Before anyone embarks on training their dog, there are some basic training facts that they should acquaint themselves with. We aim to show you some proven dog training basics that hopefully allow the experience to be rewarding for you and your dog.

The first thing you must remember is that you are the boss. Dogs are pack animals by nature and will adhere to the ‘leader’ of that pack. To train your dog properly, you first need to establish that you are the leader early in your relationship.

Naturally some breeds of dog are more aggressive in their desire to be the leader themselves, other dogs are not so forceful. Nonetheless you must demonstrate that you are the leader and in control. Your dog will test that control absolutely. He will try to push your willpower in this manner. There is no reason to be physically abusive to your dog in order to get control, it’s accomplished by your actions and your will must be stronger than your dog’s.

Training a young dog is akin to a child. You must be consistent at all times. Today, if you say no, then tomorrow you mean no and so on. Try to set a timetable and a specific time each day for training. Your dog will come to expect it and look forward to it.

Start training the basics. For many dogs, the sit command is a great place to start. Work on this command each day until your dog has it down perfectly before you move on to the next command.

Patience is a virtue as they say and I know that saying is easy but having it, not so easy. However you must be patient, when he obeys a command correctly you must give him praise. Actually as you go along , you will find that he wants to please and enjoys the praise when he has done something right. Not a good idea to punish or shout at him, you will not achieve much that way.

At first, try working on training every day. As your dog starts to learn more commands, you can take a day off here and there but training should always be a part of your relationship with your dog.

The relationship that develops between dog and owner when the training is done properly is something to be proud of and cherished.The time and patience that you have shown will be rewarded with a lovely calm and well behaved dog that you can be proud of.

That question is probably not foremost in your thoughts when you bring a new puppy into your life. That adorable little face, those huge soulful eyes, and that cute wiggle when he walks are what come to mind when thinking about your new pup. But gradually, as your puppy gets older and perhaps a bit destructive, you may find yourself wishing that he would grow out of some of those youthful traits and begin acting more like an adult dog.  By the time he’s chewed your third pair of shoes you will probably begin to wonder…

“When will this puppy be fully grown?”

Happiness is a warm puppy -- Charles Schulz

Although there are some similarities between early development stages of puppies and human babies, the process is considerably quicker for canines.

Newborn puppies go through many changes during their first three weeks .  They open their eyes, take their first steps, and begin to act like a tiny dog. During this early stage they are not really aware of the world beyond  ”mom”  and siblings.

Somewhere between the third and fourth week your puppy’s senses of sight, smell, and hearing rapidly develop. All of a sudden he’ll discover that there is more to his world than just his canine family. His relationship with his new human family begins to take shape. This is a critical time for the development of your puppy’s personality and behavioral traits. Take care to avoid stressful or traumatic experiences as they may significantly influence how your dog will behave as an adult.

Your puppy will begin learning proper pack “etiquette” during the fifth through seventh weeks. If he begins to bite inappropriately or play too rough, his mother will correct him. These early lessons provide some of the social skills he will need as he interacts with humans and other dogs.

For the first three months of his life your puppy will experience many new things. Whenever possible, try to make these learning experiences positive. In doing so you are much more likely to avoid behavioral problems as he enters adulthood.

After three months or so your puppy enters a “toddler” stage of development. He gains more independence and tries to explore his world as he sees fit, not at the prompting of his mother or his human family. Shoes, furniture, books, and just about anything within reach will fascinate him. He will also learn what they taste like as he begins teething. This is a good time to begin very basic obedience training and establish your role as pack leader.

Your puppy will reach adolescence at around six to eight months, well on his way toward adulthood. Although the transition from adolescent to adult varies, depending upon the breed (or mix of breeds), you can be pretty sure that he has reached adulthood by the time his second birthday rolls around.

That’s when a puppy is fully grown.

Most dogs really enjoy digging around in soft dirt. You want to have a beautiful yard and a nice garden and your dog comes along and ruins it all. It is a big disaster that you can hardly keep up with. You want a nice yard but your dog wants to have fun digging around. What is the best way to handle this problem?

Dogs are natural-born diggers. Some breeds are actually bred to dig out certain prey so this digging conduct is instinctual for them. If your dog is a natural digger it may be more challenging but there are some things you can do to contain the digging.

It is important for your dog to engage his curiosity, learn about and explore his surroundings. But most people want a nice yard too. You must contain his digging or even stop it entirely if you want to keep your yard beautiful.

Digging Dog

Dogs sometimes dig because they are bored. They need entertainment. He may be experiencing separation anxiety because you are away. Maybe he is trying to dig out an escape route so he can leave the yard. He may even be digging for something as simple as controlling his own temperature. He may be too hot and trying to cool off or he may be too cold and trying to warm-up.

You can get your dog to reduce or even stop his digging patterns. First make sure that he has enough time with you and gets enough exercise and playtime. You can also make sure that he has toys that he enjoys. Frequently dogs will try to bury bones so if you give your dog bones to chew on make sure you replace them with chew toys or rawhide bones.

You can also try clicker training to prevent digging. Anytime you see your dog in the act of digging use the clicker and a command that tells him “no”. Reward him when he stops digging. You will need to be consistent but clicker training can work.

You can also try to fill his hole up with undesirable things. You can fill the hole that he has been playing in with garden mulch, sticks, pine needles and so forth. When he comes back he will dig and find the undesirable things in his hole and he will stop digging. You can also bury a balloon that will pop in his face as he digs. This will not hurt him but it will scare him and he may stop the digging. Some trainers also recommend putting dog poop into the holes as the dog will no longer want to play after he finds his own poop!

You can try to make a spot in your yard specifically for his digging. This will take the most time and patience but it may be the best solution if your dog is just a natural digger. You can reduce your dogs digging behavior with some time and patience but be gentle because he is just being a dog.

Begin by allowing your dog time to get used to the collar around his neck. When you put it on for the first time, your puppy will scratch, roll around or try to get it off. Make sure you fasten the collar securely and don’t remove it when the dog is trying to. When he finally calmed down and shows signs of being comfortable with it, you can remove the collar for a short while. This teaches the dog two important things: first, that the collar won’t come off when he wants it so he’d best get used to it and second, the collar is not a permanent attachment. Check the collar regularly to make sure it isn’t too tight. Your dog grows in size and you need to adjust the collar regularly.

When the dog is ready, attach a leash to the collar and allow the dog time to adjust to the leash. Allot a few minutes every day to for leash training with your puppy and have some treats handy. Your goal is to be able to walk around with your dog on a leash without him pulling at the other end. This means you should be able to stand still with your dog and walk around at your pace, not his.

To get started, fasten the collar securely around your pup’s neck and attach the leash. Hold the other end securely. Try and have the dog stand still beside you. When he starts to wander too far and pulls on the leash, call the dog back to your side and reward him with a treat when he does. When he finally is able to stand still beside you for the time you wish to, you can begin walking him around. When he wanders too far to the point of pulling on the leash, call him back to your side. Pull on the leash if needed. When the dog returns to a comfortable distance – walks beside you without pulling on the leash, reward him with a treat.

Do these training exercises with a reward system for several days or weeks or until your dog learns to consistently respect the leash. When your dog is finally able to stand still beside you or walk around your house or backyard with a loose leash, reward your dog with a lot of praise, hugs or pats and some treats. He is ready to be taken out for a walk.

Remember that to condition your dog to respect the leash, focus on allowing your dog to progress forward when the leash is loose. If you allow your pet to proceed forward when the leash is tight, you’re teaching him to pull.

Pet Article courtesy of http://pet-articles.blogspot.com.

The scent marking problem is most prevalent with a dog who is male, unneutered, and at least five or six months old. Unneutered dogs are much more territorial than neutered ones so they are also more likely to practice scent marking.  If you have an unneutered dog in the house, you can pretty much expect a certain amount of scent marking. (Unspayed females also mark, but it’s less common; spayed and neutered dogs can also exhibit marking behavior, but it’s relatively infrequent)

Scent Marking

Scent marking – where a dog “marks” his or her territory with urine – is technically not actually a house training problem, since it’s based on issues of dominance and territoriality rather than insufficient house training (a dog can be perfectly house trained but still mark inside the house.)

However, since the problem centers around the unwanted presence of urine in the house, it seems logical, in a way, to link this problem with house training. Since this is one of the most widespread problems among dog owners, we thought it worthwhile to include some practical advice.
Scent MarkingScent marking and lack of house training: how to differentiate between the two

Your dog’s probably scent marking, rather than genuinely relieving himself, if:

- The amount of urine produced is relatively small, and tends to be directed against vertical surfaces (walls, doors, etc)

- It makes little difference how often he’s taken outside for a toilet break

- He frequently targets items that are new to the house: new possessions, guest clothing/footwear, etc

- You live in a multi-dog household and there is conflict between two or more of the dogs

- There are other, unneutered or unspayed pets in the house

What to do about the problem?

First things first: spay or neuter your dog(s) as soon as you possibly can. If you can do this early enough – ideally, at six months of age – this often halts marking altogether; but if your dog’s been marking for a prolonged period of time, he or she may continue to do so after being spayed or neutered, since a pattern of behavior will have been established.

Clean soiled areas thoroughly. Use a non-ammonia based cleaner (because it smells just like pee) and stay away from vinegar too (it smells similar to pee.) Oxi-Clean mixed with warm water is particularly effective; there are also plenty of commercial cleaners designed specifically to lift pet stains and odors, which you can buy from pet stores and some supermarkets.

Because dogs tend to re-mark the same places, you’ll need to redefine the places that you know he’s marked to prevent repeat offending.

You can do this in a number of ways:

- Feed him next to or on top of the spot
- Play with him there
- Groom him there
- Put his bed over or next to it
- Spend time there yourself: hang out with a book or sit down and work

If there is rivalry between dogs in the household, you’ll need to take steps to resolve it. Any conflict is likely to be hierarchical in nature (a “power struggle”), which means that all you have to do to stop the tension is pay attention to which dog seems to be more dominant than the other one (which one eats first, gets the toys he/she wants, “stares down” another dog), and reinforce this position.

How to do this: feed the dominant dog first. Pet him/her first. Give him/her a toy before anyone else gets one. This makes it clear to all dogs in the house which one really is the dominant dog – and when this hierarchy’s been recognizably established, territorial/dominant behaviors like scent marking often vanish overnight.

For more information on how to successfully house train your dog (as well as a whole bunch of in-depth information on house training troubleshooting and related issues) you’ll probably want to check out The Ultimate House Training Guide.

It’s the complete dog-house-training guide. The Ultimate House Training Guide and comes highly recommended.

You can visit the The Ultimate House Training Guide site by clicking this link:
http://bit.ly/dogburg

This method is in direct contrast to some of the now-outdated but once-popular techniques for dog training, some of which were, frankly, abhorrent: physical pain and intimidation (such as hanging an aggressive dog up by her collar), or inhumane methods of aversion therapy (such as shock collars for barking).

Positive reinforcement works best with your puppy. Her natural instinct is to please you. The theory of positive reinforcement recognizes that lessons are more meaningful, and tend to “stick” more, when a pup is able to figure out what you’re asking on her own (as opposed to, say, learning “down” by being forced repeatedly into a prone position, while the word “down” is repeated at intervals). When you use positive reinforcement training, you’re allowing her the time and the opportunity to use her own brain.

Some ways for you to facilitate the training process:

Use meaningful rewards. Most puppies get bored pretty quickly with a routine pat on the head and a “good girl”. In fact, most dogs don’t even like being patted on the head. Watch their expressions and notice how most will balk or shy away when a hand descends towards their head.

To keep the quality of your pup’s learning at a high standard, use tempting incentives for good behavior. Food treats and physical affection are what dog trainers refer to as “primary incentives” – in other words, they’re both significant rewards to which most dogs respond powerfully and reliably.

Use the right timing. When your puppy obeys a command, you must mark the behavior that you’re going to reward so that, when she gets that treat in her mouth, she understands exactly what behavior it was that earned her the reward. Some people use a clicker for this: a small metal sound-making device, which emits a distinct “click” when pressed. The clicker is clicked at the exact moment that a dog performs the desired behavior (so, if asking her to sit, you’d click the clicker just as her bottom hits the ground).

You can also use your voice to mark desired behavior: just saying “Yes!” in a happy, excited tone of voice will work perfectly. Make sure that you give her the treat after the marker – and remember to use the marker consistently. If you only say “Yes!” or use the clicker sometimes, it won’t have any significance to your puppy  when you do it. Sshe needs the opportunity to learn what that marker means (i.e., that she’s done something right whenever she hears the marker, and a treat will be received very shortly). So be consistent with your marker.

Be consistent with your training commands as well. When you’re teaching a puppy a command, you must

decide ahead of time on the verbal cue you’re going to be giving her, and then stick to it. So, when training your pup to not jump up on you, you wouldn’t ask her to “get off”, “get down”, and “stop jumping”, because that would just confuse her. Pick one phrase, such as “No jump”, and stick with it. Even the smartest dogs don’t understand English! They need to learn, through consistent repetition, the actions associated with a particular phrase.

How to reward your puppy meaningfully:

All dogs have their favorite treats and preferred demonstrations of physical affection. Some dogs will do backflips for a dried liver snippet; other dogs just aren’t ‘chow hounds’ (big eaters) and prefer to be rewarded through a game with a cherished toy, or through some physical affection from you. You’ll probably already have a fair idea of how much she enjoys being touched and played with – each has a distinct level of energy and demonstrativeness, just like humans do.

The best ways to stroke your puppy:

Most dogs really like having the base of the tail (the lowest part of their back, just before the tail starts) scratched gently; having their chests rubbed or scratched (right between the forelegs) is usually a winner, too. You can also target the ears: gently rub the ear flap between your thumb and finger, or scratch gently at the base.

As far as food is concerned, it’s not hard to figure out what your puppy likes: just experiment with different food treats until you find one that she really goes nuts for. When it comes to food, trainers have noted an interesting thing: they actually respond most reliably to training commands when they receive treats sporadically, instead of predictably. Intermittent treating seems to keep dogs on their toes, and more interested in what might be on offer. It also prevents them from growing tired of the particular food reward, and from making a conscious decision to forego a treat.

How to correct your puppy meaningfully:

The great thing about positive reinforcement training is that it doesn’t require you to do anything that might go against the grain. You won’t be called upon to put any complex, weighty correctional theories into practice, or be required to undertake any harsh punitive measures. When it comes to positive reinforcement training, all you have to do is ignore the behavior that you don’t wish to see repeated. Not getting any attention (because you’re deliberately ignoring her) is enough to make just about any puppy pretty miserable, and thus is a powerful correctional tool.

Contemporary belief in dog training states that we should simply ignore incorrect responses to a training command – that, with no reinforcement from us (yes, even negative attention, like verbal corrections, counts as reinforcement. To some pooches, negative attention is better than no attention at all; she will stop the behavior of her own accord. The bigger the fuss you make over her when she does get it right, the clearer the connection will be between a particular behavior eliciting no response at all, but other behaviors (the right response) eliciting massive amounts of positive attention from you.

Recommended Reading:

Hopefully this has given you a basic insight into the more effective approaches and techniques to use when training your puppy. However, the subject remains pretty complex, and it’s a good idea to learn as much about effective training techniques as possible.

One excellent resource for training dogs of all ages is Secrets to Dog Training: the ultimate training and knowledge database for dog owners. With a focus on preventing and dealing with problem behaviors, as well as obedience work and ‘tricks’, Secrets to Dog Training covers a vast variety of topics in minute detail. I’m sure you will find it to be a valuable reference.

The companionship of a dog can truly be one of life’s under appreciated joys. However, that joy can be seriously diminished if your dog exhibits excessive behavior problems. Aggression, inappropriate barking, jumping up on you or visitors, destroying household items and other unacceptable behavior can usually be eliminated through effective obedience training.

As pack animals, dogs are most content when they know their place in the social hierarchy of the pack, be it as a leader or as a subordinate.

If the dog’s perception is that you are not a strong leader, he will most likely assume the role of “alpha” dog. Bad behavior will worsen since, as the pack leader, he will believe that he can do as he pleases without regard to your wishes.

Until you establish yourself as the alpha member of the pack your efforts to teach proper behavior to your pooch are doomed to fail. By providing high quality obedience training you will teach your dog that you are the leader and that he must follow comply with your wishes.

Dog Training

When you begin obedience training try to make it a fun activity for your dog. Be sure to reward your dog for correct behavior. Rewards can take the form of tasty treats, petting, giving him a favorite toy or  vigorous praise.

Never punish your dog while teaching obedience as it will make him associate training with negative feelings. When you need to correct your dog’s behavior make it a penalty rather than punishment. A penalty can be anything from a quick tug on his leash, a “time out” by simply stopping an enjoyable activity, or simply ignoring him.

For training purposes you should keep in mind that rewards are more effective than penalties. Find out what your dog really enjoys and use it when training. The old “using a carrot or a stick” adage should be forgotten. Instead, try to use many different types of “carrots” and throw away the stick.

If you are not sure about specific training techniques you may benefit from studying the tactics used by professional dog trainers. There are several terrific training courses and guide books available online that you may want to consider to help you in your quest for the obedient dog.