Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Did you get a new puppie for christmas?




      So you received a new puppy for Christmas. Although I do not recommend ever giving a dog, or any animal for a gift because of the large amount of work that a pet requires. Having a pet is a long term commitment as many dogs will live around 12 years or more. 

      Now that you have a puppy you need to start training it while it is young. The key to training that works is consistency. Keep working with your dog daily and you will be rewarded in down the road with a well-mannered and well trained family member.
      
      There are many different styles of training that are out there, but the one that I recommend is Positive Reinforcement. This style I have had the most luck with and it is the most humane of them in my opinion. I have trained over 20 dogs with this technique and I love its ease and humaneness because there is no real punishing the dog. But later in this entry I will explain how to deal with bad behavior.   

      Positive reinforcement is rewarding your dog for good behavior. The reward will be different for all dogs as some love to be pet and loved while others are on the way to their heart is through their stomach program. So once you find what work the best use it but do change it up once and a while between treats and affection. You don’t want a dog that is a treat junkie.
     
      Inevitably there will be bad behavior and it is dealt with in a couple of different ways.  The two I recommend is just ignore the dog. Turn your back on it; this is more powerful than anything because dogs are looking for acceptance from their pack leader. Since I am on the side note of pack leader I will address that. You are to remain in the leader position at all times. You need to keep the alpha male (you can be a female and still be alpha male) position. Do not let your dog gain control of any situation or it may be hard to stop this behavior. The other punishment is a scolding. Just saying “NO!” in a sharp deep voice will get any dogs attention. While doing that keep eye contact and it will be really effective.

      But with punishment it must be don’t within a few seconds. The old method of coming home and seeing that your puppy wet on the floor then sticking its nose in it is really cruel, because your dog has no idea what it did wrong or why you are doing that to it. The books I have read all have indicated that you should punish your dog within a few seconds of the undesired behavior.

      Now that we have that covered we can start training! We will start with potty training tomorrow.

      Also if you have a suggestion for a topic or have any specific questions post a comment and I will do what I can to cover it asap and get you the info you need!

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