Often, we hear complaints about dogs who are simply uncontrollable. They engage in destructive behaviors without any apparent or obvious reason. They may dig the dreaded backyard holes, destroy property or simply be difficult animals with whom to get along. (more…)

The first part of training your pet not to drag you at the end of the leash is to instill in them a sense of calm before the leash ever goes on. Dogs are adventurous animals and the sight of the leash signals them that they are going out on a grand adventure. (more…)

So you got a new puppy, now what? Do you know what kind of puppy you have? Playful? Protective? Outgoing? Shy? Well whatever puppy you have you can use these helpful puppy hints to connect with your new member of the family. (more…)

Positive Reinforcement, for the purposes of this article, refers to any form of training that is based on rewards rather than punishment. This training would be the type witnessed in many zoos where a trained animal is rewarded with some treat, such as a morsel of food, for a job well done.

Positive reinforcement can also refer to petting the animal or verbal praises. Other examples of positive reinforcement would be play time, such as a rousing game of fetch or playing chase.

Negative Reinforcement is the opposite of positive reinforcement. This involves a punishment for less than favorable performances and usually implies some kind of fear, pain or discomfort for the animal being trained. Training aids such as electrical shock collars or choke chains would fall under this category. Also in this category, you would find such things as crate training and chemical compounds, such as Bitter Apple and Cayenne Pepper. This is the kind of training exhibited in the old time circus shows displaying lion tamers and whips to keep the animals in submission.

While both types of reinforcement have their place, they also have limits and unacceptable uses. To beat a dog or inflict serious physical injury to the animal in the name of training is morally unacceptable and inexcusable, not to mention illegal in most areas. By the same token, allowing a dog to become a danger to others by never using any form of punishment is also unacceptable. An equal balance must be achieved for proper training of your pet or you run the risk of owning a maladjusted animal which will be either overly aggressive or fearful and nervous. If error is to be made in either direction, fall to the safer side of too much positive reinforcement, as this is much easier to correct.

Positive reinforcement does much for the relationship of the pet to its master and should be given any time the pet demonstrates a correct behavior at an appropriate time. Your pet will sense your pleasure in its performances and will seek to repeat them more often in the future. A kind word or a small treat goes a very long way towards your dog seeing you as a leader. Being pack animals, dogs will pick an Alpha or leader to the pack and will follow readily with a sole desire to please. To use positive reinforcement effectively, find what motivates your dog. Perhaps it is food or toys, playtime or even verbal praise. Whatever the case may be, use this motivation to achieve results with your pet. Consistently reward the pet in immediate response to the desired behavior. Dogs are creatures that thrive on instant gratification. In other words, reward them immediately for an action and they are far more likely to repeat it.

Negative reinforcement also has its place in training your dog, albeit a much smaller place. If your dog exhibits an undesirable behavior such as chewing on your power cords for your laptop or soiling the floor, then action must be taken to correct this. Behaviors such as chewing power cords could be dangerous to the animal and allowing this to continue could be harmful to your pets’ health as well as costly for you, in both repair bills and veterinary visits. Just like a child, sometimes a pup needs correction or a time out. A little time in the kennel or a light but convincing tap on the nose will help your pet to understand that these behaviors are not going to continue. (A note from the author: While a light swat to correct a dangerous situation such as cord chewing is acceptable, beating or injuring your pet is not. Please be a responsible pet owner and if you have had a bad day, don’t take it out on the dog.)

Again it should be remembered that immediate and consistent action is the key in training using both methods of reinforcement. If you wait too long before correcting or rewarding a behavior, all impact of the message will be lost. Observing these basics, you can clearly see that both methods are useful to trainers and have their special niches.

Dogs have a natural inclination to dig holes. It is instinctive behavior, but can be extremely destructive and inappropriate for dogs that spend a great deal of time in yards. A digging dog can ruin a great landscaping job, creating both great annoyance and expense for his owner. (more…)

The pure bred dog is something fine to look upon. It is an animal that has been refined over the centuries to reach its pure, unadulterated state today. These dogs have been bred for temper and bloodline from early times. Yet there is a dog that goes back in history even further… The Mixed Breed or Mutt as some people would call them.

This dog is a very ancient mix of pedigrees that, while not always the best of mixes, is most assuredly unique. The temperament of these animals is usually quite good and they tend not to have the congenital defects of their pure bred counterparts. It is possible to produce similar animals thru breeding efforts but as a general rule, mixed breeds are generally a unique animal that won’t be replicated. But what of their training capacity? Is there any reason to train these animals in any different manner than their pure bred brethren?

By and large, the answer is no. These animals are fully capable of learning any behavior that the pure breed is capable of and usually more. Due to better temperaments and high intelligence, these mixed breed animals frequently score quite highly in obedience pre-tests and are very trainable. While pure breed animals have been refined over the centuries, this has occasionally led to inbreeding of the animals and the specific breed has suffered in the way of congenital defects and maladjusted temperaments. The mongrel has not been so afflicted and while it may not always have the handsome lines of a Great Dane or the gorgeous coat of the Chow Chow, it can certainly have the better characteristics inherited from either of these lines and more. A mixed breed dog can have the house pet qualities of a Poodle alongside the protective qualities of a Doberman and the maternal eye of a Saint Bernard. While possessing all of these qualities, the mixed breed may leave behind the overly aggressive and high strung tendencies of the pure bred ancestry. This figured into the equation along with the price factor of the animals and it is quite easy to see why so many households happily have a mixed breed pet. These animals have the ability to display intelligence, show care, obey commands and circumvent obstacles. They have been doing so for thousands of years and show no signs of stopping.

The only real difference between training of a mixed breed animal and a pure breed dog is the ability to cross platforms with less transition trouble. If your dog is a mix between, say, an Irish Setter and a Red Bone Coon Hound, then you have a dog that quite possibly could be trained in the hunting of both birds and game mammals without much confusion. Perhaps the mix is between a Husky and a German Shepherd? This would give you a large dog with both good defense skills and the muscle for real workouts like long days of hiking. Thus by a simple exchange, you can gain much for very little loss. The animal may no longer be pure bred and the aesthetic quality may, or may not, degenerate a bit but you gain much in the way of a responsive and easily trained dog. Looking at these facts, it is hard to understand why the world has such a population explosion of homeless mixed breed pets. After all, the animal seems to be the better choice from the trainer’s point of view.

That being said there are instances where a mixed breed of dog is not acceptable. If you are training animals for the purpose of professional dog showing competitions, then by all means choose a pure breed animal and train them for the specific purposes for which the breed was created. Also for certain usages such as military animals, pure breeds seem to be the animal of choice for the purpose of uniform appearance, although a number of military animals do not meet this qualification. Aside form these or a similar circumstance, the author sees no reason to limit your search for a pet to strictly pure breed animals. Rather, do something good for yourself and for the homeless pet population and adopt a mixed breed animal.

We know the benefits of positive enforcement during training but how can we add some variety to our rewards? There are many ways to reward your pet and they vary a great deal. These range from simple things such as petting the dog or scratching her ears to more elaborate treats such as home cooked gourmet treats. (more…)

The time has come to have a bit of fun with your pet. You step out the door, unhook the leash and throw a tennis ball to the other end of the yard… And your dog looks up at you like you just lost your mind. What went wrong? Looks like its time to head back to the training ground for Fetch lessons. (more…)

Few things in life are prettier than watching a well-trained dog and one of the basic commands is the sit command. There are several methods of teaching your dog to sit. Two of the most popular are the Click and the Compulsory methods. (more…)

One of the first commands your dog learns should be the “HEEL” command. This command will be helpful in insuring the safety of your pet while out in public and will make you look like the owner of a well-mannered and lovable pet. To add to the beauty of all this, the command itself is quite simple and almost any dog can learn the meaning of the command with 30 minutes or so of effort. (more…)