Description
Book SynopsisMake your buddy a top dog for life, be your Best Friend's Friend, by training together.
Obedience training is one of the most important aspects of raising a dog. In fact, a well-trained dog isa FREE dog! Why? Because a trained dog requires fewer restrictions. The more reliable the dog, the more freedom he is given.
Dog Training for Dummies shows dog owners how to select the right training method for their puppy, adult, or seniordog. Whether you want to teach Buddy to sit or master retrieving, thishands-on guideprovides training to ensure a mutually respectful relationship with your four-legged family members.
- Eliminate unwanted behavior
- Find step-by-step instruction on basic commands
- Strengthen your bond with your dog
- Build communication, understanding, and mutual respect
Based on positive reinforcement, trust, and obedience, the tips and tricks inside will help you bring out the very best in your belo
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 3
Icons Used in This Book 3
Where to Go from Here 4
Part 1: Setting the Stage for Successful Training 5
Chapter 1: Dog Training: The Key to Your Dog’s Safety and Your Sanity 7
Understanding Why You’re Training Buddy: To Do Something or Not to Do Something 8
Identifying a Well-Trained Dog 9
Selecting a Training Model 11
First things first: Considering your dog’s breed 12
Training a dog: What are you really doing? 13
Identifying Six Basic Commands Every Dog Needs to Know 16
Recognizing Factors that Influence Success 16
Having a good relationship with your dog 17
Owning a healthy dog 17
Making training time a priority 17
Oh, the Places You and Your Pooch Can Go: Beyond the Basics 18
The Canine Good Citizen Certificate 19
AKC S.T.A.R puppy program 19
AKC tricks titles 19
More than training: Understanding how dogs help people 19
An Exercise to Get You and Your Pooch Started 20
Chapter 2: Getting to Know Your Dog and How He Perceives the World 23
Determining What Motivates You and Your Dog 24
Being Aware of Your Dog’s Body Language 24
Recognizing Your Dog’s Instinctive Behaviors 25
Prey drive 26
Pack drive 27
Defense drive, fight and flight 28
Understanding how the drives affect training 30
Determining Your Dog’s Personality Profile 31
Deciding How You Want Buddy to Act 35
Bringing out drives 36
Switching drives 37
Applying drives to your training 39
Remembering Who’s Training Whom 43
Chapter 3: Developing Training Savvy 45
Managing the Dog Within 46
Breed-specific behaviors 46
Temperament 47
Mental sensitivity 48
Responses to visual stimuli 48
Sound sensitivity 49
Touch sensitivity – the adrenaline effect 50
Stressing the Effects of Stress 51
Understanding stress 51
Recognizing the symptoms of stress 52
Origins of stress — intrinsic and extrinsic 53
Relating stress to learning 54
Stress and distraction training 54
Managing stress 55
Managing Your Dog’s Environment 55
Starting on the right foot 55
Recognizing your dog’s social needs 56
Identifying your dog’s emotional needs 57
Feeding your dog’s nutritional needs 57
Understanding the “You” Factor 58
Knowing your expectations 58
Knowing your attitude 60
Being consistent with commands and tone of voice 61
Outlasting your dog — be persistent 62
Knowing to avoid “no” 63
Repeating commands 63
Chapter 4: Understanding the Vital Role That Nutrition and Health Play in Training 65
Finding the Right Food for Buddy 66
Deciphering dog food labels 67
Evaluating Buddy’s current food 69
Understanding the Nutrients Your Dog Needs 70
Meeting puppy’s nutritional needs 71
Keeping your dog’s diet rich in protein 72
Going easy on the carbohydrates 74
Knowing the value of fats — in moderation 75
Ensuring that your dog’s diet is fortified with
vitamins and minerals 76
Don’t forget to quench his thirst: Keeping fresh water around 77
Paying close attention to preservatives 78
Making Choices about How to Feed Buddy 79
Feeding Buddy commercial dry food 79
Offering beefed-up commercial dry food 80
Trying a raw food or frozen diet 82
Making your own food: Wendy’s Natural Diet 84
Using the Natural Diet Foundation (NDF2) 85
Transferring Buddy to his new diet 86
Sizing up supplements 87
Exploring Common Health Issues That Affect Behavior and Training 87
Here comes that needle again: Examining vaccination issues 89
Uncovering the rise in doggy hypothyroidism 93
The bone crusher: “Oh, my aching back” 96
Quelling fear, anxiety, and other conditions with homeopathy 96
Treating chronic conditions with acupuncture 98
Chapter 5: Gearing Up for Training Success 99
Choosing the Right Training Leash and Collar 100
Deciding on a leash 100
Selecting a collar 102
Readying a Reward: Treats Are Your Training Buddies 107
Picking the ideal tasty treat 108
Opting for toys when food treats don’t work 109
Considering Other Equipment You Can Use 109
Using head halters 110
Going for a body harness 111
Exploring electronic and other training and management equipment 112
Part 2: Performing Puppy Preliminaries 119
Chapter 6: Bringing Your Puppy Home: What You Need to Know 121
Preparing for Puppy’s Arrival 122
Puppy’s home at home: Readying a crate 123
Puppy’s menu: Selecting a proper diet and set of dishes 127
Puppy’s everyday collar, ID, and leash: Preparing Buddy to go outside 128
Puppy’s toys: Playing with Buddy 128
Bringing Puppy Home — Now What? 129
Getting your puppy used to his collar and leash 130
Getting Buddy situated in his new home 132
Introducing puppies and kids 133
Meeting resident pets 134
Tending to his potty needs 135
Deciding where your puppy should sleep 136
Starting Buddy’s Education 136
Training for grooming 137
Spaying and neutering 142
Solving Perplexing Puppy Problems 142
Chapter 7: Surviving Your Puppy’s Critical Growth Periods 145
Understanding Your Puppy’s Early Development 146
Birth to 7 weeks: the Canine Socialization Period 146
Getting to know everyone: Weeks 7–12 the
Human Socialization Period 148
Suddenly he’s afraid: Weeks 8–12 the Fear Imprint Period 149
Now he wants to leave home: Beyond 12 weeks: “Been there, done that” 150
The Terrible Twos: Managing the Adolescent from 4 Months to 2 Years 151
Surviving the juvenile flakies 152
Blame it on the hormones: Understanding how hormones affect behavior 153
Meeting the mature adult when your dog finally grows up 154
Spaying or Neutering to Help with Behavior and Training 155
Heeding the advantages 155
Acknowledging the disadvantages 156
Knowing when to spay or neuter 157
Part 3: Tackling Training Basics 159
Chapter 8: The Ins and Outs of Housetraining 161
Helping Buddy Get Used to His Crate 162
Training a Dog to Eliminate Outside 164
Hold elimination when inside the house 164
Know why he’s outside — to eliminate 166
Prove to Buddy that you’re trustworthy to take him outside 167
Establishing a Regular Feeding and Elimination Schedule 168
Designating a Regular Toilet Area 169
When Accidents Happen — Knowing What to Do 171
Avoiding punishment 171
Dealing with the accidents 172
Cleaning accidents 172
Using an Exercise Pen for Housetraining 173
Chapter 9: Focusing on Some Basic Training Commands 175
Training for Attention: Praise Versus Petting 175
Understanding the difference between the two 176
Using Okay to release from work 176
Practice getting your dog’s attention 177
Using the Yes command 177
Practicing Name Recognition 178
Sequence 1: Having Buddy move toward you when he hears his name 178
Sequence 2: Adding Come after his name 179
Sequence 3: Making Sit mandatory 180
Training Your Dog the Touch Command 180
Sequence 1: Getting Buddy to move toward you 180
Sequence 2: Increasing the distance Buddy needs to move toward you 181
Sequence 3: Not offering treat in the flat Touch hand 182
Sequence 4: Moving the touch hand in different positions 182
Sequence 5: Mixing up the hand you offer 183
Greeting with the Hello Command 184
Sequence 1: Focusing on the treat 184
Sequence 2: Greeting and praising 184
Sequence 3: Training Buddy to hold the sitting position longer 185
Sequence 4: Having a friend help 185
Leave It: Getting Your Dog to Leave Stuff Alone 186
Sequence 1: Introducing Leave It 186
Sequence 2: Looking at you 187
Sequence 3: Moving the treat from your hand to the floor 188
Sequence 4: “Leaving” a dropped food item 188
Sequence 5: “Leaving” a found item on the ground outside 189
Understanding other uses for Leave It 190
Chapter 10: Coming and Going: Two Essential Commands to Teach Buddy 191
Understanding the Importance of Leadership: Okay Is the Word 191
Teaching Your Dog to Come When Called 193
Teaching Buddy the Recall Game 193
Remembering what’s important when you use the Come command 196
Training Your Dog to Handle Distractions 198
Teaching Come with first-degree distractions 198
Teaching Come with second-degree distractions 199
Teaching Come with third-degree distractions 200
Focusing on the Opposite of Come — Go 201
Sequence 1: Teaching a target 202
Sequence 2: Add Come after the release 203
Sequence 3: Increase the distance to the target 203
Chapter 11: Mastering Some Fundamentals: Sit, Down, and Stay 205
Understanding Why Sit Is So Important 206
Introducing Down and Its Commands 206
Training Your Dog Sit and Down Simultaneously 207
Sequence 1: Placing and showing 208
Sequence 2: Adding the Down 208
Sequence 3: Luring into the Down 209
Sequence 4: Luring into the Sit 210
Sequence 5: Adding collar pressure 211
Sequence 6: Foregoing the treat 212
Warming Up with the Long-Down Exercise 212
Staying in Place: Sit-Stay and Down-Stay 214
Teaching the Sit-Stay 215
Teaching the Down-Stay 217
Chapter 12: Going for a Pleasant Walk 219
Using the Right Leash and Collar When Walking Your Dog 219
Taking a Pleasure Walk with Your Dog 221
Using a clock face to train your dog to walk 221
Training the pleasure walk 223
Teaching Buddy How to Heel at Your Side 224
Adding Distractions 226
Training with distractions 226
Chapter 13: Going to Bed and All of Its Practical Uses 231
Selecting a Bed for Your Dog 232
Deciphering How You Want to Use the Command 233
Training Buddy the Go to Your Bed Command 234
Sequence 1: Starting with the Bed command 234
Sequence 2: Adding the Go, Bed command 235
Sequence 3: Increasing your distance from the bed 236
Sequence 4: Foregoing the food lure 236
Sequence 5: Increasing the time spent on the bed 237
Sequence 6: Moving around while he’s on the bed 238
Sequence 7: Adding distractions 238
Sequence 8: Finding the bed from another room 239
Chapter 14: Getting In, Out, On, and Off and Mastering Door and Stairs Manners 241
Getting In and Out 242
Sequence 1: Eating the reward 242
Sequence 2: Making Buddy wait for his treat 242
Sequence 3: The rules of the exit begin 243
Getting On and Off 244
Sequence 1: Getting Buddy on something 244
Sequence 2: Getting Buddy off something 245
Training Door Manners 245
Sequence 1: Opening the door 246
Sequence 2: Adding some outside distraction 247
Sequence 3: Leaving Buddy behind at the door 248
Teaching Stairs Manners 249
Chapter 15: Dealing with Common Doggie Don’ts 251
Preventing Bad Habits — The Five General Prescriptions for Good Behavior 252
Good exercise 252
Good company 253
Good health 254
Good nutrition 254
Good training 255
Handling Your Dog’s Objectionable Behavior 255
Tolerating your dog’s behavior problems 256
Trying to solve your dog’s behavior problems 257
When all else fails: Finding a new home for your dog 258
Teaching Buddy to Keep All Four on the Floor 258
Greeting people — Using the Hello command 259
Using Sit and Stay as an alternative to jumping up 260
Putting an End to Counter Surfing — Leave It 261
Quieting the Incessant Barker 262
Barking as a response to a stimulus or distraction 263
Barking for attention 264
Barking when someone comes to the door 264
Contending with Chewing — The Nonfood Variety 265
I’m teething! Examining the physiological need to chew 266
I’m bored! Recognizing the psychological reasons that dogs chew 266
Dealing with a Digger 267
Managing Marking Behavior 268
Part 4: Taking Training to the Next Level 271
Chapter 16: Retrieving: Time to Fetch 273
Introducing the Common Retrieving Commands to Your Natural Retriever 274
Explaining the Basics of Retrieving 274
Sequence 1: Starting with Take It 275
Sequence 2: Working on the Hold It and Give command 276
Sequence 3: Helping your dog retrieve on command 278
Sequence 4: Helping Buddy learn to hold and reach for the object 279
Sequence 4: Teaching Buddy to reach for it 280
Sequence 6: Walking while holding the dumbbell 281
Sequence 7: Training Buddy for the pick-up 281
Sequence 8: Bringing it back 282
Sequence 9: Putting it all together 283
Polishing and Perfecting the Retrieve 284
Wait for it: Testing your dog’s patience 284
Retrieving with distractions 284
Chapter 17: Trick Training for Fun 289
Shake and High Five 290
Sequence 1: Introducing the concept of shaking hands 291
Sequence 2: Lifting his paw 292
Sequence 3: Putting his paw on your palm 292
Sequence 4: Adding the High Five 292
Find the Pea under the Right Cup 293
Sequence 1: Establishing a pattern for the game 293
Sequence 2: Introducing the covered treat 294
Sequence 3: Adding a second cup with no treat 294
Sequence 4: Moving the cups and changing their position 295
Sequence 5: Finishing the trick 295
Hide in a Box 296
Sequence 1: Introducing the box on its side 297
Sequence 2: Standing the box correctly with opening on top 297
Sequence 3: Adding the Hide command 298
Sequence 4: Putting it all together 299
Pick a Hand 300
Sequence 1: Reviewing the Touch command 300
Sequence 2: Touching the back of the treat hand 300
Sequence 3: Offering both hands for dog to
choose the loaded hand 301
Sequence 4: Putting your hands behind your back first 302
Play Shy 303
Sequence 1: Putting his head between your legs 303
Sequence 2: Holding your legs closer together 304
Sequence 3: Holding his head pressed between your legs 305
Roll Over 306
Sequence 1: Rolling over with a little help 306
Sequence 2: Rolling over on his own 307
Sequence 3: Rolling over on command 307
Play Dead 307
Sequence 1: Laying down on his side or back 308
Sequence 2: Playing dead from the sitting or
standing position 308
Sequence 3: Playing dead at a distance 309
Sequence 4: Presenting the trick to an audience 309
Find Mine 310
Sequence 1: Retrieving something of yours 310
Sequence 2: Helping your dog find your item 310
Sequence 3: Allowing Buddy to find the keys with his nose 311
Sequence 4: Adding identical items and Buddy will find yours 312
Sequence 5: Untying the clean pencils after Buddy is always finding your scented pencil 313
Jump through a Hoop 314
Sequence 1: Walking and jumping through a hoop 314
Sequence 2: Jumping through the hoop off Leash 314
You Have Food on Your Nose 315
Sequence 1: Cupping your hand over your dog’s muzzle 315
Sequence 2: Putting the treat on your dog’s nose 316
Sequence 3: Balancing the treat longer 317
Sequence 4: Balancing the treat without your help 317
Take a Bow 318
Sequence 1: Bowing by using a food lure 318
Sequence 2: Practicing until Buddy bows with little to no help 319
Sequence 3: Taking a bow on command 319
Dog Catcher/Stranger Trick 320
Chapter 18: Training for Fun and Competition 323
Understanding the System: Your Road Map to the Companion Dog Title 324
Requirements for Pre-Novice 326
The Novice class: What’s expected from you and Buddy 328
First Things First: Teaching the Ready! Command 329
Using Control Position 330
Working through the sequences of the Ready! command 331
Heeling Despite Distractions 335
Helping your dog heel in new places 336
Using a distracter while you’re heeling 336
Let’s Dance, Buddy: Heel On and Then Off Leash 337
The halt 338
Changes of pace and turns 338
Putting a Twist on Things: Teaching the Figure 8 340
Sequence 1: Preparing Buddy for the Figure 8 341
Sequence 2: Introducing Buddy to the actual Figure 8 342
Sequence 3: Doing the perfect Figure 8 343
Your Dog Isn’t an Elephant: Reinforcing Training 344
Chapter 19: Completing the Companion Dog Title 347
You’re Getting a Check-Up: Preparing for the Stand for Examination 348
Sequence 1: Introducing the Stand command and Stand Stay 349
Sequence 2: Showing Buddy how to stand still without holding him in position 350
Sequence 3: Working on the Stand-Stay command 350
Sequence 4: Leaving Buddy in a Stand-Stay 351
Sequence 5: Getting Buddy familiar with the Return 351
Sequence 6: Preparing Buddy for the actual examination 352
Heeling Off Leash 353
Transitioning to Heeling Off Leash 354
Successfully getting off leash 356
Mastering the Recall 357
Stay 358
Come with distractions 358
Front 358
Finish 361
Training for the Group Stay Exercises 363
Setting up self-generated distractions 364
Increasing the level of difficulty 364
Part 5: Handling Special Situations 367
Chapter 20: Addressing Aggression 369
Understanding Aggression 369
Examining the link between aggression and drives 370
Looking at the causes of aggression 371
Managing a Dog’s Aggression — Prey, Pack, Defense Drives 374
Dealing with aggression from dogs high in prey drive 375
Handling aggression from dogs high in defense drive 377
Controlling aggression in dogs high in pack drive 382
Coping with Aggression around the Food Bowl 384
Dealing with Fear-Biters 384
Handling Aggression in Different Circumstances 386
Aggression in a multi-dog household 386
Aggression while grooming 387
Aggression at the veterinarian 387
Chapter 21: Helping Buddy Handle Special Situations 389
Reacting to Loud Noises and Thunder 389
Coping with Separation Anxiety 390
Testing the desensitizing approach 391
Trying the DAP approach 392
Looking at some other options 392
Soiling the House 393
Dribbling and Submissive Wetting 394
Taking Buddy on the Road 395
Getting used to entering the vehicle 396
Staying put before exiting the vehicle 396
Getting ready for your road trip 397
Easing carsickness 398
Going to Doggie Daycare 399
Minding Your Manners at the Dog Park 400
Keeping Your Canine Calm at the Vet’s Office 401
Being Patient with the Rescue Dog 402
Chapter 22: Keeping Your Senior Dog Young: Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks 403
Old Gray Muzzle: Exploring the Signs of Aging in Dog Years 404
Teaching Exercises to Keep Buddy’s Mind and Body Sharp 405
Begging 405
Crawling 406
Walking backward 407
Doing neck and head stretches 407
Using the coffee table stretch 408
Walking, sitting, and downing 409
Swimming 410
Applying mental stimulation 411
Taking Care of Your Older Dog’s Health and Nutrition Needs 412
Maintaining Buddy’s slim and trim figure with a satisfying diet 412
Making life easier with supplements 414
Keeping Up with Grooming 416
Bringing Home a Puppy to Help Rejuvenate Buddy 419
Looking Into Dog Beds, Ramps, Wheelchairs, and Carts 420
Making Buddy cozy: Beds 420
Making heights more manageable with ramps 421
Helping the handicapped dog: Wheelchairs and carts 421
Chapter 23: Supplementing Your Training Efforts with Expert Help 425
Going to Obedience Training Class 426
Good obedience training class criteria 427
Puppy classes 429
Advanced classes 430
Hiring a Private Trainer 430
Sending Buddy to a Board and Train 431
Part 6: The Part of Tens 433
Chapter 24: Ten Training Traps and How to Avoid Them 435
Procrastinating on Basic Training 435
Buying into Attention-Seeking Behavior 436
Forgetting to Release Your Dog from a Stay 436
Eliminating Rewards Too Soon 437
Using Your Dog’s Name as a Command 437
Having to Repeat Commands Away from Home 437
Punishing Your Dog When He Comes to You 438
Running After Your Dog 439
Expecting Too Much Too Quickly 439
Ignoring the Principle of Consistency 440
Chapter 25: Ten Fun and Exciting Sporting Activities 441
Agility Events 441
Tracking Titles 443
Barn Hunt AKC 444
Lure Coursing 445
Schutzhund Training 445
Flyball Competitions 446
Freestyle Performances 446
Dock Diving Dogs 446
Detection Dogs or Scent Work 447
Working as a Service Dog 448
Assistance dogs 448
Companions 449
Chapter 26: Ten Reasons Dogs Do What They Do 451
Why Do Dogs Insist on Jumping on People? 451
Why Do Dogs Sniff Parts of Your Anatomy That You’d Prefer They Didn’t? 452
Why Do Male Dogs Lift Their Legs So Often? 452
Why Do Dogs Mount Each Other? 453
Why Do Dogs Like to Chase Things? 453
Why Do Dogs Roll in Disgusting Things? 454
Why Do Dogs Eat Weeds or Grass? 454
Why Do Dogs Hump Humans’ Legs? 455
Why Do Dogs Scoot on Their Rear Ends? 455
Why Do Dogs Circle Before Lying Down? 455
Index 457
