Dog obedience is something that comes with a plan, a basic training plan. If you want your dog to be trained quick then you are going to have to stick to what you know, and if you do not know anything about dog obedience training, then let me clarify a couple of things for you. Mainly when should you reward your dog and when should you punish your dog.

How do I know when to reward my dog?

Believe it or not your dog wants nothing more than to please you, make you happy, protect you, but the thing is you have to teach the dog the only way that they know how to learn. So even though I know that you love your pooch to death you cannot go overboard when rewarding your puppy. Now there are several things that can be considered rewarding for dogs, like patting them on the head, giving them a treat, rubbing on there belly, even talking to them in a well mannered high pitch voice to show them praise, and they are happy.

Now what I meant by not going over board when rewarding your dog, is by only showing him attention when he is doing something good. If you are petting your dog on the couch because he is laying there like a good boy, and then gets all excited and starts jumping all over you, then stop paying him attention immediately. Just ignore him, walk or move somewhere else if you have to, your dog will eventually catch on that he is doing something that you do not want him to be doing.

This is the same basic principle of teaching your dog how to not jump on people when they walk in through the door. If you dog knows the sit command this is another way to let your dog know that you do not want him jumping all over you being all wild, you will be surprised how many uses the sit command has.

Every time that your puppy goes to the bathroom outside you need to be rewarding them somehow, trust me, even just a pat on the head will go a long way. Basically if your dog is being a good dog, then reward them, if they are just sitting there or doing nothing, then there really is no need to reward them, although when a dog is not being bad chewing stuff up then they are usually doing good, just don’t get carried away with rewarding your pooch or they will always think that they are doing what you want them to do.

How do I know when to punish my dog?

This is really quite simple, when your dog is in the act of doing something bad. If you come home and everything is ripped up to shreds, it is going to be pretty pointless to punish your dog because he is not going to know what the hell it is that he did wrong. While if you can catch your pooch in the act of chewing something up and correct them immediately, they are going to know what they were doing is wrong, and in most cases stop at once.

What are the correct ways to punish a dog?

Believe it or not all you have to do is be stern with your voice. A quick “no” or a “bad dog” will do just fine. Remember though you have to catch them in the act of doing something for the dog obedience training to be effective. What I do not want you to do is physically hurt or strike your dog. Not only does this hurt the animal, they are also not going to have a clue what they are being punished for.

If you are a dog owner, then you will surely have to take up some level of dog training sooner or later. Believe me, the sooner the better, as the faster you train your puppy or your dog, the happier both of you are going to be. If a dog is not trained at all, then how is he going to know when and where to go to the bathroom, what not to chew, why they shouldn’t jump on everyone that walks through the door, along with many other things that have to deal with dog obedience.

Several dog owners are unaware of the levels of dog training that there are, and these types of training often have to do with what stage of development that the dog is going through. 

First Step Of Dog Obedience

For instance when a dog is a puppy, or just first being taught, this is most often referred to as basic dog training. Now when it comes to basic dog training, this is usually referred to as teaching your puppy to sit, and how to go to the bathroom outside, and not inside of the home. Once you have this type of dog training down pact you can pretty much say that your puppy is house trained.

2nd Step of Dog Obedience

The step after that is often called the intermediate level of dog training. This is  a bit more advanced than the basic, but by no means out of reach for the average dog owner. This level of training occurs in dogs that are a little more mature than puppies, and already have a great understanding of the sit, stay, shake commands, as well as being housebroken. This is when the dog knows who his master is, and will be able to take on other commands such as fetching and retrieving, walking on a leash properly, and knowing how to heel, as well as many other intermediate commands.

Advanced Dog Obedience

Once your dog has had a good amount of dog training from both the beginning and intermediate standpoints, then they will be able to more easily learn some advanced commands, tricks, and dog obedience. Some of these may be “bark”, “roll over”, “play dead”, “heel”, as well as all of the previous dog training commands.

The trick to dog obedience is to use rewards when the dog does something good or what you command it to do. The more you practice this, the more your dog is going to know who is the boss and who deals the food, treats, petting and praise around the home. The more your dog is trained the better your relationship will be, and the less you will be urged to raise your voice at your pooch. A well trained dog is not going to happen over night, it is going to take a lot of time out of your hands, but if you do not have the time to make your pet obedient then you should not have got one in the first place, dog training is very rewarding for both sides, and good luck on finding an animal that is more loyal than man’s best friend.

We have all heard in one time or another, the constant bark of a dog that drives all of your neighbors crazy. There are many reasons why a dog barks and there are many ways that you can deal with the dogs barking issues. But one thing that you have to know about when a dog is barking they are trying to either tell you something, or scare someone away, well I guess no matter how you look at it they are trying to tell you something.

First off, if you make the decision to go out and buy a puppy, then you must realize that this is a big resposibility that you are about to take on, you better be able to spend some quality time with your puppy. This is very true and cannot be stressed more, especially for those that are working a 9-5 and have to leave your dog home alone all day, well guess what, this is more than likely when your dog is going to be barking the most, especially if you are in the early stages of training your puppy.

If you are crate training your puppy, you are going to have to put them in the cage when you are leaving, then you will proceed to hear nothing but whining and barking, this is normal and the best thing that you can do is ignore it, until it is time for the puppy to come out of the crate, or until you return home.

Praising your dog for no reason is a bad method of dog training, I know that it sounds rough but this will lead to you spoiling your dog. Then you dog is going to do nothing but bark until the dog gets praised, because he knows that you as a owner, are going to give in and pet him. If you feed your dog table food, (don’t do this by the way), then you dog is going to expect it every time, and when your puppy doesn’t get what he wants, he is going to whine and bark.

Lots of the instances of a dogs barking can be slowed down and halted due to proper dog training in the first place. Keep you companion occupied, spend time with them and only reward them when they do something good, this is the means of good training. Remember the only way to efficiently train a dog, is to make sure that they know you are the leader, you are their master, once you establish that ground work, it get’s much easier.

For instance if your dog is just barking and barking, and all you do is yell at it to shut up, then the dog may be luring you into to hearing that, and will then continue to bark. I remember watching an episode of the Dog Whisperer where this lady had two mean dogs, and they would bark at anybody that got anywhere near them, non stop. Caesar Milan entered the room of the two barking dogs very calmly as the dogs released a barking hell on him.

All he did to get them to stop barking was calmly sit down and stair them down, then they eventually stopped. Now we are not all Caesar and I do not recommend doing this especially to a dog you don’t know that will not stop barking, but this really just goes to show that yelling isn’t going to be that much help when it comes to controlling your dogs barking.

You may have also seen dog barking collars that are out there for sale. I do not believe in these and I do not think that they are right, or should even be sold. There are many types of dog barking collars that are out there, and what they do is either spray something that will annoy your dog whenever they bark, or even shock your dog when they begin to bark. I think that this is just wrong, and remember, you do not want your dog to be silent. If someone is breaking into your home your dog is going to smell them from a mile away and let you know that someone is outside your home, or even in your home. So think about how far you really want to go when it comes to stopping your dog from barking.

One thing that you will come to realize about all dogs, is that they love to chew on stuff, especially stuff that they are not supposed to chew on. You must also realize that dogs have to chew, so if you do not give them something to chew on, they will more than likely go after whatever is easiest, such as your brand new sandals that are by the door. This is not a very hard problem to cure, you can slow it down easily by providing the dog with enough chew toys that they will not have to find the need to rip through your brand new 100 dollar pair of sneakers that you just bought and saved up for.

Dogs chewing on stuff is normal, it is natural, and they have to do it, so if you catch your dog chewing on something that they are not supposed to, you have to let them know. The best way that you can do this is by the tone of your voice. Under no circumstances should you attack or abuse the dog, that is not an effective method of dog training and can be considered animal abuse.

Dog Chewing Toys Work Wonders When Training Your Dog

Make sure you dog has plenty of dog chewing toys, or even a chew toy basket. When your dog goes to chew on one of the toys from the basket, reward them with either a treat, or just the tone of your voice is enough to let them know that they are doing the right thing. Keep putting all of the dogs chew toys in one spot, so when you dog gets the urge to chew on something, they know exactly where it is they are supposed to go, and know that they are not supposed to be over by the door chewing up sandals and shoes.

Taste Deterrents For Dogs Work Wonders

There are also types of taste deterrents for puppies as well as dogs that you can use that will make sure that your dog does not chew on stuff you do not want him too. These work excellent for dog training purposes, and they can be found in just about any pet store that is around. There are also plenty of online stores as well as auctions sites like eBay and Amazon that sell taste deterrents. Trust me, if you want your dog to learn quicker and to be trained faster when it comes to what they are allowed and not allowed to chew on then this would be a wise investment.

Many people like to make their own taste deterrents for their dogs. I am not going into full details on how to do this, but most of the homemade ones consist of hot spices such as cayanne pepper, hot sauce, etc. Even if you do not want to go the route of making your own and plan to buy your own taste deterrents for dogs, you will still have to test it out to make sure that it works. You can do this by putting some on a piece of cheese and offering it to your dog, if the dog accepts, then it didn’t work, if the dog walks away, then the taste deterrent is good.

A dog that is poorly trained will give you more headaches than drinking straight bourbon all odd hours of the night, on an empty stomach. It can be annoying, devastating, and embarrassing, not something that you are going to want to show off to your friends and family. But now on the other hand, a puppy, or on that hand that is well trained, will be a much more enjoyable companion, and also much more safe. Take for instance if you dog is running from you and he is outside, when you call him he should return, as he could be running somewhere where he may be in danger, such as traffic on a busy street.

Just remember when you are trying to teach your puppy how to sit, you must be encouraging in every way that you can, such as rewarding the puppy when he carries out one of your commands. Dogs, and especially puppies do not respond well to being yelled at or attacked, most of the time they are just so scared and frightened they really do not know what is going on when you are yelling at them. So do not do that.

The basic process of teaching your dog how to sit, is to get in a routine with the dog and when the dog follows your command, reward the puppy with a treat, as puppies love treats and you will be surprised how smart they will get when they are trying to work for food.

The first step in training your puppy to ’sit’, is to introduce the puppy to the command. Even if you do not have a treat at the time, the puppy can still know when you are praising them from the tone of your voice.  Getting on the same level as the dog is another way that you will be able to treat and greet them to sit also.

Patience is very big here as you will more than likely have to go through the rewarding process many times before your puppy understands the ’sit’ command. One way you may be able to speed up this process is to put the treat on top of the dogs head and just hold it there, the dog will then start to sniff upwards, and hopefully fall into the sit stance while you are instructing him to do so, and when the puppy sits let them get the treat as a reward.

Also the speed of giving the reward is crucial also when teaching your puppy to sit. You are not going to fully teach your dog on how to sit in just one day, but every day that you go over these exercises the puppy is going to learn and be more aware of what the sit command is and what you want him to do, not only that the puppy will soon learn that as soon as he sits he is going to get rewarded with either a treat, or some praising and loving, which puppies love just as much!

Once you puppy has the sit command down to a science, then the the dog training just gets easier after that. You can then move to the next steps of dog training, which are usually the ‘paw’ or ’shake’ command, where the dog will shake your hand. After that you may want to move to the lay down command, the play dead command, or even the roll over command, and there are many other custom commands that you will be able to teach your dog.

Specifically the time that it is going to take to train a dog. You cannot expect to make a trip to your local pet smart, dog pound, or where ever it is you are about to acquire your knew dog, you cannot expect them to know what to do right away, unless of course they are house trained. For instance, puppies are not house trained, they are not born knowing what to do when it comes to things like listening to human commands, and where it is okay and not okay to go to the bathroom at.

We will be getting into all of the things that you need to know to train your dog, especially the potty training part, and how using a crate can be so effective when it comes to potty training your dog. Now there are many dog training books that are out there, and believe me I have read just about all of the. Not only that I have watched nearly every episode of the Dog Whisperer, hands down one of the best dog trainers that are out there today. You have to realize thought that the way that dogs learn, no matter what it is that you are trying to teach them, will be by routine.

Think about it, when you dog, or better yet your puppy does something that you consider good, then you will want to reward him. You can reward your puppy or dog by giving them treats, they do not even necessarily have to be those dog bone treats that you get in packages either. You can use just about any kind of food, maybe a piece of cereal. You will be surprised what your puppy or dog is going to be willing to do just to get some food in there stomach, as they always seem to make room for treats.

Dog training is a process and unless you are Caesar Milan it is not something that is going to happen overnight. The more you read, the more that you learn, and the more that you take the time to try and teach your puppy, the more successful and efficient the dog training process is going to be. All I have to say is be dedicated. Do not give up on your dog, as you will come to see dog is really man’s best friend. You will never find someone and raise them in a couple years, that you will see will be the most loyal animal, or being that you have ever been around. Dogs are more loyal to their (good) owners than any animal there is, they will die for you, they will do anything to gain your attention and make sure that you are safe. So take the time to train them properly and please stay away from harsh punishments, as the dog only knows as much as the owner will train them.