Dog Training: Important Dog Training Methods
Dog Training: Dog Collars & dog leash and harnesses
What dog collar to use in dog training is perhaps the most controversial subject in the dog training world. There is a variety to choose from and one thing to be assured of is that whichever dog collar is selected for use preferences with differ between dog owners. There are flat collars such as fancy dog collars, embroidered dog collars, and these flat dog collars come in many different variations and prices, and there are dog choke collars made from leather, nylon, or chain. Finally, there is the pinch dog collar, also known as the prong dog collar or spiked dog collar. At first glance, it might seem that the most humane collar to use is the flat fancy dog collar or one of the light choke dog collars.
These look the least threatening and appear to be the most comfortable and when especially combined with the fancy dog collar and the very effective dog harness. However, if you really wanted to hurt a dog (not on purpose of course!), the thinner the choke dog collar, the more damage to his throat and neck you could inflict. Also, with a choke dog collar the dog has an instinctive reflex at his disposal to deal with the sensation of something tightening a grip around his neck. He may misinterpret the correction on the choke dog collar as a stranglehold and unnecessarily become rebellious or afraid. So things are not always what they seem.
For example, what kind of knife would a patient want his surgeon to operate with, a dull jackknife or a razor-sharp scalpel? Obviously the latter, even though its edge can send a shiver through us. While many dog handlers start every dog on a flat dog collar, it is only the first step on the rung of the dog training ladder. The next rung up is a choke dog collar and finally then to work up to the pinch collar. Remember, we're not using the collar as an instrument of punishment or correction; its function is to shock an inappropriate instinct and then arouse or stimulate an appropriate instinct. When the dog learns to be positively motivated by a light tug on a flat dog collar and then a stronger tug on the choke dog collar, he can be introduced to a light jerk on the pinch dog collar.
Training a dog with a pinch dog collar is consistent with the way a surgeon uses his scalpel. The doctor wants to cut out the tumor or damaged tissue and by doing so he arouses the patient's healing powers. While the pinch dog collar may seem to be a menacing implement, when used properly it is very "clean" and therapeutic.
Finally, when a dog is shocked by the pinch dog collar in the correct manner he is aroused by the novelty of the sensation. It is a feeling he has never felt before, nor is there an instinct evolved to deal with it. It is a brand-new moment and the dog handler is free to train the dog how to deal with it.
Dog Training: Types of dog Leash and harnesses
For proper training with leads, you will need three kinds. One is six foot long and is for training the dog in close on his obedience work. Many prefer a light but high quality leather lead for its comfort and also because it won't get twisted. Nevertheless, the features of the lead are irrelevant to the dog and his ability to learn. Also, you will need a variety of long leads for when you work the dog at a distance. You may like to use a fifty-foot nylon lead as it isn't going to rot when exposed to harsh elements. Finally, a tab lead is, as it suggests, a short length of rope or leather just long enough to dangle over the collar and be easy to grab. The dog can run freely with this lead without being able to trip himself.
Dog Training: Timing Is Essential
Good timing is critical to success of a dog training regime and it is the timing of the dog training that influences the dog owners participation and influence on the enthusiasm of the dog training outcomes. When we wait and then react to a dog's behavior, we are always going to be behind the eight ball. On the other hand. influencing a dog's emotional process before he acts is an incredibly efficient manner in which to train him. When timing is correct nervousness is inhibited and drive is reinforced.
Also, since we're affecting the internal emotional process, the dog in effect "chooses" to be calm rather than being forced to be under control. A dog so trained will be mannerly or mindful of domestic restraints even when his handler isn't near.
The key to proper timing is not quickness, although that is a valuable asset. Rather, the key is anticipation. The dog handler should always be thinking ahead and anticipating what the dog might do next. It is a skill easily acquired if one becomes disciplined enough to pay constant attention to the dog. Without good timing, dog training degenerates into a question of strength.
By being relentlessly focused on the dog, the dog handler will start to sense the dog's rhythm of actions and be able to anticipate what the dog is about to do. Then, before the dog acts, the handler can already be in gear taking steps to predetermine what the dog will do next. The dog will be choosing to obey; however, since we're controlling his instinctive emotional process, there won't really be any choice involved.
For example, if you are training a dog to heel you should watch his head very closely. When you sense he is about to shift his attention away from you then make a shock on the dog collar and begin to praise the dog at the same time. Additionally, pick up your pace, and to complete the process, throw a ball for him to chase or give him a food treat.
In this sequence of events, I'm not correcting the dog for being disobedient, I'm shocking the nervousness that I feel is about to influence the dog's behavior and disrupt his focus on me. The praise, food, and the ball then serve to convert the shock to stimulation. Since I'm the source of the excitement, the dog's calm focus on me from which he was about to stray is renewed and reinforced.
I like to emphasize the point about timing with the following analogy. Suppose you were a therapist assigned to help a heavy drinker recover from alcoholism. When would be the best time to influence this person's pattern of behavior - before, or after he decided to gulp down a drink? The very same question is before the dog trainer: Is it best to react to a dog's behavior or is it better to take the initiative and ensure that the dog always performs appropriately? Why wait for a negative behavior to express itself?
Dog Training: Appreciating the Experience of Training Your Dog
Most people think of basic obedience training for dogs as a series of commands that the dog, reluctantly, learns to execute. On one level, this is accurate. However, before we begin the mechanics of teaching specific commands, let us look for a moment beyond training as the dog learning a series of orders. Underneath it all, the very important lesson your dog is learning is that he must do what you tell him to, where you tell him to do it, when you tell him to do it, and as long as you say he should do it.
Many dogs are trained in the sense that they will respond mechanically to certain words but they have not gotten this all-important message. Without the message, dog training can resemble a series of tricks that the dog performs. With the message, the dog works. He knows more than just what position to assume with his physical form when he hears a command. He understands your position as alpha dog. He enjoys his role as educated dog. His appearance is intelligent and alert.
We train our dogs to that deeper level where they work with grace, where one command can flow into the next with ease and understanding. If you think education is expensive, you're right. It will cost you time. But the results will be worth it because you will have much more than an obedient dog.
Dog Training: Putting the “Come” Command into Practice
Try to combine the command “Come” to your daily practice with your puppy. Make sure he sits in front of you before you praise him. This will prevent him from sideswiping you when you call him. You know the routine. You call your dog. He races at you full tilt. Just as you reach out for him, he swerves and departs.
If you call your dog and he doesn't come, go and find him, snap on his lead, then say “Come” in as pleasant a voice as you can muster, and back up, the dog following along to the very place you were standing when you first said the command.
This translates to the dog as “When I call you to come, you come to where I am.” Your dog will get it. He understands that when you call him he must go to you and not deviate to the side or away from you.
Dog Training: Do Dogs Learn By Trial And Error?
The belief that dogs learn by trial and error presumes they have a mental ability to link elements together through their experiences that gives logic to their behavior. Dogs are presumed to explore one way to approach a situation and then record the consequence as to whether they were successful or not.
Then it is assumed that in a similar situation they can recall their experience and opt for a different approach if they're looking for a higher dividend. This theory presupposes that dogs, like humans, have the ability to deduce and make choices and that they can project into the future to predict a possible outcome based on a previous experience.
Dogs perceive through their prey instinct. A dog can only respond to stimuli that are of relevance to this instinct. Therefore, problem solving for him has to do with ascertaining whether something is pertinent to this means of perceiving and experiencing. This basic information is what dogs are after when they smell.
There is so much in man's world that dogs have to deal with that is not at all straightforward in terms of the prey instinct. Trying to come to terms emotionally with these and tie them together into a unified order is the main scope of the dog's learning process in our world. The stronger the attraction, the more direct the dog's response is going to be, and the more relevant his response to the problem in question.
When we see a dog trying several different approaches before taking a successful one or giving up altogether, it isn't that he's practicing. In his first impressions of a situation, he perceives several variables that aren't connected, and this dilutes his ability to solve the problem. If the drive gets high enough, the variables merge into one coherent entity, an order, and a reflex relevant to the prey instinct will become available to him so that he can persist.
By contrast, a dog that fails is exhibiting low drive in that moment, not being able to perceive an avenue of access. Instead of having one problem to solve, he has many problems to deal with; the variables never get tied together into one order. He tries, and then he stops, and then starts over again without making any real progress because he's faced with a new problem on each attempt. Each time his emotional reserves are drained lower.
The dog is being informed through his nervous system whether he's on the right track or not. He reacts based on that immediate sensation and his actions are very often effective simply because he's responding to the way nature is organized, his instinctive reflexes mirroring this same organization. On the other hand, if the situation is completely foreign and irrelevant to the prey instinct, no amount of practice will allow the dog to benefit from his experiences.
Dog Training: Basic Puppy Etiquette: Continuing Mother's Training
The term “etiquette” refers to an acceptable mode of social behavior and these social skills are similar to the social manners that will be reinforced to your children at home and at kindergarden. Unlike commands, which are executed only on order, manners color behavior at all times. Unless you and your dog still live in a cave, he will need some manners. Naturally, your pup's mother began this phase of his education, dog training is not about teaching him to play gently, to wait his turn, to hold still for his bath, to greet her with deference, to stay close to home, etc.
Now you will continue her good work, housebreaking your pup, helping him to accept your absences, teaching him to walk on a dog leash, respect your privacy, and behave like a gentleman - not a wild animal. Two aspects of your dog's nature make it possible for you to teach him manners and train him to obey commands. First, he is a pack animal. His pack instincts allow him to respect and revere a strong, clear leader. In fact, his mother gave him a wonderful model for how an alpha dog should conduct herself - with supreme confidence, with courage, with fairness, with intelligence, with final authority, with affection.
The second aspect of your dog's nature that makes him a near perfect pet is that he is a den animal with an instinct to keep his sleeping quarters clean. It is this instinct that will allow you to rapidly housebreak your pup. And housebreaking is the natural place to begin his lessons in etiquette.
Dog Training: Dogs Do Not Learn By Dominance and Submission
Many people believe that dogs learn by dominance and/or submission. This is an interesting theory that appeals to our sense of logic and the way nature appears to be ordered from the point of view of the human ego. Supposedly, dogs can learn to respect another individual through dominance. This presupposes that they can perceive another being's point of view. Humans can indeed entertain others' points of view, yet we know that no one learns to work effectively through the dominance/submissive model and in the real world dominance and submission can become a distinct disadvantage in the workplace as decision-making can become an impossible task because of fear of retribution from the higher positioned managers.
No matter how much employees respect their boss or how submissive they may act around him, they expect to be paid fairly. Not enough pay and the attraction can turn to resentment and a poor working attitude. Since humans reject and resist such an approach whenever they experience it, how can we expect the dog, with his more limited view, to work on this basis?
Not only does dominating a dog make him resistant to cooperation, but dominance has nothing to do with the smooth operation of wolf society. While it may appear that the leader is the most dominant in a pack of wolves, and that the inferiors have a profound respect for this "alpha" wolf because he is so dominant, that is a surface misreading of their lives.
Supposedly, this dominant individual teaches the other members of the pack what their lesser stations are, bringing order and stability into the group. However, the reason this individual is superior is because, within the group mood, he is endowed with the most uninhibited temperament and perceives order when the others sense disorder.
This produces an emotional balance, a self-confidence level that makes him active and direct in his behavior when the others are reactive and indirect. This confidence is then broadcast through his body language and probably through an internal chemistry revealed when he eliminates.
Given the pack leader's internal balance, he will experience the least amount of stress when passing on to less familiar ground, as negatives are smaller in his sense of order. In addition, the pack leader will feel the strongest compulsion to be first on any path that leads outward to the hunt as he acts in the most straightforward manner.
The inferiors will depend on the pack leader's enthusiasm to draw them across a threshold that may have a stronger inhibiting effect on them. An individual doesn't become superior by being dominant; the leader, to feel complete, needs the group behind him. Only by guiding the hunt does one becomes a leader.
Dog Training: Is It Possible To Train Your Puppy Off-Leash? (Part 1)
It can be quite difficult to teach your puppy off-leash. It takes more concentration on the part of both you and your puppy. However, it is also one hundred times more rewarding than on-leash work, the work on which it is based. Because it is more fun and more rewarding does not mean you can skip on-leash work and go straight to off-leash work. That would be like building a house without a foundation. You must have excellent on-leash obedience before proceeding to off-leash work at all.
In addition to all this, the principle behind dog training off-leash work is somewhat different. In on-leash work, you want to push the dog, gradually, unpredictably, to see how well he'll work and to use his breaking as a way to show him that he must work longer, concentrate better and obey. His breaking and being put back on command is an important part of how and why he learns.
In off-leash dog training work, the opposite is true, and this holds for puppies as well as for dogs. In off-leash work, you want to ease the dog slowly into doing exactly the right thing for longer periods of time. By rushing ahead, even slowly, so that the dog cannot deliver the off-leash dog training skill you want, he learns he can get up and walk away. After all, there is no leash to stop him. You must convince your dog that you have the ultimate power to correct and control even without the leash. In order to do this, you must work very slowly. You must be patient. You must concentrate and work only until the point before which the dog will break.
Taking the leash off your dog outdoors is always a high risk activity. When your dog is fully matured and fully trained, under certain circumstances, you may wish to take this calculated risk in order to let him play in the park or perhaps even heel smartly down the street, right at your side.
Under no circumstances will you want to take any kind of chance with your precious puppy. He is too immature to be able to concentrate reliably. He is too easily distracted by things that look appealing enough to chase. He is even apt to get spooked by a loud noise he's never heard before. He might even experience a surprising surge of assertiveness and take off just to see what you'll do and in the meantime not realize the danger that is lurking directly off the sidewalk. Until all these issues are resolved by maturity and advanced training, your prime concern is your dog's safety.
In order to improve your puppy's dog training session, to have fun with him and to give him more of the excellent grounding he needs to do safe, reliable off-leash work outdoors, you are going to do “fake” off-leash work with him indoors and even outdoors in a completely safe location. The work is fake because even when the puppy is off leash, he is still contained by walls or fences. But the puppy is very gullible. He won't really know that he's not capable of being trusted where he might get harmed. He will not only enjoy learning to work off-leash, he will feel incredibly proud of himself.
Dog Training: Is It Possible To Train Your Puppy Off-Leash? (Part 2)
The best way to train your puppy to work off-leash is to do it in a safe location. You are giving him practice at being a grown up while protecting him as the vulnerable baby he is. Within the safety and quiet of your own living room and with your puppy's dog collar on but no leash, ask your puppy to “Sit” and then, using the hand signal, tell him to “Stay.” Now step back and wait no more than one minute. Bend down, extend your arms to the side and warmly call your puppy into them. Praise. Your little puppy has just worked off leash!
After you play with your puppy for a minute or so, ask him to “Sit” again. This time, pat the floor and say “Down.” When he lies down, tell him “Good dog-Stay” using a pleasant tone. Back up just a few feet and wait. After two minutes, bend, extend your arms and call him to you. Pet and Praise the dog. End your first off-leash lesson by playing his favorite game.
This sort of low key, safe, gentle off-leash training can be done with puppies under five months of age. You will begin the puppy with his grounding of basic commands on dog leash and harness, and, as you are going forward with his on-leash outdoor work, you can begin his off-leash indoor work on top of your outdoor sessions. Here is a sample lesson:
Put a dog leash and a fancy dog collar on your puppy and take him out for a walk. Let him pull, sniff, and relieve himself. Praise. Put him in heel position, sitting straight at your left side. Tell him to heel and practice heeling with the automatic sit for ten minutes. Now, on a quiet side street, practice the sit stay, the come and sit front, and the stand stay. If your puppy is good at the down stay indoors, try a short one outdoors. Continue with the Heel Training methods for another five minutes. Say “Ok, good dog” and let him sniff, pull and maybe relieve himself again. Now you can take your puppy home.
When you get indoors, don't take off his fancy dog collar and dog leash and dog harness just yet. First, put him on a sit stay. While he's staying, unsnap the leash and remind him once more to “Stay.” Back up and wait a minute. Release him with an “Ok.” Crouch and extend your arms and hug and praise him. Now walk your puppy to another spot or another room and try a down stay. This time you can work him for two minutes. If he should break, take him back to the spot by holding his collar, repeat “Down-stay” and leave him. Then break him and praise. Never break him because he is starting to break anyway. He will know that you did that and your training program will be badly harmed. That is not what is meant by working until just before he breaks.
Working until before he breaks means that you are watching and aware. It means that you can, as time goes by, see the difference between faking and genuine loss of the ability to concentrate and work. Then you will do one last fun game and quit for the day. But any dog can do a two or three-minute down stay. So if you quickly mutter “Ok” as your dog starts to pop up from the down or lift his rump when he's supposed to be on a sit stay, you are fooling no one, least of all your dog. Unfortunately, he'll be the one to eventually pay for your mistake. His training will not be reliable if you "cheat" so that he "looks good." And then when you need the training to be absolutely reliable so that you can use it to save your dog's life, it won't be there, so do not cheat.
Dog Training: Training Your Dog Off-Leash (Part 1)
When training your dog off-leash, remain in a protected area for at least the first month of the initial dog training. Continue to work on all previous commands and all new safety commands with the regular leash, the drop line, the tab, alternating in no particular pattern. As you work, test your safety devices off leash with the fence bolted. Try the “Drop” on recall, the emergency down, the serious “Come,” “No,” and “Wait.” However, do not work your dog to death or make him into a game.
You can begin to dog train your dog in the park. Use both the short and long lines so that when you take the drop line off, the dog is still wearing something. After he is working well on drop line, take it off and remind him immediately to heel. If he lags or moves out to the side, make a sharp correction with the tab and then praise him. Work only for a few minutes so that at the time you quit he is still working well. Do not push him into errors. Instead, build the time he will stay with you and obey you smartly without his leash and in this exciting, new environment.
When you are really confident and you are sure that your dog is sharp and obedient on all the safety commands, begin to try “Stays” and “Comes” from a distance in the park, first with the long line dragging and then with just the tab. If he is attentive and obedient now, you may begin to work him on the street.
When you first work your dog on the street with a drop line, work when the street in your area is least crowded and when traffic is lightest. First, there's the problem of distractions, which you do not need at this most difficult stage of training. Second, there's the mechanical problem of people stepping on your dropped long line, unintentionally giving your good dog a correction.
In order to fully concentrate and so that your dog can do the same, keep your first street lesson very short and work when no one is around. Of course, your drop line is dragging so that if your dog tries to run off, he will not be harmed. You will simply step hard onto the dog leash.
Plan at least a month for each new stage of training to make sure your dog behaves reliably even on his bad days. After a month of work in the park and a month of drop-line work on the street, you should be ready, if that is what you choose to do, to try working on the street with only the tab.
Dog Training: Training Your Dog Off-Leash (Part 2)
After months and months of training your dog off-leash in a fenced area, in the park, with the dropped long line, and with the tab, you have now mastered your dog and his behavior. He is well trained, better than most dogs you have ever seen. Now, after a run or a hike and after some good obedience work in the park, you are now ready to take your dog to a familiar, quiet street. Start with a heel exercise while holding onto the leash tab. Drop the tab and heel him for half a block. Before you get near the corner, stop, have him sit, then praise him.
Pick up the tab and heel him home. Build his confidence with each dog training session. You may never want to work your dog on busy city streets off leash, but by now when you run your dog in the park, you are sure he will come back when you call him. In addition, if you love the idea of taking a quiet stroll with your off-leash dog on a busy city street, you are well on your way toward that goal. You have to keep working with the tab on your dog's collar and your full attention on him. Soon, this kind of practice and pleasure will become second nature to both of you.
Below are some final points to keep in mind about training your dog off-leash.
1. Your dog does not have to be off leash every minute of an off-leash walk. If you meet a friend, see a great store window or find some other tempting distraction, snap the leash on your dog until you can once more give him your full attention.
2. Always keep a dog leash and harness with you, even when you plan to keep it off the dog, just in case.
3. Once in a while, remind your dog that you are the leader of the pack. The best nonviolent way to do this is with the long “Down” (one-half hour). This is problem prevention at its finest.
4. Never expect great concentration from your dog when he is all pent up and needing exercise. Always give him a good run before off-leash street work.
5. Be sure you don't get lost on one aspect of dog ownership, training, showing, control. Remember that your dog has a wide range of needs.
6. Even as your dog gets older, give him reminders of you being the leader and reviews of his training. If he doesn't use it, he'll lose it.
7. Keep the love and high spirits in your relationship with your dog. When seeking fine control, don't forget to play some games and have some laughs.
8. When training and behavior starts to look messy, don't be afraid to go back to square one and tighten everything up again, on leash.
9. Don't forget the larger goals: good communication, mutual admiration and understanding, good times, and respect.
Dog Training: Using a Drop Line and a Short Line in Off-Leash Training
Begin the work of teaching your dog to be as reliable off leash as he is when he's wearing one. Keep in mind that it will go slowly. Nothing flashy will happen right away. You'll have to be very patient. Do not take your dog off leash in an unprotected area unless both of you can truly handle that responsibility successfully.
You will need two tools for this stage of training; a drop line and a short line or leash tab. A drop line is a long leash - 10,12, 15 or 20 feet long. The cotton canvas ones are usually cheap and relatively easy to work with. You will train the dog in a protected area just as you did when he was a puppy, first laying the dog leash across your palm and then dropping it to the ground as you heel along. Since the drop line is so much longer than the regular dog leash, it may take your dog some time to get used to it dragging behind him. He may walk bowlegged or sideways at first. Let him work it out.
As you train, alternate between the drop line, the regular leash and the short line or tab. This is a piece of equipment you may have to make yourself. Many dog owners use leather key chains made to be worn on belts and merely eliminated the ring. Others made small leashes from old leashes or broken ones, cutting them down to a comfortable size.
The tab is a little leash, just big enough for your hand to grasp. It dangles from the dog collar. Its weight is a small reminder to the dog of your control and presence in his life, even when he is "off leash." It is one of the best training tools ever and your dog should wear his most of the time (at least for now).
The short line or tab allows you to make a professional feeling of correction even though your dog is not on leash. The feel of the tab hanging from his dog collar can remind him that even though he is free, you can still make corrections. Therefore, even when he is far away, the tab will remind him to come when called.
For now, we want to confuse your well-trained dog a little. By alternating leashes and by sometimes using more than one at a lime, we will confound the dog. He will cease to know when he's on leash and when he's off. In addition, he will be unable to know which kind of a correction you can deliver and from what distance. He may just give up and behave.
Sometimes you will hang the tab on his collar and add his long line. Then after a warm-up, you will remove the long line and carry on with the dog training. The dog will not remember if the tab is on his collar or if he's totally free. If he makes a mistake and you can make a good correction with the tab, he'll know you are all powerful. Even an assertive dog can be dazzled by the two-leash method.
Dog Training: Putting the “Come” Command into Practice
Try to combine the command “Come” to your daily practice with your puppy. Make sure he sits in front of you before you praise him. This will prevent him from sideswiping you when you call him. You know the routine. You call your dog. He races at you full tilt. Just as you reach out for him, he swerves and departs.
If you call your dog and he doesn't come, go and find him, snap on his lead, then say “Come” in as pleasant a voice as you can muster, and back up, the dog following along to the very place you were standing when you first said the command.
This translates to the dog as “When I call you to come, you come to where I am.” Your dog will get it. He understands that when you call him he must go to you.
Dog Training: Do Dogs Learn By Trial And Error?
The belief that dogs learn by trial and error presumes they have a mental ability to link elements together through their experiences that gives logic to their behavior. Dogs are presumed to explore one way to approach a situation and then record the consequence as to whether they were successful or not.
Then it is assumed that in a similar situation they can recall their experience and opt for a different approach if they're looking for a higher dividend. This theory presupposes that dogs, like humans, have the ability to deduce and make choices and that they can project into the future to predict a possible outcome based on a previous experience.
Dogs perceive through their prey instinct. A dog can only respond to stimuli that are of relevance to this instinct. Therefore, problem solving for him has to do with ascertaining whether something is pertinent to this means of perceiving and experiencing. This basic information is what dogs are after when they smell.
There is so much in man's world that dogs have to deal with that is not at all straightforward in terms of the prey instinct. Trying to come to terms emotionally with these and tie them together into a unified order is the main scope of the dog's learning process in our world. The stronger the attraction, the more direct the dog's response is going to be, and the more relevant his response to the problem in question.
When we see a dog trying several different approaches before taking a successful one or giving up altogether, it isn't that he's practicing. In his first impressions of a situation, he perceives several variables that aren't connected, and this dilutes his ability to solve the problem. If the drive gets high enough, the variables merge into one coherent entity, an order, and a reflex relevant to the prey instinct will become available to him so that he can persist.
By contrast, a dog that fails is exhibiting low drive in that moment, not being able to perceive an avenue of access. Instead of having one problem to solve, he has many problems to deal with; the variables never get tied together into one order. He tries, and then he stops, and then starts over again without making any real progress because he's faced with a new problem on each attempt. Each time his emotional reserves are drained lower.
The dog is being informed through his nervous system whether he's on the right track or not. He reacts based on that immediate sensation and his actions are very often effective simply because he's responding to the way nature is organized, his instinctive reflexes mirroring this same organization. On the other hand, if the situation is completely foreign and irrelevant to the prey instinct, no amount of practice will allow the dog to benefit from his experiences.
Dog Training: Teaching Your Dog to Come When Being Called
One of the greatest joys of owning a dog is to be able to go for a walk in the park and let him run, knowing he will come when you call. Dogs that do not come when called are prisoners of the dog leash and, if loose, a danger to themselves and others. If your dog does not come when called, you don't have a reliable dog. Below are five tips to help you teach this command to your pet:
1. Exercise. Many dogs do not come when called because they do not get enough physical exercise. When they do get the chance, they run off and make the most of it by staying out for hours at a time. Every morning your dog wakes up with plenty of energy and the need to exercise. If that energy is not used up, it will transform itself into other behaviors, the most common of which are barking, chewing, digging, and running away or not coming when called. Consider what your dog was bred to do, and that will tell you how much exercise is needed. A few turns around the backyard is not enough. You will need to participate. Also keep in mind that taking the dog for a daily walk or jog is as good for you as it is for him!
2. Be nice to your dog whenever he comes to you. One of the quickest ways to teach your dog not to come to you is to call him and then when he comes, punish or do something he perceives as unpleasant. Many dogs consider being given a bath unpleasant. When he needs one, go get him instead of calling him to you. Another example of unintentionally teaching your dog not to come is to go for a run in the park and call him to you when it's time to go home. Repeating this sequence several times teaches the dog that fun is over! Soon, he may become reluctant to return to you when called because he is not yet ready to end the fun. You can prevent this kind of unintentional training by calling him to you several times during the outing, sometimes giving him a treat, sometimes just a pat on the head, and then letting her play again.
3. Teach your dog to come when called as soon as you bring him home, no matter how young he is. Ideally, you acquired your pet as a puppy, which is the best time to teach him to come when called. Start right away. But remember, sometime between the fourth and eighth months of age, your puppy will begin to realize that there is a big world out there. While going through this stage, it is best to keep him on leash so that he does not learn to ignore you when you call.
4. When in doubt, keep your dog on the dog leash. Learn to anticipate when he is likely not to come. You may be tempting fate trying to call once he has spotted a cat, another dog or a jogger. Of course, there will be times when you make a mistake and let him go just as another dog appears out of nowhere. Resist the urge to say “Come” over and over again. The more often you holler "Come," the quicker he learns to ignore you when off leash. Instead, patiently go and put him on leash. Do not get angry once you have caught him or he will become afraid of you. He will then run away when you try to catch him the next time.
5. Make sure that your dog always comes to you and lets you touch the collar before you reward with a praise or a treat. Touching the collar prevents the dog from developing the annoying habit of playing "Catch" which means coming toward you and then dancing around you, just out of reach.
Dog Training: How to Instil Calmness in Your Dog
Calmness means the appropriate response in any given situation. It is a quality we must completely understand in order to properly train our dogs.
A dog gains calmness by focusing on an objective and then attaining it through action. He can't think his way to calmness nor can he learn it through the example of another. A dog learns to be calm by doing. If a dog's action leads him to fulfilment, patience becomes a learned skill. And if a dog gets enough practice in a variety of endeavors, he can develop an overall character trait of calmness.
The biggest mistake is made by attempting to calm a dog by trying to train him to be still. Whether the owner yells, pleads, nags, grabs the dog in some way, or stares, he is only going to make the dog nervous.
The most effective way to train a dog to be patient and focused is through the most active of his instincts: the prey instinct. Calmness and patience in the face of denial are built into the prey instinct. Through the prey instinct the dog can learn that a condition of denial is not only temporary but is positive, as it is a predictor of eventual success.
Dog Training: Just Going Out For a Walk with Your Dog
Having a dog that knows how to Heel demonstrates control and is useful under situations where he needs to stay close to you and pay attention to you. But for many of us, the main reason we take our dogs for a walk is for daily exercise where it does not really matter what he does, so long as he does not pull. Usually the dogs are somewhere ahead of us, checking out who has been there and just sort of following their noses.
For this type of a walk, it makes little sense to have him do a Heel since his main enjoyment is to use his nose and all you want is no pulling. The following is a simple, yet effective way to teach him to remain within the length of your leash without pulling:
Start the walk with "Let's go," and as soon as he gets to the end of the leash and starts to pull, stop and say "Easy." His reaction will be to turn toward you and come back a few steps. Start walking again with "Let's go," and when you begin to feel tension on the leash, stop with "Easy."
You may have to repeat this sequence a few times over the course of several sessions. If you do it consistently, he will quickly learn that pulling causes you to stop, which in turn will stop him from pulling.
Dog Training: Does a Dog Learn Through Many Repetitions of a Training Activity?
At a quick glance, it seems that a dog takes many repetitions to grasp a lesson. According to “dogma”, a dog has to practice a behavior many times until the lesson seeps into his limited mind. Then, once a lesson is mastered, it becomes so ingrained in the dog's brain that it becomes a regular habit. That dogs require repetition to learn from an experience and this repetition through the dog training sessions must be practiced with commitment, compassion and in repetitive cycles to reinforce the dog training techniques, this is particularly noticeable when we are trying to train the dog to do something that isn't natural for him, such as walking nicely on a lead in an area full of interesting sights, sounds, and smells. It would seem that this exercise is difficult for a dog to learn and would require many practice sessions for it to become a reliable habit.
Therefore, traditional thinking holds that it's best to start practicing the dog training lessons with puppies before they might have the opportunity to practice the undesirable habit of pulling hard on the lead and also while they're small and easy to out-muscle.
A clue that repetition, while part of learning, isn't fundamental to learning is revealed by other observations that people commonly make that contradict this traditional premise. For example, we don't think of ball playing as something mastered through repetition. It looks like the dog is having fun, and that seems a sufficient explanation. The first time the owner attracted his dog's attention to the ball and rolled it away, the dog immediately chased it, grabbed it, and then carried it around proudly. The lesson took one repetition and had a permanent effect for the rest of the dog's life.
This pure example of learning shows us the formula at the core of the process. If an activity is natural, the dog gets it immediately without the need for repetition. And, since the most natural activities involve the prey instinct, we find the best examples of quick learning in this regard. In ball playing, what determines each individual dog's enthusiasm and rate of progress is how much prey value he invests in the ball. That some dogs may take longer to build an attraction to the ball is not due to a need for repetition, but because the prey instinct isn't yet turned on. Through repetition, as the dog grabs the ball, his sensitivity to its novelty or his dog owner's influence starts to relax until drive starts to flow into prey making. Once uninhibited, the ball no longer has a being to which the dog needs to appeal for access, which initially thwarted his drive to chase and bite it.
A habit is like a riverbed: The stronger the flow that courses through it, the deeper the bed is carved, and the more water it will be able to channel. When the full current rushes through the organism, a completely mature behavior emerges as if learned. In truth, the dog training lesson was gained in the first instant of making contact through the prey instinct, no matter how feeble the first trickle. It just took time for the pathway to be scoured deeply enough in the dog's brain and body to handle the full load of drive.
To Your Success
Desmo Boss
DogsHelperStore
Dog Training: Dog Collars & dog leash and harnesses
What dog collar to use in dog training is perhaps the most controversial subject in the dog training world. There is a variety to choose from and one thing to be assured of is that whichever dog collar is selected for use preferences with differ between dog owners. There are flat collars such as fancy dog collars, embroidered dog collars, and these flat dog collars come in many different variations and prices, and there are dog choke collars made from leather, nylon, or chain. Finally, there is the pinch dog collar, also known as the prong dog collar or spiked dog collar. At first glance, it might seem that the most humane collar to use is the flat fancy dog collar or one of the light choke dog collars.
These look the least threatening and appear to be the most comfortable and when especially combined with the fancy dog collar and the very effective dog harness. However, if you really wanted to hurt a dog (not on purpose of course!), the thinner the choke dog collar, the more damage to his throat and neck you could inflict. Also, with a choke dog collar the dog has an instinctive reflex at his disposal to deal with the sensation of something tightening a grip around his neck. He may misinterpret the correction on the choke dog collar as a stranglehold and unnecessarily become rebellious or afraid. So things are not always what they seem.
For example, what kind of knife would a patient want his surgeon to operate with, a dull jackknife or a razor-sharp scalpel? Obviously the latter, even though its edge can send a shiver through us. While many dog handlers start every dog on a flat dog collar, it is only the first step on the rung of the dog training ladder. The next rung up is a choke dog collar and finally then to work up to the pinch collar. Remember, we're not using the collar as an instrument of punishment or correction; its function is to shock an inappropriate instinct and then arouse or stimulate an appropriate instinct. When the dog learns to be positively motivated by a light tug on a flat dog collar and then a stronger tug on the choke dog collar, he can be introduced to a light jerk on the pinch dog collar.
Training a dog with a pinch dog collar is consistent with the way a surgeon uses his scalpel. The doctor wants to cut out the tumor or damaged tissue and by doing so he arouses the patient's healing powers. While the pinch dog collar may seem to be a menacing implement, when used properly it is very "clean" and therapeutic.
Finally, when a dog is shocked by the pinch dog collar in the correct manner he is aroused by the novelty of the sensation. It is a feeling he has never felt before, nor is there an instinct evolved to deal with it. It is a brand-new moment and the dog handler is free to train the dog how to deal with it.
Dog Training: Types of dog Leash and harnesses
For proper training with leads, you will need three kinds. One is six foot long and is for training the dog in close on his obedience work. Many prefer a light but high quality leather lead for its comfort and also because it won't get twisted. Nevertheless, the features of the lead are irrelevant to the dog and his ability to learn. Also, you will need a variety of long leads for when you work the dog at a distance. You may like to use a fifty-foot nylon lead as it isn't going to rot when exposed to harsh elements. Finally, a tab lead is, as it suggests, a short length of rope or leather just long enough to dangle over the collar and be easy to grab. The dog can run freely with this lead without being able to trip himself.
Dog Training: Timing Is Essential
Good timing is critical to success of a dog training regime and it is the timing of the dog training that influences the dog owners participation and influence on the enthusiasm of the dog training outcomes. When we wait and then react to a dog's behavior, we are always going to be behind the eight ball. On the other hand. influencing a dog's emotional process before he acts is an incredibly efficient manner in which to train him. When timing is correct nervousness is inhibited and drive is reinforced.
Also, since we're affecting the internal emotional process, the dog in effect "chooses" to be calm rather than being forced to be under control. A dog so trained will be mannerly or mindful of domestic restraints even when his handler isn't near.
The key to proper timing is not quickness, although that is a valuable asset. Rather, the key is anticipation. The dog handler should always be thinking ahead and anticipating what the dog might do next. It is a skill easily acquired if one becomes disciplined enough to pay constant attention to the dog. Without good timing, dog training degenerates into a question of strength.
By being relentlessly focused on the dog, the dog handler will start to sense the dog's rhythm of actions and be able to anticipate what the dog is about to do. Then, before the dog acts, the handler can already be in gear taking steps to predetermine what the dog will do next. The dog will be choosing to obey; however, since we're controlling his instinctive emotional process, there won't really be any choice involved.
For example, if you are training a dog to heel you should watch his head very closely. When you sense he is about to shift his attention away from you then make a shock on the dog collar and begin to praise the dog at the same time. Additionally, pick up your pace, and to complete the process, throw a ball for him to chase or give him a food treat.
In this sequence of events, I'm not correcting the dog for being disobedient, I'm shocking the nervousness that I feel is about to influence the dog's behavior and disrupt his focus on me. The praise, food, and the ball then serve to convert the shock to stimulation. Since I'm the source of the excitement, the dog's calm focus on me from which he was about to stray is renewed and reinforced.
I like to emphasize the point about timing with the following analogy. Suppose you were a therapist assigned to help a heavy drinker recover from alcoholism. When would be the best time to influence this person's pattern of behavior - before, or after he decided to gulp down a drink? The very same question is before the dog trainer: Is it best to react to a dog's behavior or is it better to take the initiative and ensure that the dog always performs appropriately? Why wait for a negative behavior to express itself?
Dog Training: Appreciating the Experience of Training Your Dog
Most people think of basic obedience training for dogs as a series of commands that the dog, reluctantly, learns to execute. On one level, this is accurate. However, before we begin the mechanics of teaching specific commands, let us look for a moment beyond training as the dog learning a series of orders. Underneath it all, the very important lesson your dog is learning is that he must do what you tell him to, where you tell him to do it, when you tell him to do it, and as long as you say he should do it.
Many dogs are trained in the sense that they will respond mechanically to certain words but they have not gotten this all-important message. Without the message, dog training can resemble a series of tricks that the dog performs. With the message, the dog works. He knows more than just what position to assume with his physical form when he hears a command. He understands your position as alpha dog. He enjoys his role as educated dog. His appearance is intelligent and alert.
We train our dogs to that deeper level where they work with grace, where one command can flow into the next with ease and understanding. If you think education is expensive, you're right. It will cost you time. But the results will be worth it because you will have much more than an obedient dog.
Dog Training: Putting the “Come” Command into Practice
Try to combine the command “Come” to your daily practice with your puppy. Make sure he sits in front of you before you praise him. This will prevent him from sideswiping you when you call him. You know the routine. You call your dog. He races at you full tilt. Just as you reach out for him, he swerves and departs.
If you call your dog and he doesn't come, go and find him, snap on his lead, then say “Come” in as pleasant a voice as you can muster, and back up, the dog following along to the very place you were standing when you first said the command.
This translates to the dog as “When I call you to come, you come to where I am.” Your dog will get it. He understands that when you call him he must go to you and not deviate to the side or away from you.
Dog Training: Do Dogs Learn By Trial And Error?
The belief that dogs learn by trial and error presumes they have a mental ability to link elements together through their experiences that gives logic to their behavior. Dogs are presumed to explore one way to approach a situation and then record the consequence as to whether they were successful or not.
Then it is assumed that in a similar situation they can recall their experience and opt for a different approach if they're looking for a higher dividend. This theory presupposes that dogs, like humans, have the ability to deduce and make choices and that they can project into the future to predict a possible outcome based on a previous experience.
Dogs perceive through their prey instinct. A dog can only respond to stimuli that are of relevance to this instinct. Therefore, problem solving for him has to do with ascertaining whether something is pertinent to this means of perceiving and experiencing. This basic information is what dogs are after when they smell.
There is so much in man's world that dogs have to deal with that is not at all straightforward in terms of the prey instinct. Trying to come to terms emotionally with these and tie them together into a unified order is the main scope of the dog's learning process in our world. The stronger the attraction, the more direct the dog's response is going to be, and the more relevant his response to the problem in question.
When we see a dog trying several different approaches before taking a successful one or giving up altogether, it isn't that he's practicing. In his first impressions of a situation, he perceives several variables that aren't connected, and this dilutes his ability to solve the problem. If the drive gets high enough, the variables merge into one coherent entity, an order, and a reflex relevant to the prey instinct will become available to him so that he can persist.
By contrast, a dog that fails is exhibiting low drive in that moment, not being able to perceive an avenue of access. Instead of having one problem to solve, he has many problems to deal with; the variables never get tied together into one order. He tries, and then he stops, and then starts over again without making any real progress because he's faced with a new problem on each attempt. Each time his emotional reserves are drained lower.
The dog is being informed through his nervous system whether he's on the right track or not. He reacts based on that immediate sensation and his actions are very often effective simply because he's responding to the way nature is organized, his instinctive reflexes mirroring this same organization. On the other hand, if the situation is completely foreign and irrelevant to the prey instinct, no amount of practice will allow the dog to benefit from his experiences.
Dog Training: Basic Puppy Etiquette: Continuing Mother's Training
The term “etiquette” refers to an acceptable mode of social behavior and these social skills are similar to the social manners that will be reinforced to your children at home and at kindergarden. Unlike commands, which are executed only on order, manners color behavior at all times. Unless you and your dog still live in a cave, he will need some manners. Naturally, your pup's mother began this phase of his education, dog training is not about teaching him to play gently, to wait his turn, to hold still for his bath, to greet her with deference, to stay close to home, etc.
Now you will continue her good work, housebreaking your pup, helping him to accept your absences, teaching him to walk on a dog leash, respect your privacy, and behave like a gentleman - not a wild animal. Two aspects of your dog's nature make it possible for you to teach him manners and train him to obey commands. First, he is a pack animal. His pack instincts allow him to respect and revere a strong, clear leader. In fact, his mother gave him a wonderful model for how an alpha dog should conduct herself - with supreme confidence, with courage, with fairness, with intelligence, with final authority, with affection.
The second aspect of your dog's nature that makes him a near perfect pet is that he is a den animal with an instinct to keep his sleeping quarters clean. It is this instinct that will allow you to rapidly housebreak your pup. And housebreaking is the natural place to begin his lessons in etiquette.
Dog Training: Dogs Do Not Learn By Dominance and Submission
Many people believe that dogs learn by dominance and/or submission. This is an interesting theory that appeals to our sense of logic and the way nature appears to be ordered from the point of view of the human ego. Supposedly, dogs can learn to respect another individual through dominance. This presupposes that they can perceive another being's point of view. Humans can indeed entertain others' points of view, yet we know that no one learns to work effectively through the dominance/submissive model and in the real world dominance and submission can become a distinct disadvantage in the workplace as decision-making can become an impossible task because of fear of retribution from the higher positioned managers.
No matter how much employees respect their boss or how submissive they may act around him, they expect to be paid fairly. Not enough pay and the attraction can turn to resentment and a poor working attitude. Since humans reject and resist such an approach whenever they experience it, how can we expect the dog, with his more limited view, to work on this basis?
Not only does dominating a dog make him resistant to cooperation, but dominance has nothing to do with the smooth operation of wolf society. While it may appear that the leader is the most dominant in a pack of wolves, and that the inferiors have a profound respect for this "alpha" wolf because he is so dominant, that is a surface misreading of their lives.
Supposedly, this dominant individual teaches the other members of the pack what their lesser stations are, bringing order and stability into the group. However, the reason this individual is superior is because, within the group mood, he is endowed with the most uninhibited temperament and perceives order when the others sense disorder.
This produces an emotional balance, a self-confidence level that makes him active and direct in his behavior when the others are reactive and indirect. This confidence is then broadcast through his body language and probably through an internal chemistry revealed when he eliminates.
Given the pack leader's internal balance, he will experience the least amount of stress when passing on to less familiar ground, as negatives are smaller in his sense of order. In addition, the pack leader will feel the strongest compulsion to be first on any path that leads outward to the hunt as he acts in the most straightforward manner.
The inferiors will depend on the pack leader's enthusiasm to draw them across a threshold that may have a stronger inhibiting effect on them. An individual doesn't become superior by being dominant; the leader, to feel complete, needs the group behind him. Only by guiding the hunt does one becomes a leader.
Dog Training: Is It Possible To Train Your Puppy Off-Leash? (Part 1)
It can be quite difficult to teach your puppy off-leash. It takes more concentration on the part of both you and your puppy. However, it is also one hundred times more rewarding than on-leash work, the work on which it is based. Because it is more fun and more rewarding does not mean you can skip on-leash work and go straight to off-leash work. That would be like building a house without a foundation. You must have excellent on-leash obedience before proceeding to off-leash work at all.
In addition to all this, the principle behind dog training off-leash work is somewhat different. In on-leash work, you want to push the dog, gradually, unpredictably, to see how well he'll work and to use his breaking as a way to show him that he must work longer, concentrate better and obey. His breaking and being put back on command is an important part of how and why he learns.
In off-leash dog training work, the opposite is true, and this holds for puppies as well as for dogs. In off-leash work, you want to ease the dog slowly into doing exactly the right thing for longer periods of time. By rushing ahead, even slowly, so that the dog cannot deliver the off-leash dog training skill you want, he learns he can get up and walk away. After all, there is no leash to stop him. You must convince your dog that you have the ultimate power to correct and control even without the leash. In order to do this, you must work very slowly. You must be patient. You must concentrate and work only until the point before which the dog will break.
Taking the leash off your dog outdoors is always a high risk activity. When your dog is fully matured and fully trained, under certain circumstances, you may wish to take this calculated risk in order to let him play in the park or perhaps even heel smartly down the street, right at your side.
Under no circumstances will you want to take any kind of chance with your precious puppy. He is too immature to be able to concentrate reliably. He is too easily distracted by things that look appealing enough to chase. He is even apt to get spooked by a loud noise he's never heard before. He might even experience a surprising surge of assertiveness and take off just to see what you'll do and in the meantime not realize the danger that is lurking directly off the sidewalk. Until all these issues are resolved by maturity and advanced training, your prime concern is your dog's safety.
In order to improve your puppy's dog training session, to have fun with him and to give him more of the excellent grounding he needs to do safe, reliable off-leash work outdoors, you are going to do “fake” off-leash work with him indoors and even outdoors in a completely safe location. The work is fake because even when the puppy is off leash, he is still contained by walls or fences. But the puppy is very gullible. He won't really know that he's not capable of being trusted where he might get harmed. He will not only enjoy learning to work off-leash, he will feel incredibly proud of himself.
Dog Training: Is It Possible To Train Your Puppy Off-Leash? (Part 2)
The best way to train your puppy to work off-leash is to do it in a safe location. You are giving him practice at being a grown up while protecting him as the vulnerable baby he is. Within the safety and quiet of your own living room and with your puppy's dog collar on but no leash, ask your puppy to “Sit” and then, using the hand signal, tell him to “Stay.” Now step back and wait no more than one minute. Bend down, extend your arms to the side and warmly call your puppy into them. Praise. Your little puppy has just worked off leash!
After you play with your puppy for a minute or so, ask him to “Sit” again. This time, pat the floor and say “Down.” When he lies down, tell him “Good dog-Stay” using a pleasant tone. Back up just a few feet and wait. After two minutes, bend, extend your arms and call him to you. Pet and Praise the dog. End your first off-leash lesson by playing his favorite game.
This sort of low key, safe, gentle off-leash training can be done with puppies under five months of age. You will begin the puppy with his grounding of basic commands on dog leash and harness, and, as you are going forward with his on-leash outdoor work, you can begin his off-leash indoor work on top of your outdoor sessions. Here is a sample lesson:
Put a dog leash and a fancy dog collar on your puppy and take him out for a walk. Let him pull, sniff, and relieve himself. Praise. Put him in heel position, sitting straight at your left side. Tell him to heel and practice heeling with the automatic sit for ten minutes. Now, on a quiet side street, practice the sit stay, the come and sit front, and the stand stay. If your puppy is good at the down stay indoors, try a short one outdoors. Continue with the Heel Training methods for another five minutes. Say “Ok, good dog” and let him sniff, pull and maybe relieve himself again. Now you can take your puppy home.
When you get indoors, don't take off his fancy dog collar and dog leash and dog harness just yet. First, put him on a sit stay. While he's staying, unsnap the leash and remind him once more to “Stay.” Back up and wait a minute. Release him with an “Ok.” Crouch and extend your arms and hug and praise him. Now walk your puppy to another spot or another room and try a down stay. This time you can work him for two minutes. If he should break, take him back to the spot by holding his collar, repeat “Down-stay” and leave him. Then break him and praise. Never break him because he is starting to break anyway. He will know that you did that and your training program will be badly harmed. That is not what is meant by working until just before he breaks.
Working until before he breaks means that you are watching and aware. It means that you can, as time goes by, see the difference between faking and genuine loss of the ability to concentrate and work. Then you will do one last fun game and quit for the day. But any dog can do a two or three-minute down stay. So if you quickly mutter “Ok” as your dog starts to pop up from the down or lift his rump when he's supposed to be on a sit stay, you are fooling no one, least of all your dog. Unfortunately, he'll be the one to eventually pay for your mistake. His training will not be reliable if you "cheat" so that he "looks good." And then when you need the training to be absolutely reliable so that you can use it to save your dog's life, it won't be there, so do not cheat.
Dog Training: Training Your Dog Off-Leash (Part 1)
When training your dog off-leash, remain in a protected area for at least the first month of the initial dog training. Continue to work on all previous commands and all new safety commands with the regular leash, the drop line, the tab, alternating in no particular pattern. As you work, test your safety devices off leash with the fence bolted. Try the “Drop” on recall, the emergency down, the serious “Come,” “No,” and “Wait.” However, do not work your dog to death or make him into a game.
You can begin to dog train your dog in the park. Use both the short and long lines so that when you take the drop line off, the dog is still wearing something. After he is working well on drop line, take it off and remind him immediately to heel. If he lags or moves out to the side, make a sharp correction with the tab and then praise him. Work only for a few minutes so that at the time you quit he is still working well. Do not push him into errors. Instead, build the time he will stay with you and obey you smartly without his leash and in this exciting, new environment.
When you are really confident and you are sure that your dog is sharp and obedient on all the safety commands, begin to try “Stays” and “Comes” from a distance in the park, first with the long line dragging and then with just the tab. If he is attentive and obedient now, you may begin to work him on the street.
When you first work your dog on the street with a drop line, work when the street in your area is least crowded and when traffic is lightest. First, there's the problem of distractions, which you do not need at this most difficult stage of training. Second, there's the mechanical problem of people stepping on your dropped long line, unintentionally giving your good dog a correction.
In order to fully concentrate and so that your dog can do the same, keep your first street lesson very short and work when no one is around. Of course, your drop line is dragging so that if your dog tries to run off, he will not be harmed. You will simply step hard onto the dog leash.
Plan at least a month for each new stage of training to make sure your dog behaves reliably even on his bad days. After a month of work in the park and a month of drop-line work on the street, you should be ready, if that is what you choose to do, to try working on the street with only the tab.
Dog Training: Training Your Dog Off-Leash (Part 2)
After months and months of training your dog off-leash in a fenced area, in the park, with the dropped long line, and with the tab, you have now mastered your dog and his behavior. He is well trained, better than most dogs you have ever seen. Now, after a run or a hike and after some good obedience work in the park, you are now ready to take your dog to a familiar, quiet street. Start with a heel exercise while holding onto the leash tab. Drop the tab and heel him for half a block. Before you get near the corner, stop, have him sit, then praise him.
Pick up the tab and heel him home. Build his confidence with each dog training session. You may never want to work your dog on busy city streets off leash, but by now when you run your dog in the park, you are sure he will come back when you call him. In addition, if you love the idea of taking a quiet stroll with your off-leash dog on a busy city street, you are well on your way toward that goal. You have to keep working with the tab on your dog's collar and your full attention on him. Soon, this kind of practice and pleasure will become second nature to both of you.
Below are some final points to keep in mind about training your dog off-leash.
1. Your dog does not have to be off leash every minute of an off-leash walk. If you meet a friend, see a great store window or find some other tempting distraction, snap the leash on your dog until you can once more give him your full attention.
2. Always keep a dog leash and harness with you, even when you plan to keep it off the dog, just in case.
3. Once in a while, remind your dog that you are the leader of the pack. The best nonviolent way to do this is with the long “Down” (one-half hour). This is problem prevention at its finest.
4. Never expect great concentration from your dog when he is all pent up and needing exercise. Always give him a good run before off-leash street work.
5. Be sure you don't get lost on one aspect of dog ownership, training, showing, control. Remember that your dog has a wide range of needs.
6. Even as your dog gets older, give him reminders of you being the leader and reviews of his training. If he doesn't use it, he'll lose it.
7. Keep the love and high spirits in your relationship with your dog. When seeking fine control, don't forget to play some games and have some laughs.
8. When training and behavior starts to look messy, don't be afraid to go back to square one and tighten everything up again, on leash.
9. Don't forget the larger goals: good communication, mutual admiration and understanding, good times, and respect.
Dog Training: Using a Drop Line and a Short Line in Off-Leash Training
Begin the work of teaching your dog to be as reliable off leash as he is when he's wearing one. Keep in mind that it will go slowly. Nothing flashy will happen right away. You'll have to be very patient. Do not take your dog off leash in an unprotected area unless both of you can truly handle that responsibility successfully.
You will need two tools for this stage of training; a drop line and a short line or leash tab. A drop line is a long leash - 10,12, 15 or 20 feet long. The cotton canvas ones are usually cheap and relatively easy to work with. You will train the dog in a protected area just as you did when he was a puppy, first laying the dog leash across your palm and then dropping it to the ground as you heel along. Since the drop line is so much longer than the regular dog leash, it may take your dog some time to get used to it dragging behind him. He may walk bowlegged or sideways at first. Let him work it out.
As you train, alternate between the drop line, the regular leash and the short line or tab. This is a piece of equipment you may have to make yourself. Many dog owners use leather key chains made to be worn on belts and merely eliminated the ring. Others made small leashes from old leashes or broken ones, cutting them down to a comfortable size.
The tab is a little leash, just big enough for your hand to grasp. It dangles from the dog collar. Its weight is a small reminder to the dog of your control and presence in his life, even when he is "off leash." It is one of the best training tools ever and your dog should wear his most of the time (at least for now).
The short line or tab allows you to make a professional feeling of correction even though your dog is not on leash. The feel of the tab hanging from his dog collar can remind him that even though he is free, you can still make corrections. Therefore, even when he is far away, the tab will remind him to come when called.
For now, we want to confuse your well-trained dog a little. By alternating leashes and by sometimes using more than one at a lime, we will confound the dog. He will cease to know when he's on leash and when he's off. In addition, he will be unable to know which kind of a correction you can deliver and from what distance. He may just give up and behave.
Sometimes you will hang the tab on his collar and add his long line. Then after a warm-up, you will remove the long line and carry on with the dog training. The dog will not remember if the tab is on his collar or if he's totally free. If he makes a mistake and you can make a good correction with the tab, he'll know you are all powerful. Even an assertive dog can be dazzled by the two-leash method.
Dog Training: Putting the “Come” Command into Practice
Try to combine the command “Come” to your daily practice with your puppy. Make sure he sits in front of you before you praise him. This will prevent him from sideswiping you when you call him. You know the routine. You call your dog. He races at you full tilt. Just as you reach out for him, he swerves and departs.
If you call your dog and he doesn't come, go and find him, snap on his lead, then say “Come” in as pleasant a voice as you can muster, and back up, the dog following along to the very place you were standing when you first said the command.
This translates to the dog as “When I call you to come, you come to where I am.” Your dog will get it. He understands that when you call him he must go to you.
Dog Training: Do Dogs Learn By Trial And Error?
The belief that dogs learn by trial and error presumes they have a mental ability to link elements together through their experiences that gives logic to their behavior. Dogs are presumed to explore one way to approach a situation and then record the consequence as to whether they were successful or not.
Then it is assumed that in a similar situation they can recall their experience and opt for a different approach if they're looking for a higher dividend. This theory presupposes that dogs, like humans, have the ability to deduce and make choices and that they can project into the future to predict a possible outcome based on a previous experience.
Dogs perceive through their prey instinct. A dog can only respond to stimuli that are of relevance to this instinct. Therefore, problem solving for him has to do with ascertaining whether something is pertinent to this means of perceiving and experiencing. This basic information is what dogs are after when they smell.
There is so much in man's world that dogs have to deal with that is not at all straightforward in terms of the prey instinct. Trying to come to terms emotionally with these and tie them together into a unified order is the main scope of the dog's learning process in our world. The stronger the attraction, the more direct the dog's response is going to be, and the more relevant his response to the problem in question.
When we see a dog trying several different approaches before taking a successful one or giving up altogether, it isn't that he's practicing. In his first impressions of a situation, he perceives several variables that aren't connected, and this dilutes his ability to solve the problem. If the drive gets high enough, the variables merge into one coherent entity, an order, and a reflex relevant to the prey instinct will become available to him so that he can persist.
By contrast, a dog that fails is exhibiting low drive in that moment, not being able to perceive an avenue of access. Instead of having one problem to solve, he has many problems to deal with; the variables never get tied together into one order. He tries, and then he stops, and then starts over again without making any real progress because he's faced with a new problem on each attempt. Each time his emotional reserves are drained lower.
The dog is being informed through his nervous system whether he's on the right track or not. He reacts based on that immediate sensation and his actions are very often effective simply because he's responding to the way nature is organized, his instinctive reflexes mirroring this same organization. On the other hand, if the situation is completely foreign and irrelevant to the prey instinct, no amount of practice will allow the dog to benefit from his experiences.
Dog Training: Teaching Your Dog to Come When Being Called
One of the greatest joys of owning a dog is to be able to go for a walk in the park and let him run, knowing he will come when you call. Dogs that do not come when called are prisoners of the dog leash and, if loose, a danger to themselves and others. If your dog does not come when called, you don't have a reliable dog. Below are five tips to help you teach this command to your pet:
1. Exercise. Many dogs do not come when called because they do not get enough physical exercise. When they do get the chance, they run off and make the most of it by staying out for hours at a time. Every morning your dog wakes up with plenty of energy and the need to exercise. If that energy is not used up, it will transform itself into other behaviors, the most common of which are barking, chewing, digging, and running away or not coming when called. Consider what your dog was bred to do, and that will tell you how much exercise is needed. A few turns around the backyard is not enough. You will need to participate. Also keep in mind that taking the dog for a daily walk or jog is as good for you as it is for him!
2. Be nice to your dog whenever he comes to you. One of the quickest ways to teach your dog not to come to you is to call him and then when he comes, punish or do something he perceives as unpleasant. Many dogs consider being given a bath unpleasant. When he needs one, go get him instead of calling him to you. Another example of unintentionally teaching your dog not to come is to go for a run in the park and call him to you when it's time to go home. Repeating this sequence several times teaches the dog that fun is over! Soon, he may become reluctant to return to you when called because he is not yet ready to end the fun. You can prevent this kind of unintentional training by calling him to you several times during the outing, sometimes giving him a treat, sometimes just a pat on the head, and then letting her play again.
3. Teach your dog to come when called as soon as you bring him home, no matter how young he is. Ideally, you acquired your pet as a puppy, which is the best time to teach him to come when called. Start right away. But remember, sometime between the fourth and eighth months of age, your puppy will begin to realize that there is a big world out there. While going through this stage, it is best to keep him on leash so that he does not learn to ignore you when you call.
4. When in doubt, keep your dog on the dog leash. Learn to anticipate when he is likely not to come. You may be tempting fate trying to call once he has spotted a cat, another dog or a jogger. Of course, there will be times when you make a mistake and let him go just as another dog appears out of nowhere. Resist the urge to say “Come” over and over again. The more often you holler "Come," the quicker he learns to ignore you when off leash. Instead, patiently go and put him on leash. Do not get angry once you have caught him or he will become afraid of you. He will then run away when you try to catch him the next time.
5. Make sure that your dog always comes to you and lets you touch the collar before you reward with a praise or a treat. Touching the collar prevents the dog from developing the annoying habit of playing "Catch" which means coming toward you and then dancing around you, just out of reach.
Dog Training: How to Instil Calmness in Your Dog
Calmness means the appropriate response in any given situation. It is a quality we must completely understand in order to properly train our dogs.
A dog gains calmness by focusing on an objective and then attaining it through action. He can't think his way to calmness nor can he learn it through the example of another. A dog learns to be calm by doing. If a dog's action leads him to fulfilment, patience becomes a learned skill. And if a dog gets enough practice in a variety of endeavors, he can develop an overall character trait of calmness.
The biggest mistake is made by attempting to calm a dog by trying to train him to be still. Whether the owner yells, pleads, nags, grabs the dog in some way, or stares, he is only going to make the dog nervous.
The most effective way to train a dog to be patient and focused is through the most active of his instincts: the prey instinct. Calmness and patience in the face of denial are built into the prey instinct. Through the prey instinct the dog can learn that a condition of denial is not only temporary but is positive, as it is a predictor of eventual success.
Dog Training: Just Going Out For a Walk with Your Dog
Having a dog that knows how to Heel demonstrates control and is useful under situations where he needs to stay close to you and pay attention to you. But for many of us, the main reason we take our dogs for a walk is for daily exercise where it does not really matter what he does, so long as he does not pull. Usually the dogs are somewhere ahead of us, checking out who has been there and just sort of following their noses.
For this type of a walk, it makes little sense to have him do a Heel since his main enjoyment is to use his nose and all you want is no pulling. The following is a simple, yet effective way to teach him to remain within the length of your leash without pulling:
Start the walk with "Let's go," and as soon as he gets to the end of the leash and starts to pull, stop and say "Easy." His reaction will be to turn toward you and come back a few steps. Start walking again with "Let's go," and when you begin to feel tension on the leash, stop with "Easy."
You may have to repeat this sequence a few times over the course of several sessions. If you do it consistently, he will quickly learn that pulling causes you to stop, which in turn will stop him from pulling.
Dog Training: Does a Dog Learn Through Many Repetitions of a Training Activity?
At a quick glance, it seems that a dog takes many repetitions to grasp a lesson. According to “dogma”, a dog has to practice a behavior many times until the lesson seeps into his limited mind. Then, once a lesson is mastered, it becomes so ingrained in the dog's brain that it becomes a regular habit. That dogs require repetition to learn from an experience and this repetition through the dog training sessions must be practiced with commitment, compassion and in repetitive cycles to reinforce the dog training techniques, this is particularly noticeable when we are trying to train the dog to do something that isn't natural for him, such as walking nicely on a lead in an area full of interesting sights, sounds, and smells. It would seem that this exercise is difficult for a dog to learn and would require many practice sessions for it to become a reliable habit.
Therefore, traditional thinking holds that it's best to start practicing the dog training lessons with puppies before they might have the opportunity to practice the undesirable habit of pulling hard on the lead and also while they're small and easy to out-muscle.
A clue that repetition, while part of learning, isn't fundamental to learning is revealed by other observations that people commonly make that contradict this traditional premise. For example, we don't think of ball playing as something mastered through repetition. It looks like the dog is having fun, and that seems a sufficient explanation. The first time the owner attracted his dog's attention to the ball and rolled it away, the dog immediately chased it, grabbed it, and then carried it around proudly. The lesson took one repetition and had a permanent effect for the rest of the dog's life.
This pure example of learning shows us the formula at the core of the process. If an activity is natural, the dog gets it immediately without the need for repetition. And, since the most natural activities involve the prey instinct, we find the best examples of quick learning in this regard. In ball playing, what determines each individual dog's enthusiasm and rate of progress is how much prey value he invests in the ball. That some dogs may take longer to build an attraction to the ball is not due to a need for repetition, but because the prey instinct isn't yet turned on. Through repetition, as the dog grabs the ball, his sensitivity to its novelty or his dog owner's influence starts to relax until drive starts to flow into prey making. Once uninhibited, the ball no longer has a being to which the dog needs to appeal for access, which initially thwarted his drive to chase and bite it.
A habit is like a riverbed: The stronger the flow that courses through it, the deeper the bed is carved, and the more water it will be able to channel. When the full current rushes through the organism, a completely mature behavior emerges as if learned. In truth, the dog training lesson was gained in the first instant of making contact through the prey instinct, no matter how feeble the first trickle. It just took time for the pathway to be scoured deeply enough in the dog's brain and body to handle the full load of drive.
To Your Success
Desmo Boss
DogsHelperStore