Dog crate training is one of the most effective ways of modifying your pet’s elimination habits. If your puppy or new pet has decided that they want to leave puddles or other unsightly messes around your house, then taking a closer look at this method may be in order.

Dog crate training is based around the premises that most dogs will not eliminate where they sleep or rest, provided that they are given options to release elsewhere. Therefore, owners will temporarily confine their pet to a cage of some sorts, in order to change negative behaviors. However, the confinement is only one aspect of dog crate training; the other, more important aspect occurs when the dog is released from it’s cage, is brought outside to go to the bathroom, and is instantly praised.

It is important to note that this method is used only to temporarily confine your dog when you are crate training him, or when you are away from your home for shorter periods of time (i.e. going to work). This method is meant to teach your dog bladder control, helping them to learn when and where it is, and is not appropriate to do the deed.

However, dog crate training is not meant as a stopgap measure for a difficult dog; at no point should your dog EVER be locked up for an extended period of time, or the problem will only intensify.

Your pet should, at first, only be confined to his crate when you are within close range (i.e. at home, or going for a walk around the block). Other than when you go to sleep, you should allow your dog to initially take a break from the crate every hour to go to the bathroom. As soon as you open the cage, guide them outside and give them a couple of minutes to take care of themselves. If within five minutes they haven’t, gently guide them back to their cage. If your dog, however, does take care of himself outside, IMMEDIATELY provide some sort of positive reinforcement that your dog already associates with being good, such as a toy, treat, affection, long walk or something along those lines.

When starting the dog crate training, make sure to keep a diary of when your dog eats, sleeps and requires a bathroom break. Soon, you’ll see patterns to his behavior, and you can slowly stretch out the times to allow him outside of the crate for a break. For instance, if your dog needs a potty break every day when they wake up, and then again during the lunch hour, allow him to run free outside of these times, except for ONE HOUR before that time occurs. Then, put your dog back in the crate so that an accident doesn’t happen, and continue positively reinforcing the behavior. Bit by bit you’ll be able to stretch this out until after a couple of weeks, you should no longer need the crate at all.

Note however that accidents do happen. If they do, just clean it up, and don’t do anything to your dog. Just note the accident, and make sure the next day to put him in his crate an hour before the same corresponding time, and use the same methods again, until the problem is corrected.

(c) 2005 dog-training-info.com. This article may be republished as long as these bylines are included. Kevin Simmons is the webmaster of http://www.dog-training-info.com. Please visit the site for more free dog training articles. Online URL for this article: http://www.dog-training-info.com/dog-crate-training.htm

Dog obedience training starts even before you get your puppy in your home. Instead, it starts originally with the person that you purchased the dog from. Ask the breeder or salesperson what type of training, if anything at all, was provided before your dog came into your care.

Puppies until the age of 21 days are like infants; they are only able to find Mom, eat, sleep and go to the bathroom. Anything else is pretty much beyond their abilities at this time. That fourth week, however, is crucial to any dog obedience training because this is when your animal becomes more aware of his surroundings. Any positive or negative experiences that occur during this time will affect your puppy for life, so make sure that any stimuli is in the right direction.

At the four week mark, puppies can be introduced to crate training while still at the breeder’s. A wire cage, well padded and large enough for the entire litter, is placed in the whelping box at this stage. Newspaper is placed all around the floor space, so that the dogs can get used to sleeping in the crate and eliminating on the paper.

Dog obedience training at this stage of the game is gentle and supportive, and there is no punishment. Breeders and owners should take this time to play with their puppies, and get them in a group to slowly learn the “Come” command, by quietly saying the word, and praising heavily when they do respond appropriately.

Remember that timing and consistency are key when beginning dog obedience training with your young pups. The trainer should be planning, on a daily basis, when and how to work on these essential skills, and then perform them at basically the same time every day. Also, positive reinforcement is necessary immediately during or after the pups have followed the given commands, or else there is a danger of the animals associating the praise with something else other than the intended action.

Give your dogs time to think about their actions before you react to them; especially at this young age, where there are a lot of distractions (like other puppies for instance, or a grumbly tummy), they may need a bit of time to respond to a command they are learning. Be patient. However, keep in mind that young dogs such as these are not able to take more than about 10 minutes of training at a time, before they lose attention. This is not only appropriate for their young age, it’s essential to their continued learning. Dog obedience training shouldn’t be boring for your animal - it should be fun!

Once you’ve worked through the more basic commands, make sure when introducing more complex concepts (such as Stay or Sit) that you break down the skill into small, bite-sized chunks. Start with teaching the dog how to sit properly, before you ask him to respond to the command, for instance. Many web sites have detailed progression training techniques for all of the dog obedience training commands, so feel free to search around for some ideas along this vein.

(c) 2005 dog-training-info.com. This article may be republished as long as these bylines are included. Kevin Simmons is the webmaster of http://www.dog-training-info.com. Please visit the site for more free dog training articles. Online URL for this article: http://www.dog-training-info.com/dog-obedience-training.htm

Shy dogs are more common than most people think, but unfortunately many dogs who suffer from this affliction are never seen by the general public because of their impairment. Shy dogs range from those who scurry away when someone walks by, to those who bite when approached. No matter how vehement their behavior, however, there are ways of not only managing it, but solving the problem.

Symptoms of a Shy Dog

Most shy dogs will exhibit several different behaviors that show you their true nature. They can display flattened ears, glassy eyes, pant oddly, tuck their tail between their legs, and refuse to make eye contact. They may run away scared, urinate inappropriately (also called submissive urination), bare his teeth, bark, growl, or perhaps bite.

Why is He Shy?

When looking at ways to start dog behavior training, you’ll first need to figure out exactly why your dog is shy. There are two families of debate on this topic; the current model states that shyness is genetic in dogs. However, as always with animal-life behavior, the debate about nature vs. nurture rages on. A mother dog may teach her shy behaviors to her pups, for instance. However, you should also check with your vet to make sure there aren’t any medical reasons as to why your dog seems shy. And finally, you’ll want to observe your dog to make sure that it’s not just dog behavior training that is required - perhaps they never really learned how to socialize properly in the first place. If this is the case, then you should be able to use some very effective dog behavior training techniques to fix this issue in no time.

Methods to Overcome Shyness

The first thing you should do is read as much as you can about your dog, its temperament, breed, and any related issues that may be contributing to his shyness. Also make a point of reading up on dog behavior training methods. Talk to your vet, other pet owners, local dog clubs and the SPCA to get ideas, too.

Then, take your dog to the vet and have him checked out thoroughly. Poor hearing and eyesight can contribute (or even cause) this problem, as can epilepsy, chronic pain or an ear infection.

Then, make sure that you’ve spayed or neutered your animal. Breeding them, unless you are highly trained to do so, won’t help at all. Plus, you’ll be increasing the life span of your pooch in the process.

Dog behavior training is the next step of the process. Learn more about what distracts your dog (both with his individual personality and breed), what motivates him, and whether or not he was bred to work with humans. Determine what his prey drive is (the want to chase things), pack drive (the want to be in a pack, or belong to a human), and defensive drives (fight and flight). Knowing this information will change your dog behavior training dramatically.

Now you can start with the obedience training. Try and look for local schools that can help you get started on this process, because doing it on your own can be a bit overwhelming at first. Let the school know why you want to investigate dog behavior training, and what goals you hope to accomplish with your dog. Also, look at some agility training for your dog as well, to keep his body in tip-top condition.

(c) 2005 dog-training-info.com. This article may be republished as long as these bylines are included.

Kevin Simmons is the webmaster of http://www.dog-training-info.com. Please visit the site for more free dog training articles. Online URL for this article: http://www.dog-training-info.com/dog-behavior-training.htm

Okay, so it’s not the cleanest or most appealing of dog behaviors, but it is a serious problem with most dog owners - how do I start dog potty training so that my dog stops eating poop?!

Well, there are no guarantees here, unfortunately. However, this article will detail some ideas you can try, so that your dog stops this disgusting habit.

Avoid ‘It’

One of the best dog potty training methods is avoidance. Don’t let your dog see anything he shouldn’t be eating, and he won’t. However, this is almost impossible when talking him for a walk, or really anywhere outside for that matter. For starters, at least make sure you are cleaning up after your own dog before he can get into it, and avoid places that you know are more ‘infested’ than others.

Keep Careful Guard

Make sure to go outside with your dog each time he needs to take a potty break. Then, you can watch him to make sure if he’s decided to get into the nasty stuff. If he does, use one of the obedience commands you’ve taught him, and reward him for listening. For instance, if he’s going for the doody, tell him to “Sit!”, and reward him immediately. Then you can guide him back into the house and avoid the situation altogether. A word to the wise here, though - try and frame what you want to say to your dog in positive terms, so he knows what’s expected of him. Just saying, “No!” doesn’t tell him what to do, it just tells him that he shouldn’t be doing it.

Use a Leash

In addition to the tip above, use a leash to reinforce this dog potty training method when taking your dog for a walk.

Make It Inedible

There are a wide variety of ways to do this, although they can be very frustrating, since every piece of something that your dog shouldn’t eat needs to be covered with it. However, if no other dog potty training methods work, try placing some bitter orange, super hot sauce or Tabasco on every ‘piece’ to deter consumption.

Supplement

Your veterinarian may have something they can provide you with that you add to your dog’s every meal to stop him from eating what he shouldn’t. One product is called “For-Bid”, although some people use meat tenderizer instead (just mix a little bit in before every feeding).

(c) 2005 dog-training-info.com. This article may be republished as long as these bylines are included. Kevin Simmons is the webmaster of http://www.dog-training-info.com . Please visit the site for more free dog training articles. Online URL for this article: http://www.dog-training-info.com/dog-potty-training.htm

Almost every dog owner will have to use some sort of behavior modification techniques at one time or another when training their prized pet. If you are able to ‘get’ why your dog does what he does, when he does it, you are one step closer to solving the problem. This article will detail ten ways of doing just that, in a general fashion that can be used for a wide variety of issues.

Dog Training Tip #1: It’s All about Control

Let your dog know who is in charge, and you’ve alleviated a lot of problems. It’s not about fighting for control, it’s about knowing who has it. So when it’s time to train your dog, put on his training collar so he’s fully aware of what time it is. Alternatively, use a leash when walking your dog, so that he knows who is boss all of the time.

Dog Training Tip #2: Reframe the Negative

Instead of telling your dog, “NO!” for something bad he’s done, try and reframe the negative into something positive instead. For instance, if your dog decided to run after a chipmunk running across your lawn, try, “Sit” instead of whatever you’d normally use. Now you can praise him as well for his good behavior, instead of yelling at him because he didn’t stop.

Dog Training Tip #3: Allow for Differences in Perception

Your dog may not think that digging is a bad behavior, but you and your garden probably do. Instead of getting upset, why not provide your dog with adequate digging space elsewhere, complete with buried treasures? Then, you can do the same as dog training tip number two, and provide positive feedback when he digs in the allotted space, and not in your flower garden.

Dog Training Tip #4:

Make Sure the Whole Household Acts Consistently
When you are training your dog, make sure that everyone in the house knows what you are doing, and how to provide supportive measures when needed. That means that if you are teaching the word sit, then everyone in the house should know what to do, when to do it, and why if a behavior presents itself where the command should be used.

Dog Training Tip #5: Keep Moving!

Many behavioral issues with dogs lie behind the fact that they don’t get out enough for a long walk or run. Make sure to take them out on a regular basis (daily, if at all possible) to somewhere new that he can explore on his own time.

Dog Training Tip #6: Keep it Simple

The more clear you are with your dog while training him, the better off everyone will be. Show your dog what you are asking him to do, instead of just telling him. Give the command at the same time while you show him (gently, of course) and ensure that your body language matches your words.

(c) 2005 www.dog-training-info.com.

This article may be republished as long as these bylines are included. Kevin Simmons is the webmaster of http://www.dog-training-info.com.

Please visit the site for more free dog training articles. Online URL for this article: http://www.dog-training-info.com/dog-training-tip.htm