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.

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.

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.

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.

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.