A dog belongs to the animal kingdom and will behave differently from human. It will need to be domesticated or trained to blend into your daily family lifestyle.
Please do not assume that because you have chosen a small and mild mannered dog, it will automatically behave itself. Though a breed of dog has similar characteristics but each dog has its own personality too.
So what is the basic training or obedience behavior that we would want to cultivate into our dogs?
When you bring home your puppy, it needs to feel safe or secure in its environment. You should have bought a crate and spend some time helping the puppy to familiarize itself with the crate so that it will treat it as its home or den. The crate will serve as a place to sleep peacefully and to seek shelter or comfort at times, e.g. during thunderstorm.
You will also want to potty train your puppy so that it will always go to a specific spot to ease itself; especially so if you are living in an apartment or your dog is meant to be kept indoors most of the time. Another option is to train your dog to ease itself when you walk it in the mornings and evenings.
Some basic commands like sit, stay, come and down will definitely be very useful.
These commands are for the safety of the dog and also to ensure that it will behave properly in public. A well behaved dog will be a joy to have around as another member of your family.
Situations where you want your dog to sit and stay are when you are about to feed it, when you meet a friend during your walks. Come is a very important command to instill in your dog as there will be a few instances where it got itself free from you and you have to get it back before it harm itself or frighten someone out there. My Corgi responds to the Come command very well but I will have a hard time getting my Beagle back if it runs out of the gate.
Commands like paw is not really an obedience command but when your dog is well trained on the basic commands mentioned above, it may be fun for you to proceed with some of these commands like paw, rollover, etc. but please do not force it on your dog.
Finally, you should also introduce your puppy to other puppies or dogs and other humans other than those in your family. This is to teach your dog to socialize or interact with its world.
Training your dog will require time and patience. You may want to get a professional dog trainer to help you initially. You may then follow-up by reading up books from the library to enhance your training skills. Another benefit of training your dog will be that both of you are getting to know each other better.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How to use a muzzle to curb barking dog
By: Hersky | 18-07-2008
Can anyone reccomend a method for using a muzzle to curb excessive barking in a poddle mix.
He barks at other dogs, whenever excitied (like taking a ride in the car) new people, and the TV... Not constantly, but LOUDLY, and although he doesn't seem to have an aggressive bone in his body, but he can scare people.
I like to take him with me everywhere, but his barking has put a real damper on that.
I want a deaf dog, but.....
By: Nes | 02-07-2008
So I went to the animal shelter along with my girlfriend today and this 10 month old mixed Pitbull really caught our attention. The dog is gorgeous and very friendly. We just fell in love with her the minute we saw her, but as we were reading her description we read that she is deaf. I really don't care about that but i am worried that if we bring her to our home and if she gets out of the house one day, she may get hurt by a car or something/someone else, since she can't hear anything approaching her. My girlfriend and I really want her, but we are just worried about her safety...we also got a chance to walk her and I obviously couldn't call her over. The only way she comes to us is when she looks at us and we sign her to walk over to us. Should I be worried about her impairment and how can I train her??
How to train aggressive dogs
By: annan | 01-07-2008
i have a daushund that is almost a year old. when he gets out the door, he trys to attack strangers. how can i train him not to do that?
Am I the only one who got ripped off with Nancy ...
By: Sherritasworld | 26-06-2008
Am I the only one who got ripped off with Nancy Richard's Dog Training Institute scam?
Pet health insurance
By: mamadog | 26-06-2008
What is the best health insurance,costwise,comprehensive, not subject to reinversement,accepted by any veterenerian, for my dog?
Potty training a two year old king charles spaniel
By: kathy | 21-06-2008
any ideas? I've tried it all. She is very smart and goes outside with rewards, but goes inside just as much!!! She has ruined every carpet in my house. I have no idea what to do
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