How To Start Dog Training PT#3

Training At Meal Times doesn’t have to be hard. 

Eating is one of the most primal activities for dogs. They love it, and they have respect for whoever gives them food (the leader in the pack). You can use your “power” of being pack leader to enhance your dog training efforts — every day. The following suggestions will help you establish your role as pack leader and reinforce dog obedience, deferment to your leadership, dog training techniques, and overall attitude and disposition (yours and your dogs).

       1. Consistency

A good habit to have in feeding your dog is consistency. Dogs love routine and food is a very important subject to them. For example, feed your dog at approximately the same time(s) each day (some modification is fine for weekly schedule changes.) If feeding two times a day, pick two windows of time that you can be consistent with, for example, between 7:00 and 8:00 am and then again between 5:00 and 6:00 pm.

Having a window of time helps prevent anxiety in a dog expecting to be fed at a specific time each day (5:15 pm — yes, dogs can zero in on a specific time of day like 5:15).

This is a very real concern for dogs and some dogs can fall apart emotionally and physically if they are expecting food at that time and don’t get it. Ever hear of a dog that is panting and throwing up or having diarrhea? This dog is anxious. Setting a window of time and sticking to it will help your dog remain calm. Practice the same routine every day.

       2. No running buffet

A big mistake is to offer up the running buffet, where food is available around the clock. This is actually a pretty common feeding program in many homes because it’s simple for the humans — add food as needed.

So why not do this? Because it leads to an obese, lazy dog who doesn’t listen to your commands, respect your leadership position or adhere to rules you’ve set forth in your dog training.

       3. Mealtime is dog training time

Wonderful things happen at mealtime — for you and your dog. You get the opportunity to have your dog perform (reinforcing all that dog training you’ve done) for his meal. This could be sit, down, come, place. This is the easiest way you have of getting your dog’s affirmation of you being the leader and reinforcing dog training. If you aren’t the leader, guess who is. It will be the demanding, obnoxious dog bossing you around for a meal.

For example, hold the food bowl in your hand. Your dog may be jumping, yipping, and pawing at you for the food. This is another dog training opportunity for you — teaching him to be calmer at mealtimes. State your command once and wait (good to start with a sit, which is usually the easiest). Your dog sits and the bowl of food goes to the floor with praise for a good sit and a release “ok” that they can move to get the food.

When your dog complies with your command, he has just deferred to your leadership in the pack (when beginning this program, you may need to help your dog with completing his command and praise warmly and then give food.)

Once your dog has the program down, you can introduce other feeders such as spouse, responsible children, etc to gently let your four-footed family member know her position in the pack.

By using your dog’s feeding routine as training, you can gain a lot. You get to reinforce all the dog training and dog obedience you’ve worked so hard on — and it feels effortless. You get increased respect from your dog for providing the important commodity of food and for being a consistent provider. The more you establish yourself as leader of the pack, the more your dog will want to please you and dog training will be a far easier and more effective.

The Command Voice

When giving commands to a dog, a calm, firm, authoritative voice is most effective. Dogs do not respond well to hesitant, pleading voices, nor to yelling, which might sound to the dog like threatening barking or scolding. It is also important that the word used for the command and the pitch of the voice be consistent each time the command is delivered so that the dog can more easily learn what the owner means (“siiiiiiiiiiiit” does not sound the same as “sit”, for example).

Using the dog’s name before a command ensures that the dog knows that a command is coming, that it is for him (rather than for other dogs, children, or people), and that he should pay attention. This is important because dogs hear a lot of human speech that has no relevance for them at all, and it is easy for them to disregard commands amongst the babble.

To reinforce the command, the dog always gets some kind of reward or reinforcement (praise and usually a treat or toy) when it performs the action correctly. This helps the dog to understand that he has done a good thing.

Note that not all dogs are trained to voice command. Many working breeds of dog are not trained to a voice command at all; they are taught to obey a combination of whistles and hand signals. Deaf dogs are perfectly capable of learning to obey visual signals alone. Many Many obedience classes teach hand signals for common commands in addition to voice signals; these signals can be useful in quiet situations, at a distance, and in advanced obedience competitions.

The specific command words are not important, although common words in English include sit, down, come, and stay. Short, clear words that are easily understood by other humans are generally recommended; that way, people will understand what a handler is telling his dog to do and other handlers have a good chance of controlling someone else’s dog if necessary. In fact, dogs can learn commands in any language or other communications medium, including whistles, mouth sounds, hand gestures, and so forth.

Invisible Commands

Dogs can sometimes respond to subtle variations in the body language of the owner. Here’s two examples:

1.) Many owners tend to start bending over before telling their dog the, “Down” command. Because of this, the dog starts to cue off the owner’s body language and lays down anytime the owner bends over… but not if the owner stands up straight and issues the command!

Solution: Always give the command FIRST, before bending over and making the dog do it. This way, the dog will link the behavior with the command, rather than with your body language.

2.) Amateur handlers tend to tell their dog “Heel,” and then walk with their shoulders angled back towards their dog, so that they can look at their dog while they’re walking.

The problem with this is that the dog reads your body language and attempts to align himself with your shoulders, thus lagging behind the owner, rather than walking in the heel position (aligned with your left heal.)

Solution: Keep both shoulders straight forward as you walk. If you need to look at your dog (you should)… cock your head, without angling your shoulders. This will keep your dog lined up right alongside you.

In general it is helpful if you can be aware of how your body language affects your dog.

House training

        House Training Basic Concepts :-

One of the most confusing and anxiety-ridden areas of dog training is house training yet it is one of the most important, especially for the humans involved. The best way to understand and find success with house training is to use the dog’s own nature to help you.

Dogs are, by instinct, very clean animals. They would rather not soil any areas where they normally sleep or eat. Dogs are also creatures of habit — they like to know where they’re supposed to go urinate and defecate. If the dog is taught to eliminate on gravel or concrete, they will tend to look for either of those surfaces to do so. If they’re taught to eliminate on grass or dirt, that’s where they will choose. Use these habits to your advantage.

        Setting Up The Training Area

This is the first step. Make sure the area you choose is small and confined. A bathroom works for this, or a place in a kitchen or garage also work well. Remember that crate training works well for puppies or small dogs, but for the larger animals, a crate can be too confining.

You need to spend some time with this aspect of the training. You need to play with your dog in this area, and this is also where the dog will be taught to sleep and eat. Put together a special bed. This can be something you make up with items around the house, or you can go to the store and purchase a bed. Don’t worry if your dog eliminates in this area at first. Once they figure out that this is where the sleep and eat, they’ll stop eliminating there.

Once your dog realizes that the bed is for sleeping, you can begin to move it around the house, but only when you’re there. When you’re not, put the bed back in the training area.

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