Train Routes

When you brought him home, you just knew that cute little puppy was going to brighten your family’s life in many different ways! You visualized him running with the children in the backyard, curled up at your feet on a winter’s night in front of the fire, and as an always-cheerful companion for everyone in the house.

You didn’t expect biting. You certainly didn’t anticipate his aggressive personality. You never dreamt he would make it his life’s mission to destroy clothing and furniture. You didn’t plan for the random barking or the wanton disobedience. Whether you were ready for it or not, you own a difficult dog.

There is undoubtedly a temptation to give up. You may feel as though you are simply trapped with a “naughty dog.” Some may even consider the highly inappropriate route of abandoning a pet under these circumstances. Neither of these solutions, however, is good for the dog or the owner. Instead, one must be determined that they will work with their difficult dog to improve the situation. Making that commitment is the essential first step in dealing with any difficult dog.

But then what? There is no one-size-fits all solution for handling a difficult dog. Like people, each dog’s personality and needs are unique. There are four overarching things you need to do, however, if you want your dog to live a happy life and to be a pleasurable companion for you.

Seek out information

That small ten-page dog-training pamphlet you picked up at the pet store along with the leashes is not going to enough of a guide to training your difficult dog. Seek out detailed and expertly written information about dog training and specific methods to assist you in training your difficult pet. Canvass the library, bookstores and the internet in the pursuit of knowledge and tips that can help you deal with your specific pet problems. Although one must avoid researching at the expense of doing, it is important to have a strong understanding of your dog, his problems, and potential means of addressing his behavioural deficiencies

Make sure your dog is healthy

Often, behavioural problems can be a manifestation of an underlying health problem. Consider the possibility that your dog’s behaviour issues could be symptomatic of a physical problem. Make sure your dog is thoroughly checked out by a veterinarian. If a medical issue is underlying his poor behaviour, proper treatment can rectify many of his problems—as well as helping to insure a long healthy life for your dog. Too often, medical causes of poor behaviour go overlooked.

Be patient

Don’t expect your problem dog to transform overnight. Changing the behaviour patters of difficult dogs can take some time. If you expect the quick course that worked in training your neighbour’s non-problem dog to be successful for your difficult pet, you will be disappointed. Brace yourself to commit a great deal of time to correcting your dog’s errant behaviour. Additionally, impatience increases the risk of inconsistency in training and the likelihood you may lose your temper or act inappropriately in handling your dog. This type of behaviour on the part of an owner may not only be cruel, it can also reverse any gains made and make quality training even more difficult.

Seek assistance

Sometimes a dog simply requires professional training assistance. If you have tried to manage the situation unsuccessfully and feel you are at a dead end, you must consider utilizing a professional dog trainer. Quality professionals have wide-reaching experience and may be able to isolate training methods that will be effective for your particular dog. You may need to hire a trainer on a regular basis. At the very least, you may plan on consulting with a trainer regularly.

By learning more, keeping a close eye on your dog’s physical health, remaining patient and seeking professional guidance when necessary, you can improve the quality of life for your behaviourally challenged dogs. The little puppy you brought home in hopes of having the perfect pet still has a chance at that happy life if you follow these recommendations and commit to treating the dog properly and training him effectively. By committing yourself to your dog’s training and well being you may end up with just the happy, content and cheerful companion you wanted all along.

Every dog owner can benefit from a guide for training a dog. The best dogs are not always blue blood pedigrees. Rather, the best is one that has been trained to listen and respond to the commands of its owner. There are many ways to train a dog. You can take them to obedience school. You can even train the dog at home. However, when you select a guide for training a dog there are some particulars to look for.
Fit for Purpose
The first thing you need to address when choosing a guide for training a dog is to make sure it is written for your dog. This means, for example, if you have a puppy, the older dog training book will not work. You should choose something which will let you train your puppy to be house broken, leash constrained, other important obedience factors you would teach a puppy. If, on the other hand, you are working with an older dog, then you want one written accordingly.
Command Performance
A good guide for training a dog will include commands. You may want to train the dog with hand signals. The guide should show the proper signals. Pictures and diagrams are necessary when using this type of training.
Voice commands used by some trainers might be your choice when teaching your dog. Each guide for training a dog is different. You may have to search for one which shows you specifically how to use voice commands. This is one of the easiest methods of teaching a dog to behave.
Some trainers use whistle commands. If this is the route you opt for, you will want a detailed explanation of this technique. The best guide for training a dog in the use of whistle commands will be detailed in the process.
To be truly satisfied with the guide for training a dog, find one which offers all three methods. There are many on the market that are rather inexpensive. It is definitely a worthwhile investment to find a guide which is thorough. While researching the best guides to train a dog, you will find many trainers have written books on the subject. When you discover a qualified trainer who has authored a book on dog training, that is the one to buy. It will usually cover the puppy stage as well as the adult dog. There will be voice commands and hand signals. You will even find hints on how to teach the dog tricks.
Fun for All the Family
Training a dog is a fun project the entire family can enjoy. The children get especially excited when the new dog or puppy responds in a positive way to a command. When you find a training guide that proves to teach effective techniques, do not change teaching habits. Stick with the system you know works. You can have a very obedient pet. One that is loyal and can be trusted. Find the right guide for training a dog and your pet will become even more of a joy to have around.

Dogs that cock their leg and pee or poop in other peoples houses (like my house a few months ago…Oscar) Dogs that pull their owners, straining as if they’re pulling a carriage. Dogs who chew clothes and shoes, bark and go mad for no reason. Dogs that jump up at you or even worse at other people, or worse again at kids – Or the nightmare, dogs that bite you, other dogs, or worst other people…and that can get a death sentence for the dog.

Just about every dog owner truly wants to train their dog well. But a nearly equal number will underestimate the time, skill and elbow grease it takes to do it as it needs to be done – Especially if they are a new dog owner and have bought a high energy breed when they should have gone for a lower energy submissive type. The result is often a common catalogue of errors that can be, with more or less effort, headed off before they begin.

Lets get one thing carved in stone right away – Dogs are not hairy fluffy kids. We can wish it were so but it’s not and never will be! Though the typical adult dog has a mental age of a human 2-3 year old, there are more differences than similarities so this is not a good fact to use in relation to your relationship with your dog. Dogs can be astounding at understanding verbal communication. But they don’t reason out or get context the way humans do. They don’t associate cause and effect in the same way.

As a result, it can be frustrating to repeat the same command over and over, only to have the dog apparently ignore you. Most times, they are not ignoring the command as much as failing to understand it. It seems it should be obvious – they’ve done the action with success many times before – but today they are just ‘being obstinate’.

Some dogs likely are what would, in humans, be called obstinate. But they can be easily distracted, or fail to associate today’s case of ‘come’ with yesterday’s action and subsequent reward. There are other explanations for their behavior.

Patience is the number one required quality, therefore. You have to be geared up to repeat the same order, day in and day out, and occasionally not get the same outcome. Many dogs take two years to learn anything beyond the easiest basics to the point that it consistently sticks.

Part of that patience means you have to hold your temper in check when you’d like to hit out verbally or physically. It’s easy to use physical punishment as the first route of correcting a dog’s behavior. But that’s reserved in the wild for only the most severe circumstances. So, the dog hasn’t evolved to understand why you’re getting at them. It instills fear, not trust. Just don’t EVER do it. It’s totally counter-productive and won’t help anyway.

Dogs, like humans, much more readily follow those they trust than those they fear. The latter they do only when they have no choice. But dogs make choices very differently from people. They will usually just endure the punishment without learning anything. Physical punishment IS NOT an effective training method.

So, here’s how NOT to train your dog:

- Forget that your dog has a nature unlike yours. Talk to them like they were a human child. Call them and act to them like “my baby” ahh my little soldier etc. Would mummys little man like a sweetie? STOP – It’s a dog – Do wild dogs treat each other like that? No they don’t. So stop fighting the natural order and start to treat your dog like an alpha dog or bitch pack leader treats his or her pack.

- Believe that the dog can associate consequences across time and conditions, then draw the same conclusion you would. Except that is – ironically – bad lessons. Dogs learn to associate bad things very well which is a fast route to creating a fearful and dangerous dog.

- Get impatient and frustrated when they don’t behave as you want them to. Punish them for not behaving the way you want. As with above, impatience and punishment create fear . Fear can create neurotic as well as aggressive behavior.

Follow those futile techniques and you’ll harvest the pay back of a neurotic dog and you will be an unhappy owner. But if these are not the results you desire, be prepared to change YOUR behavior, before you try to alter the dog’s.