Wednesday, August 1, 2012

How To Deal With Your Dog

If you have never tried to train an animal, the idea may be rather intimidating. There is a lot of information out there and sorting through it all can seem difficult. The tips below can help you start training your dog properly.

Use positive reinforcement rather than treats when training your dog. It does work to give dogs treats for good behavior. However, it's unlikely that you will carry treats around every single day for the rest of your dog's life. Replace treats with praise or physical attention, like petting your dog to reward desired behaviors.

You can train most forms of anxiety out of your dog. It is quite possible that destructive behavior in your absence or non-stop barking is nothing more than anxiety over being apart from you. You can train your dog on acceptable behaviors that can be applied while you are gone. Also, give your dog lots of love, and show compassion to make him feel at ease.

Teaching a dog to walk correctly while on its leash is important. Not only is this safer for the dog and easier on your body, such a frequent activity mandates good self-control and reinforcement of the chain of command from training.

You need to teach your dog how to walk when on a leash. This will make your walks together a pleasure and not a source of frustration.

If you have to keep your dogs outside, never tie them up too close to one another. The two chains could get tangled up. This could panic you dogs as he tries to get free and he could potentially hurt himself. If the dogs are different sizes, it could be even worse. A small dog could easily choke to death if it were to get too tangled up with a larger breed.

Big dogs that like to stretch out or lie on their backs need a big bed. There are big, long dog beds around for larger dogs, or you could look for a mattress taken from a crib. The perks of these are that you can change out the sheets on crib mattresses as often as you like without too much effort. They're waterproof, too!

When doing crate training, train your dog incrementally rather than trying to do it all at once. When they seem comfortable in it with the door open, try shutting the gate and feed them treats through the wires. Keep the gate closed for short periods of time, and work your way up to longer times. Freaking out your dog is a sign that you need to slow down.

Encourage your dog to be as active as possible. Dogs can easily get bored. Conditions of boredom are not conducive to training. When your dog gets regular exercise, he will be much happier and will pay attention more easily. Lead your dog on the path to fitness by walking or jogging every day.

When your dog reaches six months, make sure that your dog is spayed or neutered. This should happen at the same time as your first obedience classes. A newly neutered or spayed dog is more obedient. Your relationship with your pet will be far more pleasant, and the dog is sure to be more content and in better health.

Try to challenge your pet on a regular basis. Quiz him to see if he remembers the commands, even if you're already sure he does.

If you use a clicker, you can reinforce obedience better. Using a clicker is simple. Use it to make a good association between the noise and when something good occurs. Try clicking and treating immediately, and doing this several times over a few days. Once your dog understands that the clicker is associated with good things, you can use this technique to train your dog.

Try training a dog to clench a plush toy in his mouth. Every time he successfully holds onto the toy with his mouth, hit the clicker and proceed by giving him a treat. After this is done a few times, watch and wait for your dog to put the toy inside his mouth. After has has done this, you should click and promptly give a reward. After this, you should only reward your dog after he holds the toy in his mouth.

People should understand that training your dog does not have to be all that difficult. The important part of dog training is to have the right information and understand that it is not impossible. A good training regimen will bring out the best in any dog.

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