Dog Care and Training

Do you love your dog? Of course you do . Proper dog care and training will ensure you and your dog spend many precious years together. Proper nutrition and exercise will help your dog live a long and fruitful life. You wouldn’t feed yourself garbage, would you?
The same goes for your dog. Reading the labels on the dog food will make sure that your dog is getting the best nutrition, which is important to good health. Exercising is paramount to keeping your dog young. A daily exercise regime keeps your dog healthy and happy. Taking your dog out for a daily walk does both you and your dog good.
A well trained dog lessens the stress level in both you and your dog. A dog that barks, is aggressive, pees in the house, runs out open doors,etc. causes stress on both of you. If you want a healthy and happy dog then proper training is a must. The old adage
“you can’t teach old dogs new tricks” is not correct. Bad behavior can be unlearned and replaced by good behavior. Dogs yearn to be loved, and will try to please, so it is easy to train your dog if you know how. To have a happy and healthy dog, proper dog care and training is a must. For a more comprehensive must have manual on solving bad behavior check out dog training.

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Aug 13, 2024 | 0 | dog care and training

DOG TRAINING- IGNORING COMMANDS

 

 

Dogs who ignore commands do so for a variety of reasons. They may be distracted by something more urgent or exciting. Your dog may be convinced that something very unpleasant is about to follow or the tone of your voice may even sound threatening. Your dog may have no reason to listen to your command. Perhaps the last time he listened there was no verbal praise, no treat nor even a reassuring pat on the head. Perhaps your dog may not be ignoring your command, he may just not understand the command. All the above reasons may be stopping your dog from listening to your commands.

 

It’s quite common for dogs to not listen to commands. Most often owners give dogs very few reasons to listen and a lot of reasons not to. Have you ever seen this scenario?

 

An owner is calling their dog to come and the dog ignores him. The louder they call, the more anger there is to their tone. The owner is now stressed along with the dog. The dog begins to crawl towards the owner, tail between the legs and knows he’s in for trouble. The owner may grab the dog by the collar and maybe even slap the dog. I have seen this happen and my heart bleeds for the poor dog.

 

THIS IS WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

 

The above technique may eventually get some sort of result, but it is wrong on many levels. It stresses out your dog, may inflict potential harm from physical punishment and in the long term establishes a relationship based on fear and threats rather than a healthy serving of respect.

 

Dogs are pack animals who respond to the leader. They will respond to commands. Remember, dogs

do not speak English. It is best to create short, simple and direct commands. Even though you need to be the top dog, you don’t have to make everything sound like a threat to establish your position in the hierarchy. If the tone of your voice sounds threatening, your dog will likely not respond.

 

TONE, TONE, TONE!

 

They don’t understand you! Dogs are responding more to your tone than the actual words being spoken. If your tone contradicts your command , you may not be giving your dog a clear idea of what you want them to do. For example: if your dog jumps up on you and you push him away and giggle while telling him to “get down” then he is getting mixed messages. He thinks you are playing and therefore ignores your command. Another mistake is asking a dog to do something rather than telling. If you say “come here” in a way that sounds more like “could you please maybe come here please” then you are giving your dog a choice and he may opt to ignore you. You don’t have to yell or demand , just make your tone clear that you mean business.

 

Make sure your commands are simple. Keep your commands short and simple and make sure the commands don’t sound alike. Using hand signs and verbal commands make it easier for dogs to understand. This takes time and patience from both of you. By using hand signs and verbal commands in the long run this will help when your dog gets older and hard of hearing.

 

MY DOG STILL IGNORES ME!

 

When your dog still ignores your commands, it means they understand what you want them to do but are deciding not to do it. How can you tell if your dog is in fact understanding the command but has no intention of obeying? Check out your dogs body language. When you issue a command and your dog shows signs of fear (submissive posturing, avoiding eye contact,ears back, tails tucked) then it is more likely that they don’t understand. If that is the case, you can make the situation worse by being more forceful. If your dogs posturing is confident, with no stress and making direct eye contact with you, then there is a dominance issue. A defiant dog may need you to re-establish being the top dog. For a more comprehensive plan to teach your dog, check out dog training .

 

 

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Sep 08, 2024 | 2 | Uncategorized

Introduction to Dog Training

If you have a dog that has obedience problems it can be quite stressful for both of you. Proper dog training will improve the relationship you have with your dog. We will deal with some of the more common dog problems. Dog owners feel frustrated and embarrassed when dealing with dogs that have bad habits. Once you deal with teaching your dog to listen to your commands the both of you can put your energy into a fulfilling relationship.

STOP YOUR DOG FROM JUMPING UP

The dog that jumps is a universal problem that can be cured if you understand what is motivating that behavior. The most common problem is a dog that jumps to greet someone. This is usually caused by being excited. Dogs have an inbred instinct to jump. They lick each others faces as a greeting and jump over their siblings as puppies to get to their mother. The jumping behavior may also be reinforced by the dog owner himself. When greeting your jumping dog you, praise him, feed him, walk him or play with him, you are only reinforcing the jumping behavior.

The second reason for jumping may be establishing dominance. Dogs rest their head or paws on the shoulder of a dog they want to dominate. They then exert downward pressure (this is known as teeing off). A dog will also do this to people but because of our size it is more difficult to do. It is important that you see this behavior in the broader context. If they don’t listen to you, they may have decided not to recognize you as the superior one in the pack hierarchy. If a dog has bad behavior and doesn’t listen it may be a sign of Alpha dog. Some dog owners don’t mind if their dog jumps up to greet them. The last thing we want to do is convince our dog that they have no reason to get excited to see us. But when the same dog jumps on others, it can be awkward and even dangerous.

Lay down the rules. During greeting put your hand or hands in front of you and hold still. With repetition a well trained dog will be able to respond quickly to this gesture.When the dog begins to learn the behavior, then you can add a verbal command like “down” to the gesture. It will take a puppy longer to learn this command. Don’t be overly enthusiastic when greeting a puppy that jumps. Also don’t push the puppy away as they will think you are playing. When you push a puppy away, they will push back instinctively. Patience is the key word. Dogs learn through repitition. Another good way to teach your dog not to jump is to turn your back and ignore him. You then calmly ask him to sit. When he has calmed down the greet the dog. If he starts jumping again, repeat the process. Once your dog has learned the behavior of not jumping and remains calm, it is best to greet him on his level. Squat or kneel and open your palms toward the dog. This is none threatening and puts you on the same level as the dog.

If you have established yourself as the dominant member of the pack, your dog should never be allowed to position himself in front of you when you open a door to visitors. If the behavior continues then you need training to establish yourself as the Alpha dog. If all the dog training still has not helped then a final solution is exercise. A tired dog has less energy and is better behaved. Whether its a long walk or a vigorous game of fetch,exercise is good for both of you!

For a more complete dog training experience check this out.

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Aug 17, 2024 | 0 | dog training (jumping)