go - say something like "go potty" or "do your business" - it doesn't matter but use the same cue every-time.
  5. When he has done his potty - really praise him - but make a really big deal of it.
Remember that your puppy may go twice. In fact it is very common for your puppy to go twice in a row. So don't wait for your puppy to potty and then bring him straight inside as he is likely to go again in his crate.

Always give your puppy an alotted amount of time - if you want him to go in 5 minutes then only give him 5 minutes. However, be consistent - don't give him 20 minutes on a Sunday and then expect him to go in 5 minutes on a Monday.

Secrets to Dog Training is an extremely comprehensive guide, written by the world renowned dog professional, Daniel Stevens. Although the 261-page manual is impressively detailed, its step-by-step format provides dog owners with straight-forward instructions on how to quickly identify and solve their dog behavior problems. It also has lots of great pictures! Secrets to Dog Training has been used by over 64,000 dog owners all over the world, and has been the best selling dog training system for the past four years in a row.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Get Your Dog Walk And Behave Nicely

Do you ever feel like you know just enough about dog training techniques to be dangerous? Let's see if we can fill in some of the gaps with the latest info from dog training techniques experts.

If you find yourself confused by what you've read to this point, don't despair. Everything should be crystal clear by the time you finish.

Are you ready to do some dog training with your precious four legged friend? If you are still not sure about this, read on. Is your dog pulling on the leash...consistently? Do you feel uneasy when you are walking your dog and you run into an aquaintance? Do you have to pull or drag or hold back your dog? Do you have two dogs that pull on the leash? I walk three of my dogs at once. It was not always easy. Would you really like to fix your dog's behavior problems? Do you daydream of your dog being well behaved? Do you just want a happy, healthy, well mannered dog?

If you decide today to work with you dog, you will be able to enjoy a peaceful and fun holiday season with your dog or dogs. No more yelling or locking your dog in the bedroom. Or, locking him outside and having to listen to the whining and crying. Let your dog be part of the festivities, trained and well behaved. If you start today you will not need to worry about your dog jumping up and welcoming your guests. Your dog will be an appreciated and welcome part of your family.
Or, would you like to be able to take your dog for a nice walk to check out the leaves and the beautiful color of fall? We all want to include our dogs in the many activities of fall and winter, but a lot of people cannot enjoy doing this because of their dog's bad behavior. Remember, a well trained dog is a safe dog, and a pleasure to have around.

So now you know a little bit about dog training techniques. Even if you don't know everything, you've done something worthwhile: you've expanded your knowledge.

Effective Dog Training Techniques to Stop Dog Behavior Problems

Though there are several techniques to train a dog, all of them can be categorized by the way they address behavioral issues. Thus, there are two main categories:
  • Techniques based on learning theories
  • Techniques based on canine ethology
The former category focuses on behavior modification, usually disregarding typical and natural behavior of dogs. The latter one focuses on natural dog behavior and often ignores current learning theories.

Dog training techniques based on learning theories

This category comprises techniques that use positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment as main ways to educate dogs. Since those techniques are very different among each other, they are better organized under three subcategories: traditional dog training, positive training and mixed techniques.

1. Traditional dog training

Traditional dog training was developed to train war dogs and it was successfully used during World War I and World War II. After World War II, this technique gained enormous popularity because of a lot of stories about heroic dogs.

Negative reinforcement and punishment are the main teaching ways of traditional training. Thus, this technique works by physically forcing the dogs to perform a desired behavior, until dogs learn that behavior.

Choke chains, prong collars and shock (electric) collars are common tools in traditional training and all its variants. Also, this kind of training is usually targeted to dog obedience exercises, disregarding behavioral problems.
The main advantage of traditional dog training is the high reliability of the trained behaviors. On the other hand, main disadvantages are potentially dangerous collateral effects, such as fear biting and damages to the dog's trachea.

2. Positive dog training

Positive training was developed under the principles of Skinner's operant conditioning. While it's not a new technique, it did not get enough attention until the nineties, when Karen Pryor's book "Don't shoot the dog" became a bestseller.

Choke chains, prong collars and shock (electric) collars are not needed in positive training. In addition, training sessions tend to be very fun for dogs as well as for trainers.

Positive reinforcement is the main teaching way of these techniques. Thus, this kind of training is also known as reward-based training, though rewards are not the same as positive reinforcement.

Clicker training could be the most popular of positive training techniques at these days.
  • Main advantages of positive dog training are:
  • Highly reliable trained behaviors.
  • No need to physically force your dog.
  • Positive training is fast, fun and simple.
Ironically, the main disadvantage of positive training arises from its simplicity. Many novice trainers get so amazed with how easy and fast is to teach a new behavior that they forget to work on reliability and fluency of those behaviors. Thus, their "finished product" is a half-trained dog.

3. Mixed training techniques
Mixed techniques use both positive and negative reinforcement. Therefore, these techniques are friendlier than traditional training, but not as much as positive training.
Mixed dog training techniques are widely used in tough sports such as Schutzhund, Belgian Ring, Mondioring, etc.

Although trainers who use mixed approaches also use positive reinforcement, they usually avoid using food as a reinforcer. When they have to use a positive reinforcer, they tend to prefer games over food.

Dog training techniques based on canine ethology

Techniques based on canine ethology take into account those behaviors that are natural in dogs, but usually ignore the principles of learning theories. These techniques are also known as "dog whispering".

The fundamental premise of these techniques is that the owner should become the leader of the pack. Thus, the owner will achieve the higher hierarchy in the pack: the alpha dog status.
While these techniques are very popular, their actual efficacy is questionable. Besides, there's no clear standard for these techniques, so the procedures used by one trainer could be very different from those used by another trainer.

Many trainers don't accept that these are actual training techniques. In addition, several of its practitioners don't consider themselves as dog trainers. Instead, they claim they are people who can communicate with dogs by a deep understanding of dog behavior and proper body language.

When word gets around about your command of dog training techniques facts, others who need to know about dog training techniques will start to actively seek you out.

For more dog training techniques, go to Dog Obedience Training.