Dogs need a job. There is no doubt about it. No matter what the breed they all have a need to work. More to the point, they need to work for pack leader. So since we live in town how can we provide jobs for our dogs? It's easy. Biking, Rollerblading and treadmills are all great ways to provide for this working need within the dog. Hiding the dogs food at dinner time a making them go find it is another great way. Simple things like walking them wearing a dog backpack filled with rocks, having them pull you on rollerblades, sending them through an agility course or any other hard-working task they love will make them feel fulfilled and stop them from looking for other sources to release their energy like ripping the couch apart or digging trenches in the yard. By providing this need for your dog you will create a bond with them that you have never had before.  Most important of all: Leadership is true love to your dog :) Get to it pack leaders and go find those jobs. Hami...

Teaching Your Dog Not to Jump Up on People The importance of this lesson may depend on the size of your dog. A dog the size of a Chihuahua jumping up on you (or visitors as they come through your door) won’t create quite the same problem as a 100-pound bear of a dog. But then again, muddy paws are messy, regardless of their size. And some visitors may not enjoy being “greeted” by any jumping dog. Teaching your dog not to jump up on people will take extra time and patience because dogs naturally greet friends and family by sniffing or licking each other’s muzzles. Your “muzzle” is too high, so they try to jump up to reach it. They’re not being rude or pushy; they’re being sociable! We just need to train them to be sociable in human terms. You’ll need a volunteer to help you with this lesson. Lesson 6: Teaching Your Dog Not to Jump Up on People Read this lesson first, and then practice it with your dog. For Teaching Your Dog Not to Jump on Visitors: 1. Load up your pocke...

Teaching Your Dog to Stay It’s not easy for a dog who loves being with you to stay where she is while you walk away. But teaching your dog to stay has many benefits. For example, a dog that stays on command can be kept out of harm’s way when you need to run across the street. The stay command will also help your dog to learn patience and impulse control. A visual command to stay can help you keep your dog safe when you’re too far away for your voice to be heard, so we’ll incorporate a hand signal into this lesson. You’ll use two verbal commands for this lesson: a word to tell your dog to stay, and a different word to let her know it’s OK now to move (release her from the stay). As with all training, pick specific verbal commands and use them consistently. The obvious word for the stay command is “Stay.” (Don’t be tempted to lengthen that sometimes into “Stay there.”) The release command can be something like “Release” or “Free” or “Okay.” Make sure it’s not a word you might ...

Basics of Dog Training It's essential for Dog parents like you to know certain basic factors that determine your relationship with your Dog and can go a long way in training him effectively. Before you begin training your Dog, it is absolutely essential that you build a loving bond with him. This is important as it helps you to understand his needs and instincts and also allows your Dog to have complete trust in you. Know more about Dog care from this free mini course Let us see how....... How To Bond With Your Dog Building a bond with your Dog is the first and the most crucial step involved in training him successfully. As soon as you bring your Dog home, you must first try to develop a caring and loving relationship with him in order to win his trust and confidence. When Dogs are secure in the knowledge that they belong to the family, they are more likely to respond better to their owners' training commands. Just like with any relationship, there must be mut...

How Can I Get My Dogs to Stop Digging? Hi Dog Dude, My boyfriend and I have three dogs. Two are Rottweilers (three years old and one year old) and one is a Labrador retriever (nine months old). The problem we have is that they love to dig. We even tried burying their poop in their holes, so they would not dig anymore, but that did not stop them. We are moving to a new house and want to break them of that habit. Is there something else we can do to stop the digging? Please help! Read The Dog Dudes  Advice Below! We know that digging can be harmful to people’s environments, but, at the same time, digging for some dogs is an activity that keeps them balanced. Digging is a form of  exercise  and distraction, and, for a dog, it can be simply a matter of being bored and having nothing else to do. It’s especially common if it’s in their  breed  to be diggers; when it’s part of their nature, they’ll often drain some of that extra energy by doing something that...

Lesson 3: Teaching Your Dog to Come When Called Teaching your dog to come when called is one of the most valuable lessons in this training course. It can literally save your dog’s life. A dog that comes when called can be kept away from traffic or other dangers. You can let him run at the dog park, in the woods or along the beach knowing that when you call him back, he’ll come. This training therefore gives you both more freedom. But teaching your dog to come when called is also one of the most difficult lessons—for you, not your dog. You’ll need to control your normal human tendencies and pay close attention to your body language. What you’ll be learning to do is counter-intuitive to humans, but very effective. The end result—a dog that comes when you call him, every single time—will be well worth the effort. Before we begin, you need to decide what command you’ll use. Give this some thought, because you’ll need to use it each and every time, without change. Consistency is ...

Lesson 2: Teaching Your Dog to Sit Even if your dog already knows how to sit on verbal command, please don’t skip this lesson. We promise she’ll begin to learn something new! The method you’ll use to teach your dog to sit is known as the “lure and reward” method. You’ll lure your dog into a sitting position, then immediately reward her. It’s a popular method because it’s effective, easy for you to do, and easy for your dog to learn. A great “side-effect” of this method is that it allows a natural motion to become a visual cue… a form of sign language for your dog. This is so cool! Dogs are very visual and they often respond to body motions better than they do to sounds. (You’ll need to keep this in mind as sometimes it can work against you: to your dog, your voice may be saying one thing while your body language is saying the opposite. In dog communication, body language trumps verbal language every time. We’ll cover this in more detail later.) Imagine being able to use hand...

 Teaching Your Dog His/Her Name. Even if your dog already knows his name, please don’t skip this lesson. I promise you’ll learn something! The first thing we all teach our dogs, even before we realize we’re doing any training, is that when we make a certain specific sound, we want their attention. This “sound” is their name. That’s all it is, and that’s all it should be used for. Many dog owners tend to think of their dog’s name as more than that. They use it as a “catch-all” command with multiple definitions that vary depending on what they want their dog to do at the moment: “Max!” (Meaning “Come here!”); “Max!” (Meaning “Stop that!”); “Max!” (Meaning “Get down!”); “Max!” (Meaning “Stop barking!”); “Max!” (Meaning “Don’t eat that cat poop!). You get the idea. You’re dog may be the smartest dog in the world, but he is not a mind reader. You shouldn’t use your dog’s name any differently than a child’s name. For example, if you call a child’s name, he may acknowled...

Reading Dog Behaviour Understanding the signals that dogs display will help you to know how to behave around them. An aggressive dog makes itself bigger by raising its hackles (hair along its neck and back), and standing on the tips of its paws lifts its lips to show its teeth barks, growls or snarls lays its ears back has its tail raised stares directly at what it’s threatening. Calm the situation avoid direct eye contact which can be interpreted as threatening stand still, looking away and keeping your arms still in front of you slowly and calmly start moving away without turning your back on the dog - try and keep side on to it A frightened dog makes itself smaller by hunching or lying down lays its ears flat curls its tail between its legs. Because a frightened dog may become aggressive, you should try and remove or reduce the level of threat speak quietly and soothingly avoid direct eye contact walk away slowly and calmly, staying side on to the...

Dogs and Dominance. Dear Dog Dude During the past week our two dogs, Jack, a 2-year-old Chihuahua and our new dog  Toby, 1-year-old Terrier mix have been attacking each other. We brought Toby into our house about three months ago. Toby's past life was very hard -- best case scenario he was severely neglected; worse case he was abused and neglected by the very people who were supposed to love and take care of him. When the shelter got him one of his legs was broken in 4 places and he was completely matted. I think my boys are fighting for dominance, but what should I do? I don't want either one hurt and I want them to be companions for each other. We've starting exercising them more and putting them in the submission position after we pull them apart. Toby starts obedience classes in two days, and we’re hoping that this all works out. Any advice you could give our family would be much appreciated! Thank you, Jessica Lang and Steven Andrews   ...

How to Be the Pack Leader By Cesar Millan. A dog's mother begins training puppies from birth. She makes them wait for food; she controls when they play and how far they travel. Adult dogs need these same rules, boundaries, and limitations from you, their  pack  leader when  dog training . A pack leader doesn't project emotional or nervous energy, so neither should you. In the wild, the pack leader uses calm-assertive energy to influence how the dog interacts with his surroundings. She enforces these laws in a quiet way, as is the case when a mother picks up a  puppy  by the scruff of the neck if he strays outside the den. Ownership of territory is very important. Dogs in the wild claim space by first asserting themselves in a calm and confident way, and then communicating this ownership through clear body language signals and eye contact. A dog who understands that you, as the pack leader, own the space in which he lives will respect your assert...

Preventing dog dental disease Preventing dental disease is an important feature, which is to be paid more emphasis by the dog lovers or dog owners. Dental disease is given priority in the health schedule of the dog nowadays because of the association of the dental diseases with systemic diseases in the dogs.  Antibiotics need to be given in the initial stage of teeth infection itself and if not, this may cause specific infections and the organisms may spread to the other nearby regions like the oral mucous membrane and pharyngeal region etc.  More acidic or alkaline food materials need not be given to the dogs to avoid the possible teeth damage.  If the dog is not given at its young age some bony material to bite on, the dog may develop some dental diseases later. The teething action often causes the animal to go for biting in an indiscriminate manner. Hence, the animal has to be given some biting materials to avoid the occurrence of dental diseases. If there is ...

The importance of this lesson may depend on the size of your dog. A dog the size of a Chihuahua jumping up on you (or visitors as they come through your door) won’t create quite the same problem as a 100-pound bear of a dog. But then again, muddy paws are messy, regardless of their size. And some visitors may not enjoy being “greeted” by any jumping dog. Teaching your dog not to jump up on people will take extra time and patience because dogs naturally greet friends and family by sniffing or licking each other’s muzzles. Your “muzzle” is too high, so they try to jump up to reach it. They’re not being rude or pushy; they’re being sociable! We just need to train them to be sociable in human terms. You’ll need a volunteer to help you with this lesson. Teaching Your Dog Not to Jump Up on People Read this lesson first, and then practice it with your dog. For Teaching Your Dog Not to Jump on Visitors: 1. Load up your pocket (or a bag or pouch) with treats. 2. Take your dog n...

A new radical approach toward dog ownership is spreading across the Waikato. Hamish Young has earned the nickname, “The Dog Dude” after founding a new approach to dog psychology and training. While many New Zealanders struggle to control their dogs, Hamish has adopted a more natural approach to treating a dog from a dog’s perspective in order to achieve a balanced way of life for the dog. As Hamish explains, when there isn’t a dominant pack leader to show a dog how to live, they try to take on this role and end up becoming mentally unbalanced because this isn’t the natural way for a dog to be. Dogs are not humans, they are followers, so they need a powerful leader. But so many of New Zealand’s dogs are unbalanced because kiwis tend to treat their dogs like humans which has the opposite effect of being an assertive pack leader. This bad approach to dog ownership has caused dogs across the country to develop psychological issues as a side effect to this unbal...

Dog Pre-Training Basics If you have a young puppy, we recommend that you wait until he’s at least 8 weeks old to begin formal training. Before you begin the formal training lessons with a dog of any age, please plan to follow these keys to success: 1. Be patient. Each dog is unique, and can only learn at his own pace. Some dogs learn quickly; others take more time. Patience is indeed a virtue when it comes to effective dog training! 2. Be kind. This goes hand-in-paw with “Be patient.” Don’t lose your temper if your dog doesn’t “get it” right away, or appears to be ignoring you. Please do not punish your dog for not learning quickly enough. As a matter of fact, don’t punish your dog at all. (We’ll be teaching you effective ways to stop or prevent inappropriate behavior—without punishment.) 3. Be flexible. If your dog is struggling to learn, be willing to change your training routine. The location may be too distracting. The time of day may be too close (or far from) feeding t...