Dog Training

"Drop it, Furbee.Furbee, Nooooo!" My neighbor’s shriek exploded through the kitchen door as her Beagle flashed across the yard with a juicy Porterhouse clenched in his teeth and dove under a bush. That night, the adults ate hot dogs with the kids!

Imagine this. Your dog goes potty on your command. I mean, your dog does his business instantly-the moment you ask him to. This might be the most useful thing you can teach your dog.

Your dog’s crate is supposed to be like his den, a safe and comfortable place to hang out until the remainder of the pack returns. However, if your dog doesn’t feel at ease in the crate, that plan won’t work.

Get your dog a crate. A crate is indispensable for housetraining and keeping a young dog out of trouble. But at any age, giving your dog a crate means she has a space of her own where she can retreat and feel safe.

I’ll let you in on the secret to house training. Dog trainer/author Krista Cantrell said it best in the title of her book, Catch Your Dog Doing Something Right. The more often you reward your dog for doing his business outdoors, the fewer accidents you’ll have indoors.

Try teaching your dog to pay attention to you. After all, you are the most important thing in your dog’s life. Why wouldn’t your best friend want to look at you? In addition, if you’re out for a walk and Max is watching you, his nose won’t be glued to the ground, and he can’t possibly be tugging on the leash so hard that your arm comes unfastened at the shoulder.

Praising your dog for doing something right seems obvious. As obvious as scolding her for doing something wrong? On the contrary!

Fetch is a game we take for granted. Yet fetch is the most perfect of all dog games. It’s easy to learn. It’s easy to do. Fetch is great exercise for your dog (even exercise for you, if you walk or jog to a park to play). Most important, fetch is all about give and take (quite literally); you and your pup are working in tandem.

When you walk down the street and smile at a stranger, you probably get a smile right back at you. Maybe that’s why most dogs eventually learn to smile on their own. Or maybe it’s just because we humans amuse them.

It was a dark and stormy night, three years ago on Christmas Eve, and I was walking down our street with my dogs Lucy and Chaser. It was a full-blown blizzard; the snow was falling from the sky by the ton, and the wind the gusting off the lake. The street lights were flickering, so it was nearly impossible to see anything much more than a few inches past your nose.

If you’re teary eyed because from now on Friends can only be seen in reruns, your dog can help you out. You can teach your dog to bring you a tissue.

Fido needs to eliminate outside, but not in your garden. You can put up a sign, "Keep out of the garden." But it’s not likely your dog will read it.

What if one day your dog is presented to the Queen of England? As we all know, it is royal protocol for dogs to bow when meeting the Queen. Teaching your dog to bow will impress more than just royalty, though. Picture this: Your pooch sits, rolls over and says "woof," and then after this little show, she takes a final bow. Applause, applause from Aunt Sally and Uncle Buddy.

My wife, Robin, was taking a continuing education class. She hadn’t been to school in years (and years). One day when she was listening to the teacher, the spirit moved and she raised her hand. "Robin," the teacher said, "I didn’t ask a question."

If your dog’s aggression toward you is a new behavior it is mandatory that you have him examined by a veterinarian before beginning this treatment. Everything from thyroid dysfunction to an abscessed tooth can cause aggressive behavior. Even if the dog isn’t displaying new behavior if he hasn’t had a complete physical exam in the last six months, do it.

The NILIF program is remarkable because it’s effective for such a wide variety of problems. A shy, timid dog becomes more relaxed knowing that he has nothing to worry about, his owner is in charge of all things. A dog that’s pushing too hard to become "top dog" learns that the position is not available and that his life is far more enjoyable without the title.

Crate training is not cruel nor should it be punishment for Puppy. A crate the proper size for Puppy is: a safe place to be while sleeping; safety when you are not around to watch him; a place to eat uninterrupted; a place to go to get away from it all. Dogs are den animals and many like a place they can curl up in and feel secure.

Puppies housebreak at different rates. Some breeds are tougher to teach to go potty outside than others. Your crate and a consistent schedule are two key ingredients to teaching puppy to potty outside. Even if you have an adult dog, you can adapt the puppy schedule.

A dog that is obedient is a dog that is a pleasure to own. Despite the phrase ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks’, both puppies and adult dogs can learn to follow commands, although puppies admittedly learn faster.

There’s a lot of talk these days about training styles and methods. I suppose there has always been talk about such stuff among dog people. I don’t subscribe to any particular method or style, but I do have something to say about such stuff. Oh, you knew that.