Train Your Shelter Dog

How To Train An Unintended Signal

July 7, 2010

Dogs are really good at noticing position. In fact, Pamela Dennison in her book The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Positive Dog Training identified 48 dog to dog signals, and more than 20 of these are about position, sitting, lying down, arcing the body, bowing, tail up, tail down, and so on. Given how important position is to communication between dogs, it is only natural that a dog would be very aware of his human’s position too. Since most humans are not nearly as aware of position as dogs, it’s easy for our dogs to learn a signal that we had no idea we were even using!

Read the full article →

Pick Your Battles

June 26, 2010

OK, so maybe using the word “battles” when I’m talking about dog training is overkill, but that’s the old saying, and in principle it applies to training. The point is to concentrate on fixing the things we can at the moment, and let the other stuff go.

Read the full article →

Training Your Dog–The Most Important Thing

June 11, 2010

There are a gazillion books on how to train your dog. For that matter, you don’t even have to buy a book, just go to Google! Every single one of these sources talks about techniques for dealing with your dog. You can find out how to housebreak, stop playful biting, teach your dog to walk on a loose leash, and lots and lots of tricks. What these books don’t stress is that your success with your dog depends a lot on the dog you start out with.

Read the full article →

The Magic Interruption

April 3, 2010

Sometimes you will have your dog on a leash, out in the real world, and his attention will stray. You don’t have to resort to punishment mode just because you don’t happen to have your training resources like treats, an area with fewer distractions, and a lot of time. What you can do is focus on the goal – get and keep your dog’s attention on you. Show him how to be good, and don’t allow him to establish the habit of cashing in on the rewards of sniffing out all the intriguing smells. What you can do is interrupt his behavior before it gets to the stage of yanking on the leash so he can go smell that garbage can.

Read the full article →

Teach Your Dog With Puzzles

October 14, 2009

Dogs love games and puzzles and joyfully participate in them, so when you train, why not use what they already like to do? The puzzle or game can be pretty much anything you want to the dog to do.

Remember Mary Poppins’ song,
“In ev’ry job that must be done
There is an element of fun
you find the fun and snap!
The job’s a game”

Read the full article →

Get Started Dog Training: The Follow Me Game

August 20, 2009

If you have just adopted a shelter dog, you and he don’t know each other very well. He doesn’t know what is expected of him, and you don’t know how he acts in a house. One of the easiest ways to train your dog is to play dog games with him. A great way to [...]

Read the full article →

Broaden Your Dog’s Vocabulary The Easy Way

July 25, 2009

Dogs learn commands. Duh! In fact, dogs can develop quite a vocabulary. Why is it then, that we human dog trainers, for whom speech is so easy, find it so difficult to communicate with dogs verbally? Find out how to teach your dog a useful vocabulary during your day-to-day activities.

Read the full article →

You Are Always Training Your Dog

July 23, 2009

Every minute you are with your dog, he is learning something, whether you intend him to or not. Just realizing this, can give you an amazing boost to your dog training by giving you something you thought you didn’t have: time to train your dog. Find out how to take advantage of those extra minutes to effectively train your dog.

Read the full article →

Train Your Dog Where You Can

July 20, 2009

One of the basic ideas of training anything, a dog, a horse, a kid, whatever, is to train where you can, and don’t train where you can’t. Duh, this seems obvious, but you might be surprised at how much training is attempted in totally the wrong environment.

Read the full article →

Fitting Your Dog Into Your Life

July 19, 2009

Having a dog that fits comfortably into your life isn’t just about dog training. You have to allow him to “be” in your life. Some problems and answers to help fit your dog into your life.

Read the full article →