In the past the link structure look like this: http://how-to-train-a-puppy.net/?p=123

Not very easy to know what the post is about if you ahve the link, we agree. Now the posts will be much easier to read, like this:

http://how-to-train-a-puppy.net/pet-training-topics/training-your-dog-on-a-leash/

We hope this will make it easier for people to find the articles they need. If you have any requests, please let us know so we can do our best to answer your questions.

Because we know that all dog behavior is learned, we also know that if your dog is not well-behaved, then they simply have not learned the right stuff, yet.

Now, this does not mean anyone is a bad trainer, it just simply means your dog is not learning the stuff it needs to learn in order to be properly trained. Unfortunately many people do not realize that sometimes the deck is stacked against them when it comes to dog training.

So here are 7 common things that are working against you when you try to train your dog.

Lack of Pet Training Consistency

If your not being consistent with your training methods, then your pet will not be consistent with it’s learning. Even humans have confliction issues when we are told one thing and then told another way. Your dog needs to hear the same commands over and over again. Repetition alone is not enough, but Consistent Repetition is.

Lack of Pet Training Control

We can only directly control our pets when we are there with them. Once you leave the room you relinquish much of that control and your dog is left to depend on its training. Since the training has not taken yet, your dog does not know what it should or should not do. If there are other people in the room when you left then those people will often try to exert control over your dog in some manner. This adds additional levels of confusion for the dog be trained.

Lack of Pet Training Time

Many people feel they are too busy to train their dogs. This is a society of instant gratification. Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it does take time to train your pets. It does not need to take weeks or months if done properly, but it will not happen on the first try either. So get used to spending some amount of time to train your pet properly.

Lack of Pet Training Environment

Many people fail to consider how their environment will actually affect their pet’s ability to learn. Sure, we all remember that we like peace and quiet when we are trying to learn stuff. But what about the dog? Well the same goes for them. Find a place that is not quiet, free of distractions and away from the crowd. This will give your dogs’ full attention to you.

Lack of Pet Training Tools

There are many different training tools on the market. These could be leashes, collars, harnesses, or clickers. These tools can often make a big difference when training your pet. For instance, a clicker cannot yell at the dog. It can only click. since yelling at your dog would be bad, your dog may respond better the clicker. This will help to prevent you from yelling and your dog will hear more praise and respond better to you.

Lack of Pet Training Direction

Do you travel across the country without a map? Are you constantly getting lost? If so, then so will your dog. You need to have a well defined direction for your training. Do not simply flip a coin with your dog’s training. Make sure you know what commands you are working on during the training session and what results you expect to receive.

Lack of Pet Training Goals

If you are not sure of what results you wish to achieve, then how will you know if you have achieved results? Sounds confusing doesn’t it? You have to know and track the results of your training session. Use a notebook, pen, and maybe even a stop watch. TRack the time you spent training, the amount of times you issues a command, the distance away you got during a stay. Just track your results. When you have results to look back on then, and only then, can you make a determination of how well your training is progressing.

As with any healthy relationship, both parties need to develop a knowledge of who is the boss, what their expectancies are, and so on.

Imagine having the ability to take your dog out for a stroll without being jerked around on a leash. Telling your dog to ’stay’ and knowing that you will not have to keep your leash handy. Imagine letting your dog play with the children and knowing that no-one will need a band help or disinfectant later. When it comes to dog coaching, psychology is simple.

By rewarding good behavior, your dog will learn to enjoy obeying you, and to associate good feelings with good behavior. Likewise, your dog will learn how to dodge bad behavior, and all the headaches that would cause you, and, indirectly, your dog. That’s all there is to it.

Giving your pet rewards is a pretty pretty straightforward process - You either heap praise on the dog, give a radical petting, or give a treat, for doing good things. Care should be taken not to go overboard. If you find that you hate the idea of over-feeding your dog, you may use a strategy called ‘clicker coaching’ to accomplish the same goals.

Trained pets do not need to be able to jump through hoops, they simply need to listen when their told, and do what they are told. Through good praise, use of treats and toys, and a caring trainer, this can be accomplished with time, love and patience.

It’s also vital the word being used for the command and the pitch of the voice be consistent everytime the command is delivered so the dog can less complicated learn what the owner means ( siiiiiiiiiiiit does not sound the same as sit, for instance ). Using the puppy’s name before a command guarantees the dog knows a command is coming, that it is for him ( instead of for other dogs, youngsters, or folk ), and he should listen.

To reinforce the command, the dog always gets some sort of reward or reinforcement ( praise and usually a treat or toy ) when it performs the action in the correct way. This helps the dog to understand that he has done a good thing. Many working breeds of dog are no longer trained to a voice command at all, they are taught to obey a mixture of whistles and hand signals.

Deaf dogs are completely capable of learning to obey visible signals alone. A lot of obedience classes teach hand signals for common commands as well as voice signals, these signals can be helpful in quiet eventualities, at a distance, and in complicated obedience competitions.

The particular command words are now not critical, though common words in English include sit, down, come, and stay. In reality, dogs can learn commands in any language or other communication medium, including whistles, mouth sounds, hand gestures, and so forth. This can become a blessing if your pet refuses or has problem with one word, you can actually replace them if needed.

Remember that both HOW and WHAT you say to your pet will make a considerable difference in your pet training.

The myth is that you will “have a perfectly training pet in “X” number of Steps”.

The truth of the matter is that training your pet does require time, effort and multiple, repetitive training sessions.

Take a minute to think about the steps. Each step is one basic training lesson. Even washing your hair in the morning has several “steps”. Wet hair, lather, rinse and repeat.

I know that if training my dogs was as simply as saying “Sit, Stay, Good” and I was done, then I would have done so a long time ago. Even as a trainer I sometimes would rather be doing something else instead. Heck I like to watch TV, sit and read a book, or even post to my sites.

However, training a dog properly does take time. So do not get discouraged when you read headlines that claim your dog will be trained in a few steps. Just realize that each one of those steps does include sub-steps that must be performed.

If you think of “Sit” as one step, “Stay” and another step, “down” as a third, then yes you too will have a dog that is well trained once they have completed your version of the “x(1,2,5,12, whatever) step program”.

But what would he be able to teach us if here were a dog trainer instead?

Well, take a moment to know what he did as a martial artist. For those who actually do not know, he founded his own martial art known as Jeet Kuna Do. Without going into a long winded seminar about marital arts, the main point here is that he created his own techniques.

He studied other martial arts, such as Kung Fu, Karate, and others and learned what aspects of those martial arts worked and which ones did not. He then kept the ones that worked and excluded the non-working methods from his training.

Ahhh. Training. Just like martial arts training, pet training requires many of the same principles. You must be

• consistent
• train properly
• train often
• you must train what works
• you get rid of what doesn’t

Each person is going to train their own dog their own way. No one way is truly perfect for all owners or all pets. While not everyone will become the world’s best pet trainer, ever person has to take some active role in training their own pet.

Whether your pet learns to behave or your pet learns to misbehave, both are based on how you do, or don’t, train your pet.

I have not invented a “new style,” composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from “this” method or “that” method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds.

- Bruce Lee

Lee, Bruce (September 1971). “[1] Liberate Yourself From Classical Karate”. Black Belt Magazine (Rainbow Publications, Inc.) 9 (9): 24.

You need to decide what exactly you want your pet to learn.

Some basic commands, such as sit, stay, come, down, should be taught to all dogs. Any dog will benefit from a consistent ability to follow these commands. As these are the foundation commands of having a well behaved dog.

But what other types of pet training are there? Would your pet enjoy them?

Many dogs love to have purpose. This is what makes training so good for a dog. They receive praise and treats for doing good and learn that the more good stuff they do, the more they are rewarded. Your pet is likely to be no exception to this rule.

Many people just do not realize that training your dog does not need to stop at a basic level. As you continue to train your pet, and as they continue to get better, consider taking your pet’s training to more advanced levels. Some advanced training techniques can be quite rewarding for both owner and pet.

Several other types of pet training fall into advanced training these often include

• Pet Long Distance Jumping
• Pet Agility Training
• Schutzhund Training
• Frisbee Toss Training
• Protection Training
• Search and Rescue Training
• Canine Helper Programs for Handicapped
• and many other programs.

Advanced training does not even need to be something as serious as search and rescue, but should be something both of you enjoy doing. We have one dog that loves to help us carry in wood during the winter. When we head to the wood pile, he grabs a piece and carries it inside for us. He enjoys it.

Other programs, such as Service Dogs Amercia, or the AKC’s Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Program, are always looking for volunteers that have socially behaved dogs. These dogs are often requested to visit elderly homes or sick children in the hospital. Which is often a very enjoyable and heartwarming experience.

The only limits to your dogs training potential come from both you and your dog. If you do not wish to train your pet to advanced levels, then by all means train the basics until your pet is well-behaved, sociable and a loving pet. On the other hand, keep in mind that there are many other options that you and your dog could pursue that might be rewarding to you and your pet.

This does it for this training series. Come back often as we continue to provide canine training tips for the average person.

Important commands, such as sit, stay, or come should be done by your dog without any hesitation. This is for both your protection and the dogs. So strive for perfection on at least those three commands. Everything else will be a bonus.

Enjoy the video.

This next lesson will show you exactly what you can do that will go a long way to insure your pet training success. This lesson is all about Pet Training Goals.

We all hopefully know what goals are and how to set them in our own lives. But our pet cannot set their own goals. This means that we need to set them ourselves and we need to do it properly.

If you have not done so yet, this is the perfect time to consider starting a pet training log or journal. A simple notebook or paper pad will do but I prefer a hardcover journal. These are available at Wal Mart or any local bookstore. They have a hard cover to withstand abuse and many come with a ribbon page marker for help locating your last entry.

Setting Pet Training Goals

Lets first take a quick look at the key principles of goal setting and how to apply it to your pet training.

Goal Setting Steps:

• Be sure your goals are valid
• Do not have Contradicting Goals
• Choose Specific Goals
• Make sure goals are high but attainable
• Word goals in a positive nature
• Write Goals on paper in detail

Above are the basic goal setting structures for any aspect of life, so why not use them for puppy training? There is no reason not to apply these rules. So lets do just that.

Pet Training Goal - Gentle and well behaved dog behavior when people visit

• Pet should sit and wait patiently when people enter the door - A valid goal
• This goal does not contradict desired calm, gentle, and desired behavior - check
• Specific goals -
  • Pet should sit on command
  • pet should stay on command
  • pet should not move when door opens
  • pet should not move when person enters
  • pet should move only on command
• Goal is high as this will require long-term training depending on pet, but very attainable with consistent practice.
• Positive Goal - Our pet will behave in a calm, pleasant, well-behaved manner when people are greeted at the door. Pet will sit patiently until allowed to move.
• Detailed Writing - Abie, our presently hyper active GSD normally likes to run and jump when there is someone at the door. By training her not to react in this manner we will be able to allow her to greet people safely when they come to visit. Her training will consist of repeated attempts to have her sit at the door, then told to stay, while someone opens the door. If she moves, the door will be closed and the process started over again. This will be repeated until the desired behavior of sitting and staying until told is achieved.

The above example is not merely some made up scenario but is in fact the actual routine used with our dog Abie. This is one of the exact behaviors we have working on her with as this is a most destructive behavior.

Tracking Pet Training Goals

Once you have written your above pet training goals into your pet training journal the next step will be to start tracking your progress. This can be done quite easily and with a little time you will notice improvements in your pets behavior.

To start I generally keep track of the following items.

1. number of times a command is said before response. You should not use a command repeatedly if possible. But it does happen. The general rule is say once, wait a few seconds. Then repeat.
2. How long the stay duration lasted. Once seated and told to stay, movement or lack of concentration can cause the dog to move. The longer the better.
3. What if any distractions were there.

These criteria will change depending on what you are training. But these are good basics, as they record command attempts, time, and potential problems.

The normal behavior pattern should also be recorded as a starting point. So what I can do is make a time line.

Abie Door Training Start -

1. Start - normal pattern - Abie runs to door when any motion made toward the door. Waits until first door opens, then pushes through storm door.
2. Day 1 Session 1 - Abie told to sit, took 3 tries. Abie told to stay. Abie will stay if no movement or distractions arise.
   1. Open Door causes Abie to rise and go towards door
   2. Repeat
3. Day 1 Session 2 - As inner door seems to trigger reaction to move, training consisted of working this one problem for several minutes until door no longer triggers reaction
4. day 1 Session 3 - Abie told to sit, took 2 tries. Abie told to stay. No movement on first door.
   1. Opening handle to outer door causes reaction to move. Repeat
   2. repeat several attempts with outer door until outer door no longer causes her to react
5. Day 2 session 4 - Abie will now sit on first command. Sits well. told to stay. Abie stayed until I was standing with both doors fully open. She did twitch twice as if to move, but a second stay command kept her still. Told to release allows her to come out the door.

As you can see within 1 day a noticeable change has taken place. All of these sessions did not take place one after the other and each took about 10-15 minutes before she would move to the next step. Just like walking you have to take one step at a time. Within a few days she was willing to sit at the door and wait for us.

When Abie decided she was going to move because of the door I simply closed the door and restarted. This shows the dog that the door opening was not the proper time to get up. Same with the second door or any other distraction. If someone comes in the room, repeat the entire process if your dog breaks the stay.

Tracking your pets goals is very important. Otherwise how will you really know if they are making any progress. Track it the way you want to, as long as you are tracking it. Write down what steps you take, what reaction occurred, and what corrections needed to be done. Setting and tracking your pet training goals will be the next building block to actually succeeding where others fails.

Next Post Preview: Knowing What Type Of Pet Training You Are Trying To Train Your Pet For.

The pet treat is often misused or used ineffectively as a training tool. Don’t worry, it is quite common and just about everyone will have a difference of opinion here.

One thing you should consider is this:

TRAINING TREATS ARE NOT THE SAME AS EVERYDAY TREATS

I cannot emphasize this enough. You should have two separate types of treats if you are going to use treats as rewards for training. We have simple, plain dog biscuits that our pets can receive anytime they are being good. These are just for quick reminders, not for advanced training work. For instance, they might receive one small one each night before bedtime. They hear the jar open and they will run off to bed and wait for their treats. They have been trained to respond in this manner so they know it it time to settle down.

However for outside active training sessions they do not receive those same biscuits. For one, we do not want them to associate that taste or shapes of those biscuits with sleeping DURING a training session. Instead we use a higher quality dried liver treat. These treats can generally be found at your local pet stores. While these will be more expensive to buy please keep in mind that these are for specific training sessions.

Do not give them these anytime other then during pet training sessions!

It is very important to only use these high quality pet treats during training as you want your pet to associate these better treats with better behavior. You want your pet to learn the difference between a normal daily routine and an active pet training session. If I bring out the liver treats the dogs know the taste and smell difference between the types of treats and will not leave my side for liver. Think of your own reaction between eating tasteless, 3 day old meatloaf and a nice, thick, well-cooked, juicy steak. Which one would you do more for. Well your dog is no exception. They too will have a treat they just like and another type of treat that they would jump through hoops to get.

The end goal is to also not need to use treats every time you use a command. Treats are a guidance reward. You should be giving a treat and “praise” so that eventually you can ween your dog off the treats but continue to praise them for a job well done. This is another reason for two treat types. This way you can eventually drop the expensive high-end training treats and you will still be able to give your dog generic treats for non-training goodies.

By getting yourself and your pet two separate types of treats you will help your pet to learn the the differences between training and daily routines. Your pet will learn to associate high-quality treats with both training and praise. These become happy moments for your pet and happy pets will continue to do stuff that makes them happy. If your training session is what makes your pet happy then it will also make you happy.

Next Post Preview: Tracking Your Puppy Training: Set Training Goals For Yourself And Your Dog.