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Training Your Dog
Achieving Dominance
- If your dog comes up to you and wants attention ignore him, then in your own time call him and pat him.
- Make him do something for you before you do something for him e.g. make him sit before feeding or getting a pat, make him wait before going in or out the door, car, gate, etc.
- Make him lie down - this is a submissive position.
- Don't let him wander off on his own especially at the park, keep him on the lead until you have gained control - use a longline if need be to teach dog you still have control even at a distance.
- Make sure that he always obeys your commands by only giving a command when you can control him e.g. don't call him when he is too far away from you, it is unlikely he will come, wait until he is close to you then call him and praise him when he comes to you and sits. Every time you give a command and can not enforce it you have taught him disobedience.
- If your dog will not come inside when called close the door and ignore him. If he then comes and scratches at the door continue to ignore him, then when you are ready go and open the door and call him again (even if he is sitting at the door or coming towards you) then praise him for coming. If he does not come again repeat the procedure until he responds to your command. The same applies for going outside.
- In all these exercises the emphasis is on you giving a command and the dog obeying - this is dominance. If the dog dictates when he wants fed, attention, let in or out he will consider that he is the boss - after all he is giving the commands.
General Points
- Never give your dog a command which you know he will disobey and you can not re-enforce.
- In most situations you are better to say nothing than yell or discipline your dog, in most cases the dog is trying to get attention from you and quite often it doesn't matter whether that attention is positive or negative as long as it gets a reaction.
- The dog is a social animal, he dislikes being ignored. If he is ignored chances are he will do something to get your attention - sometimes good, and sometimes bad. You must praise the good behaviour and continue to ignore bad behaviour (as was stated before the dog does not always require a positive response to him any response at all means he is getting your attention).
- Start as you mean to carry on - don't let him get into the habit of doing something that you might not worry about when he's young but don't want him to do when he's full grown.
- Remember your dog is an individual, these are suggested methods only and may need to be adjusted for your dog. You must learn about your dog then you will develop a better relationship with him.
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Aggression Towards Other Dogs
- If you see another dog approaching when walking your dog try to get your dog to focus his attention on you by making him work for you in some way. Try to do this before your dog has already eyed up the other dog.
- Do not yell at your dog or the other dog, this will only create aggravation, your dog will only get more worked up and associate this with other dogs. He will immediately start getting upset when he sees another dog anticipating your reaction.
- If you have a large dog which you feel may attack another dog while on the lead, use a halter to control him.
Aggression Towards Visitors
- When visitors call, shut your dog in another room until you have achieved control.
- Arrange for someone to visit that you know will not be frightened of the dog and will follow your instructions to assist with training. The first step is to tell this person not to respond to the dog by either yelling at it or making a fuss, either one will get the dog excited which is exactly the opposite reaction you want.
- In the first session put the dog out of the room and bring him in when the 'visitor' has sat down. Talk quietly for a few minutes ignoring the dog then end the visit. Repeat this process a few times until the 'visitor' can be met at the door. It is important that the dog is taught to sit beside you at the door when someone calls, teach him to do this and not bark and jump at the door or rush forward as the visitor walks.
- Until you have gained this control each time you get a real visitor put the dog out so that he is only learning from the situation you control.
Aggression Towards Moving Objects
- Teach him to come when called.
- Intervene as early as possible, he is more likely obey you when he is close than if he has already started to chase something.
- It may be possible to set up a situation similar to that suggested in "Aggression To~ds Visitors" where the dog is kept on the lead .
Possessive Aggression
- Remove the object the dog is possessive about whether it be a chair, a toy or whatever he will not let you touch while he is there.
- Attain dominance over your dog by making him wait for food, attention etc. When you are dominant reintroduce the possessive item, as soon as the dog goes to it, tell him to go and lie down. If he becomes possessive again you have reintroduced the object to quickly.
Destructive Behaviour
- Dogs chew up cushions etc when their owner leaves them at home alone or in the car because of anxiety.
- To alleviate anxiety you must teach the dog to be secure, so start by giving his own place, whether it be a mat, basket, beanbag, or just a certain spot in the house. While you are at home teach the dog to go to that place and lie down while you stay in the room, do this for short times to start then build up the time. When the dog has learnt to stay there happily while you're in the room, try going into another room again starting with short periods then build up the time you can be out of the room without him getting upset. When you have achieved this try going out the door then come straight back in. Again build up the time you can go outside slowly. Then carry on by going out to the drive etc..
- It is important that you do not rush this, it must be done in steady stages so that the dog doesn't become anxious.
- Do not yell at your dog or discipline him in any way if you should have to genuinely have to go out and he chews something. It may make you feel better at the time but it will only make your dog feel worse. He does not feel 'guilty' when you come home (this is a human emotion) all he understands is that he was upset and chewed something - he knows your arrival means he will get told off. He is then confused as he wants to see you (that caused the anxiety in the first place) but he knows that when he sees you he will get told off - end result for the dog is even more anxiety over this conflict of feelings.
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Chewing Shoes Etc
- As with most training, prevention is better than cure. Keep shoes etc out of reach, find or buy him a toy of his own that he can play with and chew. If he does chew something of yours take him to it (not the reverse) and chastise him for touching the item.
Digging Holes
- When you are unable to supervise your dog enclose him on something he can't dig such as concrete or wood. If he is unable to dig he will gradually eliminate the habit.
- Remember prevention is better than cure, if you don't let him start a habit you won't have to cure him of it.
Barking
- Barking in the car is usually caused by excitement at going out to the park etc. This can start when you pick up the car keys or any other activity that normally proceeds an outing for the dog.
- To stop this behaviour you must start with picking up your keys and as soon as the dog starts barking put them down again. After you have done this for a while and broken the association that picking up your keys means going out. You may then proceed to putting the dog in the car, remembering that as soon as he barks you must take him out again. Eventually you can go for a short drive but if he begins to bark stop. He must not go to the park or anywhere until he stops barking.
- Do not yell at him at any time, he will not obey you, so you are only teaching him to disobey.
- This is a slow process as up until now he has learnt to bark and is rewarded i.e. a walk in the park. He must now learn that when he barks there is no reward.
- Usually dogs bark when they are bored e.g. tied up or locked up for long periods of time. If your dog barks in this situation again, don't say anything just go out and make a loud noise against his kennel then walk away. Repeat this process as many times as necessary. This also works for dogs who bark at the gate when other people or dogs walk by.
- Do remember it is neither kind nor reasonable to expect your dog to stay locked or tied up for vast periods of time - how would you like it.
Nervous Behaviour
Dogs can become nervous if not socialised properly, changed owners or have been mistreated.
- It is important that your dog gets out to met other people and other dogs. When you take him out talk quietly to him to reassure him, do not let other people approach him or leave him tied up. In these circumstances he will feel threatened as he can not escape. Do not take him anywhere where there are loud noises to start with as it is important he stays calm.
- If you are going visiting and wish to take your dog with you make sure your friends are not going to fuss over him. You should let him sit quietly at your feet, he will greet people when his confidence builds - you can not force him as it will only make him more nervous.
- If your dog is showing signs of nervous behaviour in your own home look carefully at what is happening. Have members of the household been arguing? this can easily upset the dog - disputes in the family pack are a real concern to a dog, as the pack is very important to him.
- Some dogs are nervous by nature due to their breed (some breeds are more nervous than others) or their pedigree (a hereditary trait). This can not be cured, but with quiet and calm handling the dog will gain some confidence.
Over Excitement
- This can be hereditary behaviour as some breeds are more excitable than others. Over excitement can cause barking, see the training methods suggested for barking in this case.
- If your dog becomes excited when you receive a visitor (especially a friend he likes) get that person to help you with training. Start by having your friend knock at the door, go to the door and make the dog sit, and as soon as he sits open the door. If he gets up immediately close the door. Repeat the process until you can open the door and the dog remains sitting. Only then may you let your friend in, at no time allow this person to make a fuss of the dog - they must ignore him. When you have sat down allow them to pat the dog, but make the dog sit first and don't overdo the pat After a while your dog will learn that only good behaviour means seeing a visitor.
- At no time while training should you yell at the dog , keep calm when you tell him to sit and do not praise him, he does not need a reward at this stage, his reward is being allowed to meet your visitors.
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Keeping Off Gardens
- This also can be used to train your dog not to go out an open gate etc.
- Firstly put your dog on the lead and take him to the garden (or gateway) then take a step forward. As soon as the dog goes to step forward onto the garden (or out the gateway) yell NO and give him a correction with the lead, repeat this a few times then try him off the lead, every time he goes to step on the garden tell him off. Do not leave him in the garden area unsupervised until he has been properly trained, or he will learn that he can still do want he wants when you're not around. Try leaving him and watching from a window so you can discipline him as soon as he steps on the garden (or over the gate).
Phobias
- Some dogs have phobias such as fear of the vacuum cleaner, thunder or other loud noises.
- It is possible that at some stage he has had a genuine fright or that he was never introduced to say a vacuum cleaner until he was past the puppy stage.
- In the case of a vacuum cleaner, start by turning the machine on when in a different room to the dog - so he can only just hear it. Over a period of time move it closer so that eventually you can turn it on in the same room. When you do this leave it turned on while you give your dog its dinner. He will ignore the sound and eat.
- If your dog is scared of thunder or other loud noises use the same process by starting with a noise that isn't too loud and slowly increase the noise When your dog shows signs of fear decrease the noise again. Over a period of time increase the noise slowly. It is a good practice to do this when you feed your dog as he will learn to ignore the noise and eat.
- Gradually he will learn that the noise is not a threat and will lose his fear.
Teaching Your Dog To Come
- Call your dog to you for food, even though he may be right beside you - this gives an association with the command- make him sit and wait before feeding him.
- Call him to you in the house where you have full control. Make him sit then praise him. Start with very short distances at first then increase gradually. Do the same thing outside. When he is doing this well. Call him when you are out of sight, perhaps around the corner of the house but still quite close. When he is coming to you every time you call in or around the house proceed to a park and practice there again starting with short distances.
- If you have called your dog and he has not come to you do not continue to call or yell at him - you are only teaching him to ignore you. Walk away from him, go and sit somewhere and ignore him, if you drove to the park, go and sit in the car. The basis of this is that no dog really likes to be ignored, and they will eventually seek your attention. When the dog finally comes up to you, continue ignoring him (the dog must learn to come when you call) and not when he feels like it, after a short time while he is still close call him preferably when he is facing you, then praise him when he comes to you. If the dog ignores this second command, get up and walk away again and repeat the procedure.
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Take Things Slowly
- There are no magic answers to training a dog, it is all repetition - things taught slowly and thoroughly will have a lasting effect and result in long term behaviour traits.
- In most cases where a habit has already been formed there is no quick solution and it will take time to eliminate that habit - after all it took time for him to learn.
- If you are not prepared to dedicate time needed to slowly change your dogs behaviour pattern then you must be prepared to live with this behaviour.
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