You are likely to enjoy the walk with your dog only when your dog knows how to greet other dogs politely. When your dog meets another dog in a slightly raised state, pulling or wading you, the dog interprets this as an attack. Watch your dog when he’s approaching another dog for the first time. If the dog seems stressed or shows any aggression, avoid having the greeting. Try to avoid nose to nose greetings and keep your dog in a loose position. Don’t let the dog play on leashes as this teaches poor leash behaviour. Keep your own body language calm. If the dog gets stressed, use the ‘leave it’ command to take control of the situation. To teach your dog to greet a person properly, have a friend to greet and meet the dog at your backyard and put your dog in ‘sit’ position. Teaching to greet people is to correct your dog in case it breaks the SIT command.
Loose Leash Walking (Part – I): Basics of Loose Leash Walking
It’s a common problem of dog pulling on a lead and the owner being dragged down the street. However, never stop his regular walks just because he drags you while walking. Socialize the puppy with the lead. Never allow the dog to walk in front of you. Let the dog walk beside you or slightly behind you. Keep the leash loose. Start the training in an area where there are only few distractions. Never use retractable lead as it allows the dog to move around freely. Start walking so that the dog stays in heel position, but don’t say ‘heel’ as this is not the heel command. This is the stage for pattern setting so that the dog will automatically move to your side while walking. Remember to correct every time your dog tends to move past your leg and stop as soon as your dog starts pulling.
Greeting People at Door
Teaching your dog to properly greet people at the door is one of the most frustrating area of training. Dogs naturally get excited about something new or someone coming to the door, so the dog needs to be on his best behavior when someone knocks on the door and you want your dog to greet him politely and not to jump up on him. To do this, get someone to stand on your doorstep for a while and place your dog on the lead. Never do this training when the dog is not on the lead; otherwise you won’t have any control over him. When the door is knocked, walk over to the door with the dog and make him sit. The dog should always greet guests in SIT position. Let the dog learn that the door is not an exciting place and he should wait until he’s invited to greet people.
Controlling a Puppy
Catching your puppy in the act is the key to controlling him. This video shows some useful tips to control your puppy. Never leave your puppy alone. Always leave your puppy in the crate if you’re gone or too busy to watch the puppy. Make sure that your puppy gets ample exercise since a tired dog is a happy dog. Exercising your puppy will help you prevent a lot of bad behaviors. Train your puppy on a regular basis for 5-15 mins everyday. If the puppy is sleeping or playing, let him sleep or play close to you. Overloading your puppy with too much crate time is not good for him. The puppy should never be in the crate for more than 2 hours at a time.
Keep Fido Quiet
Barking becomes a problem when the dog barks incessantly or for a long period of time. Its important to teach your dog that some barking is ok, but not always. Understanding your dog’s barking trigger is the first step towards combating problem barking. This video shows how to train a dog to bark a few times when someone comes at the door without going overboard with it. Place the dog on lead, have your friend to ring the doorbell and say ‘Quiet’ after he has barked 2 or 3 times. Once your dog is quiet, reward him so that he knows 2 or 3 barks are ok, but not more. The best way to stop the dog from barking at things while on walk is socialization. Watch for your dog’s cues before he starts barking and try to distract him as soon as you see the cue instead of yelling at him.
Breaking the Table Surfing
Teach your dog ‘leave it’ to break the habit of table surfing. However, train your dog as the need arises, don’t force the situations on your dog. Instead, wait for those trainable moments to happen. Dogs generally table surf when you’re not looking. To break the habit, start by placing the food on the edge of the table. Move to a place where the dog can’t see you, but you can see him. As soon as the dog goes for the food, clap your hands and say ‘No’ or ‘Leave It’. When he leaves it, praise him, but don’t give him the food that’s on the table as he has to learn to wait for it. Continue with training and correct the dog when he tries to go for the food. Be consistent with your dog and always follow through on the correction. Let the dog learn that he’ll not be rewarded for table surfing.
Tips on Jumping and Digging
The key to curbing jumping is to simply ignore the dog and not to give the attention that he’s craving for. There are actually 2 ways to train a puppy not to jump: behavior modification and ‘off’ command. The moment the dog tries to jump on you, you step forward, so the dog tends to feel out of balance. Never step backward as that is interpreted as a retreat and actually encourages the puppy to jump up on you. Another alternative is to take your hand and sweep his paws down and say ‘off’. Praise him when he has all his paws on the floor. Some dog breeds are more prone to digging such as Terrier. Dogs can’t be taught not to dig. You can only curb digging by teaching him not to dig in certain areas. Don’t leave your dog unattended in the backyard for long periods of time.
Coping with Chewing and Biting
There are host of reasons why dogs and puppies will chew. The first reason is teething. Most puppies will start teething between 6 to 9 months of age. Other reasons are separation anxiety and sensory stimulation. Chewing should be controlled right from the beginning. Puppy proof your home to limit the puppy’s access to items that he can chew.The key to puppy proofing is to banish clutter, anything on the floor and at dog height is at risk of being chewed, so keep things out of the puppy's reach. Give your puppy chew items. Try to give your puppy ample exercise. Confine your puppy in a crate when you can’t watch him. Spray your furniture with bitter apple. Catch the puppy in the act of chewing a no-chew item and say ‘No’ in a loud and firm voice. Praise the puppy when he stops chewing.
What To Expect From This Section
This video shows how to teach your puppy good manners. Though we often look at puppy manners as training, it’s actually not a formal type of training. It actually deals with common behavior problems in puppy's first year like chewing and biting, jumping and digging, barking, breaking the table surfing and so on. Most of the training in this section are done throughout the puppy’s day. You don’t need to formally sit down and teach your puppy manners. Instead the puppy will learn as you go. It helps a lot with the formal training as you prevent many unwanted behaviour problems through puppy manners.
Puppy Proofing Your Home
Puppies may run into risks of being seriously injured or worse, if you do not puppy proof your home. Look into the things that are hanging as the puppy can chew them. Remove the hanging items like cords or table clothes if possible as puppies love to chew them. Make sure that your children’s toys and stuffed animals are away and out of reach as they are usually very tempting to puppies. In addition, puppies may swallow any small hard toy which may lead to expensive trips to the vet. Place the floor plants in a different room where the puppy is not allowed to go as plants can be poisonous to puppies. Any chemicals and breakables should be placed up or stored away from where the puppy is. Some puppies can be very clumsy during certain stages of life and will often jump into things, so you should put up anything that can be damaged.
