Dog Beds

When you first bring home your sweet little puppy you never think that one day it could be a dog that is one mistake away from being sent off. It is not a single occurrence that creates aggressive dogs. Dogs aren’t born to be aggressive towards people. Often times, aggressive dogs are the result of some form of abuse or lack of proper training. If you received your dog as an adult from another household you will want to be specifically cautious to make sure that you are putting your pet through dog obedience training.

Showing your dog right away who is the boss and who is the pet is important to make sure that housebreaking is an easy job for the both of you. Dog and puppy training is vital for more than just ensuring that she no longer chews your favorite shoes to pieces. You have to make sure that you stop your pet from becoming one of the thousands of aggressive dogs out there. Many terrible things can happen when a dog is allowed to get into dog growling or dog biting. These situations can arise without proper dog training.

The Awful Consequences of Aggressive Dogs

* Physical injuries to family, friends, or neighbors
* Emotional injuries to young children
* Ruined personal possessions
* Previous situations that create lawsuits
* The dog becoming one of the many aggressive dogs that are put to sleep each year

If you truly love and care for your pet it is time that you step up and make sure that the animal you love so much does not join the ranks of aggressive dogs. If you feel as though you are unable to control the situation on your own or you simply do not know where to start then seek outside help. There are numerous professionally-trained dog trainers out there who specialize in aggressive dogs.

It’s advisable to do as much reading and research as you can on aggressive dogs. Learn that hitting a dog is not the way to train it. Violence only leads to violence, so be sure you aren’t contributing to the creation of aggressive dogs. The videos and books available might give you some success, however, in order to solve this problem, or preventing it from even starting, an expert can be invaluable.

Acquiring Outside Help

It doesn’t matter if the trainer is free or if you have paid for their services, you must recognize that nothing is more important than understanding that you are responsible for your pet and its behavior. The owners are always the ones that are accountable for the behavior of their aggressive dog, so be sure to avoid the potential legal or moral situations.

If you have a dog that has not yet experienced signs of becoming one of the many aggressive dogs out there then you have a little time. It is best to start immediately, especially if your dog has aggressive or rough tendencies.

To the everyday dog owner, the rules and regulations of some nationwide dog registry associations like the American Kennel Club (AKC) can seem unusual, to say the least. You could be excused for thinking that a puppy registered by the American Kennel Club would be a healthy, high quality purebred, yet this isn’t always so. You can really only be sure of getting a puppy with a recognized pedigree. The health of the puppy’s parents and ancestry, and the quality of the breeder, are not monitored by them. To a lot of people, this can be a surprise. It’s natural to expect that a registry such as the AKC would be concerned with -  breeding out genetic illnesses, and making sure a healthy constitution is maintained in a breed. And it shows why some breed clubs, such as those for the Australian kelpie dog breed, have chosen not to finish the requirements for AKC registration. Dogs not recognized by the AKC may not enter in the numerous American Kennel Club run dog shows. What is does mean, is that a breed’s health and working dog qualities are protected.

What the AKC wanted breeders of the Australian kelpie to do was in effect limit the natural genetic variation of their dogs. Pedigree dogs seem to be bred from an ever decreasing gene pool. And this is especially true for those most concerned with champion lines. The net effect is that a lot of these dogs cannot do a lot of things the breed was once known for, such as hunt. It has also resulted in a lot of genetic health problems, the consequence of too much inbreeding to keep the lines ‘pure’. Dogs are bred back to their grandparents and parents, simply because it creates dogs that help win dog shows. The University of Wisconsin:

“First, the AKC defines quality in a dog primarily on the basis of appearance, paying scant heed to such other canine characteristics as health, temperament, and habits of work. Over the years this policy has led to destructive forms of inbreeding that have created dogs capable only of conforming to human standards of beauty. Many can no longer perform their traditional tasks–herding, tracking, hunting–while more than a few cannot live outside a human-controlled environment.” (Source)

Of course, this isn’t the reason some dogs aren’t recognized by the American Kennel Club as a separate breed. Many of the smaller breeds are not recognized as they are smaller versions of larger dogs, and the American Kennel Club doesn’t recognize the distinction. This is the case with dogs like the small German spitz and the toy Manchester terrier.

Ultimately, unless you want a show dog, registration by the American Kennel Club is not as important as finding a good quality dog from a breeder who breeds with the health of the dogs in mind, as well as to preserve the dog’s natural abilities. Breeders who breed mostly for show are more likely to follow breeding practices that don’t support a dog’s wellbeing. And it could result in dogs that have less than desirable temperaments as pets. Whilst there may be some instances where this is not true, in the long term, excessive inbreeding can only result in long term problems for a breed.

When you set out to teach your pet to come, there are a few secrets, tips and tricks that I'll share with you, to get fast success!

I have adapted these free techniques from the outstanding ‘Secrets to Dog Training‘ by Daniel Stephens. You can jump straight to it here if you want to read more.

“Come dog”

Firstly, and possibly the most crucial, is that you should never call your dog over if you are going to do something that he might class as ‘negative’ to him.. Some prime examples are include tying him up, bathing him (if he hates that!), locking him away, hitting him or yelling at him etc..

Never call and then punish your dog for something like running away when he comes over. Your dog will think he’s being punished for doing as his master says.If the dog already knows bad associations when you call come, such as thinking it means 'run asap!' or should your dog start to ignore your command, try a new one with a new sound that comes accross as different. 

Forget your old come command and teach this exercise using a new, clear word. 'Here' is a common one, but the alternatives are endless, so long as it suits you and it works.

In the perfect world, your dog should hear this new command, stop what hes doing and come sit in front of you, ideally that is! Best results are had when you treat this step as two different exercises.

The two exercises are best taught seperate, untll your dog has them both under control. When this happens, combine them together.

“Come sit in front of me”

Start with putting your dog on a short ish leash. Get the attention of your pet and position the treat at nose level. Now walk back 3 or 4 steps with the treat held up.

With your dog infront of you, now stop and hold the treat up so that your dog sits and waits.

Command your dog to sit, and when hes does so paitently you can reward him with the treat by putting it in his mouth. Dont let him jump to get it!

Next, try the whole thing again while keeping your ground instead of moving back. Now try to phase out guiding with food or treats and change to simply reinforcing a correct 'come, sit' command. This will help your dog accept praise as a reward.

You can read part two of this article, for free, as my website (that has hundreds of other free dog training tips) here, at dog commands.

Crate training is starting to catch on with many dog owners. People who crate train however need to truly be informed in the way to do it effectively. Without knowing all of the facts, a person could really just wasting their time and doing the opposite of training a dog. Crate training a dog does not come instinctively.

Firstly, you need to find out the what size crate you need to properly crate train your dog. There are several different sizes with good reason. What you don’t want to do is give your dog a nice large crate to relax in even though it might be your first instinct. The exception is if you have one of the larger breeds of dogs. The ideal size crate will allow your dog to stand and turn. It’s pointless to get a crate that’s too big.

A large component of this instruction is that you will gain a far greater grasp on the housebreaking method. You will never get your dog housebroken if the crate is too large and the dog can still go to the bathroom. Dogs will not urinate where they lie down. With a small crate they will be more focused on restraining themselves.

Crate training a dog includes knowing what to do when the dog is inside or outside of the crate. After you release your dog from the crate you must bring him outdoors to the place where he should use the bathroom. Reward your puppy when he’s followed your command. Food and water shouldn’t be put in the crate and the dog shouldn’t be left in the crate for extended lengths of time.

Learn more about how to Crate Train Dog here.

Make sure that there aren’t any rough edges that the dog can get hurt on. If dogs have to spend too much time crated up they become anxious and try to discover if they can escape. You do not want your dog cut and end up with possible infections. Dog training is not a simple matter. In order for you, the trainer, to do it the right way, you must put the safety and health of the dog first, before you cause it injury.

Be sure that the crate is not used as a punishment. Do not send your dog there when it has done something wrong. Your dog should not be anxious about the crate when you are training it. You want to create a comfort zone or a den like home with a crate. As long as your dog senses that the location provides safety and security, he won’t be bothered staying there while you’re out. Simply continue training your dog and soon you’ll realize that the crate is the greatest thing to come into your lives.

Learn more about how to Crate Train Dog here.