09/08/2016
by Jess Rollins
"Any time you are with your dog, one
of you is being trained. It is better to
be the trainer than the trainee." -
Steve White
- Treats: Make "˜em small (just enough
to taste)! This is the easiest way to
communicate to your dog that he did
something right, (but we will use other
methods too). The dog should believe
that you could have a treat at any time
and it just might be something REALLY
AWESOME! I strongly suggest putting a
treat container in the main rooms of the
house so as not to miss any good
opportunities for reinforcement and
always carry treats on walks. Fresh
treats such as meat or cheese are useful
when working in more distracting environments.
- Don't give it away for free: get some
training out of his feeding, his walks
and playtime.
- ALL GOOD THINGS COME FROM YOU: By
asking for good behavior before giving
your dog the things he likes you can
demonstrate your leadership without
using force.
- REMEMBER: your attention is a REWARD
(sometimes even if you are yelling!).
- MYTH: Dogs should behave out of a
selfless "desire to please" and respect,
and not for treats. This myth has hurt
a lot of dogs, and trainers who don't
use reward-based training are using
punishment (choke chains) to motivate
the dogs and not really "respect". We have to
deliberately demonstrate to the dog WHY
he should listen to us (we have the
food, the toys and the fun!).
- Think about what you want your dog to
do rather than what you don't want him
to do. Then prevent him doing what you
don't want and reward him doing what you
do want. Get it? Teach him some words to
help communicate what you want such as
"leave it", and "drop it".
- USE PUNISHMENTS VERY CAREFULLY (they
don't usually work). Never strike your
dog.
- Train in 5 minute sessions, 3 times
(or more, go nuts!) per day. Also be
aware that you are always teaching your
dog how to behave by your response to
his behavior.
- Run your dog every day until her
tongue is hanging out. Twice if she's
still got too many "ants in the pants".
- HELP HIM LIVE LONGER. Feed your dog a
premium human grade diet such as Innova
or Wellness with fresh supplements.
Avoid over vaccinating and excess flea
and tick repellent chemicals. Clean
teeth and ears once a week, bathe and
trim nails once per month.
- All dogs HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO bite.
That's why it's important to teach your
dog to be comfortable in all situations
and to be gentle with his mouth.
- MYTH: "Kids and dogs are great
together". Actually kids are the most
likely to be bitten (and this happens
TOO often) because they accidentally do
things that frighten dogs or they act
like "prey". Never leave a dog and child
unsupervised. Teach children not to
approach a dog that is unknown to them,
or when an adult is not present.
- your dog is always learning (and so
you are always teaching/training). You
will need to refresh the cues that you
teach your dog throughout her lifetime.
Happy Training!
- Jess