Dog Training For Dummies

Wendy Volhard is internationally recognized for her contributions to dog training. At the heart of her teaching is the “Motivational Method” for people who value dogs as companions. Mary Ann Rombold Zeigenfuse, LVT, has been working with dogs and their owners for over 40 years. She runs Best Friends Obedience in Lexington, KY.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons Used in This Book 3

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Setting the Stage for Successful Training 5

Chapter 1: Dog Training: The Key to Your Dog’s Safety and Your Sanity 7

Understanding Why You’re Training Buddy: To Do Something or Not to Do Something 8

Identifying a Well-Trained Dog 9

Selecting a Training Model 11

First things first: Considering your dog’s breed 12

Training a dog: What are you really doing? 13

Identifying Six Basic Commands Every Dog Needs to Know 16

Recognizing Factors that Influence Success 16

Having a good relationship with your dog 17

Owning a healthy dog 17

Making training time a priority 17

Oh, the Places You and Your Pooch Can Go: Beyond the Basics 18

The Canine Good Citizen Certificate 19

AKC S.T.A.R puppy program 19

AKC tricks titles 19

More than training: Understanding how dogs help people 19

An Exercise to Get You and Your Pooch Started 20

Chapter 2: Getting to Know Your Dog and How He Perceives the World 23

Determining What Motivates You and Your Dog 24

Being Aware of Your Dog’s Body Language 24

Recognizing Your Dog’s Instinctive Behaviors 25

Prey drive 26

Pack drive 27

Defense drive, fight and flight 28

Understanding how the drives affect training 30

Determining Your Dog’s Personality Profile 31

Deciding How You Want Buddy to Act 35

Bringing out drives 36

Switching drives 37

Applying drives to your training 39

Remembering Who’s Training Whom 43

Chapter 3: Developing Training Savvy 45

Managing the Dog Within 46

Breed-specific behaviors 46

Temperament 47

Mental sensitivity 48

Responses to visual stimuli 48

Sound sensitivity 49

Touch sensitivity – the adrenaline effect 50

Stressing the Effects of Stress 51

Understanding stress 51

Recognizing the symptoms of stress 52

Origins of stress — intrinsic and extrinsic 53

Relating stress to learning 54

Stress and distraction training 54

Managing stress 55

Managing Your Dog’s Environment 55

Starting on the right foot 55

Recognizing your dog’s social needs 56

Identifying your dog’s emotional needs 57

Feeding your dog’s nutritional needs 57

Understanding the “You” Factor 58

Knowing your expectations 58

Knowing your attitude 60

Being consistent with commands and tone of voice 61

Outlasting your dog — be persistent 62

Knowing to avoid “no” 63

Repeating commands 63

Chapter 4: Understanding the Vital Role That Nutrition and Health Play in Training 65

Finding the Right Food for Buddy 66

Deciphering dog food labels 67

Evaluating Buddy’s current food 69

Understanding the Nutrients Your Dog Needs 70

Meeting puppy’s nutritional needs 71

Keeping your dog’s diet rich in protein 72

Going easy on the carbohydrates 74

Knowing the value of fats — in moderation 75

Ensuring that your dog’s diet is fortified with

vitamins and minerals 76

Don’t forget to quench his thirst: Keeping fresh water around 77

Paying close attention to preservatives 78

Making Choices about How to Feed Buddy 79

Feeding Buddy commercial dry food 79

Offering beefed-up commercial dry food 80

Trying a raw food or frozen diet 82

Making your own food: Wendy’s Natural Diet 84

Using the Natural Diet Foundation (NDF2) 85

Transferring Buddy to his new diet 86

Sizing up supplements 87

Exploring Common Health Issues That Affect Behavior and Training 87

Here comes that needle again: Examining vaccination issues 89

Uncovering the rise in doggy hypothyroidism 93

The bone crusher: “Oh, my aching back” 96

Quelling fear, anxiety, and other conditions with homeopathy 96

Treating chronic conditions with acupuncture 98

Chapter 5: Gearing Up for Training Success 99

Choosing the Right Training Leash and Collar 100

Deciding on a leash 100

Selecting a collar 102

Readying a Reward: Treats Are Your Training Buddies 107

Picking the ideal tasty treat 108

Opting for toys when food treats don’t work 109

Considering Other Equipment You Can Use 109

Using head halters 110

Going for a body harness 111

Exploring electronic and other training and management equipment 112

Part 2: Performing Puppy Preliminaries 119

Chapter 6: Bringing Your Puppy Home: What You Need to Know 121

Preparing for Puppy’s Arrival 122

Puppy’s home at home: Readying a crate 123

Puppy’s menu: Selecting a proper diet and set of dishes 127

Puppy’s everyday collar, ID, and leash: Preparing Buddy to go outside 128

Puppy’s toys: Playing with Buddy 128

Bringing Puppy Home — Now What? 129

Getting your puppy used to his collar and leash 130

Getting Buddy situated in his new home 132

Introducing puppies and kids 133

Meeting resident pets 134

Tending to his potty needs 135

Deciding where your puppy should sleep 136

Starting Buddy’s Education 136

Training for grooming 137

Spaying and neutering 142

Solving Perplexing Puppy Problems 142

Chapter 7: Surviving Your Puppy’s Critical Growth Periods 145

Understanding Your Puppy’s Early Development 146

Birth to 7 weeks: the Canine Socialization Period 146

Getting to know everyone: Weeks 7–12 the

Human Socialization Period 148

Suddenly he’s afraid: Weeks 8–12 the Fear Imprint Period 149

Now he wants to leave home: Beyond 12 weeks: “Been there, done that” 150

The Terrible Twos: Managing the Adolescent from 4 Months to 2 Years 151

Surviving the juvenile flakies 152

Blame it on the hormones: Understanding how hormones affect behavior 153

Meeting the mature adult when your dog finally grows up 154

Spaying or Neutering to Help with Behavior and Training 155

Heeding the advantages 155

Acknowledging the disadvantages 156

Knowing when to spay or neuter 157

Part 3: Tackling Training Basics 159

Chapter 8: The Ins and Outs of Housetraining 161

Helping Buddy Get Used to His Crate 162

Training a Dog to Eliminate Outside 164

Hold elimination when inside the house 164

Know why he’s outside — to eliminate 166

Prove to Buddy that you’re trustworthy to take him outside 167

Establishing a Regular Feeding and Elimination Schedule 168

Designating a Regular Toilet Area 169

When Accidents Happen — Knowing What to Do 171

Avoiding punishment 171

Dealing with the accidents 172

Cleaning accidents 172

Using an Exercise Pen for Housetraining 173

Chapter 9: Focusing on Some Basic Training Commands 175

Training for Attention: Praise Versus Petting 175

Understanding the difference between the two 176

Using Okay to release from work 176

Practice getting your dog’s attention 177

Using the Yes command 177

Practicing Name Recognition 178

Sequence 1: Having Buddy move toward you when he hears his name 178

Sequence 2: Adding Come after his name 179

Sequence 3: Making Sit mandatory 180

Training Your Dog the Touch Command 180

Sequence 1: Getting Buddy to move toward you 180

Sequence 2: Increasing the distance Buddy needs to move toward you 181

Sequence 3: Not offering treat in the flat Touch hand 182

Sequence 4: Moving the touch hand in different positions 182

Sequence 5: Mixing up the hand you offer 183

Greeting with the Hello Command 184

Sequence 1: Focusing on the treat 184

Sequence 2: Greeting and praising 184

Sequence 3: Training Buddy to hold the sitting position longer 185

Sequence 4: Having a friend help 185

Leave It: Getting Your Dog to Leave Stuff Alone 186

Sequence 1: Introducing Leave It 186

Sequence 2: Looking at you 187

Sequence 3: Moving the treat from your hand to the floor 188

Sequence 4: “Leaving” a dropped food item 188

Sequence 5: “Leaving” a found item on the ground outside 189

Understanding other uses for Leave It 190

Chapter 10: Coming and Going: Two Essential Commands to Teach Buddy 191

Understanding the Importance of Leadership: Okay Is the Word 191

Teaching Your Dog to Come When Called 193

Teaching Buddy the Recall Game 193

Remembering what’s important when you use the Come command 196

Training Your Dog to Handle Distractions 198

Teaching Come with first-degree distractions 198

Teaching Come with second-degree distractions 199

Teaching Come with third-degree distractions 200

Focusing on the Opposite of Come — Go 201

Sequence 1: Teaching a target 202

Sequence 2: Add Come after the release 203

Sequence 3: Increase the distance to the target 203

Chapter 11: Mastering Some Fundamentals: Sit, Down, and Stay 205

Understanding Why Sit Is So Important 206

Introducing Down and Its Commands 206

Training Your Dog Sit and Down Simultaneously 207

Sequence 1: Placing and showing 208

Sequence 2: Adding the Down 208

Sequence 3: Luring into the Down 209

Sequence 4: Luring into the Sit 210

Sequence 5: Adding collar pressure 211

Sequence 6: Foregoing the treat 212

Warming Up with the Long-Down Exercise 212

Staying in Place: Sit-Stay and Down-Stay 214

Teaching the Sit-Stay 215

Teaching the Down-Stay 217

Chapter 12: Going for a Pleasant Walk 219

Using the Right Leash and Collar When Walking Your Dog 219

Taking a Pleasure Walk with Your Dog 221

Using a clock face to train your dog to walk 221

Training the pleasure walk 223

Teaching Buddy How to Heel at Your Side 224

Adding Distractions 226

Training with distractions 226

Chapter 13: Going to Bed and All of Its Practical Uses 231

Selecting a Bed for Your Dog 232

Deciphering How You Want to Use the Command 233

Training Buddy the Go to Your Bed Command 234

Sequence 1: Starting with the Bed command 234

Sequence 2: Adding the Go, Bed command 235

Sequence 3: Increasing your distance from the bed 236

Sequence 4: Foregoing the food lure 236

Sequence 5: Increasing the time spent on the bed 237

Sequence 6: Moving around while he’s on the bed 238

Sequence 7: Adding distractions 238

Sequence 8: Finding the bed from another room 239

Chapter 14: Getting In, Out, On, and Off and Mastering Door and Stairs Manners 241

Getting In and Out 242

Sequence 1: Eating the reward 242

Sequence 2: Making Buddy wait for his treat 242

Sequence 3: The rules of the exit begin 243

Getting On and Off 244

Sequence 1: Getting Buddy on something 244

Sequence 2: Getting Buddy off something 245

Training Door Manners 245

Sequence 1: Opening the door 246

Sequence 2: Adding some outside distraction 247

Sequence 3: Leaving Buddy behind at the door 248

Teaching Stairs Manners 249

Chapter 15: Dealing with Common Doggie Don’ts 251

Preventing Bad Habits — The Five General Prescriptions for Good Behavior 252

Good exercise 252

Good company 253

Good health 254

Good nutrition 254

Good training 255

Handling Your Dog’s Objectionable Behavior 255

Tolerating your dog’s behavior problems 256

Trying to solve your dog’s behavior problems 257

When all else fails: Finding a new home for your dog 258

Teaching Buddy to Keep All Four on the Floor 258

Greeting people — Using the Hello command 259

Using Sit and Stay as an alternative to jumping up 260

Putting an End to Counter Surfing — Leave It 261

Quieting the Incessant Barker 262

Barking as a response to a stimulus or distraction 263

Barking for attention 264

Barking when someone comes to the door 264

Contending with Chewing — The Nonfood Variety 265

I’m teething! Examining the physiological need to chew 266

I’m bored! Recognizing the psychological reasons that dogs chew 266

Dealing with a Digger 267

Managing Marking Behavior 268

Part 4: Taking Training to the Next Level 271

Chapter 16: Retrieving: Time to Fetch 273

Introducing the Common Retrieving Commands to Your Natural Retriever 274

Explaining the Basics of Retrieving 274

Sequence 1: Starting with Take It 275

Sequence 2: Working on the Hold It and Give command 276

Sequence 3: Helping your dog retrieve on command 278

Sequence 4: Helping Buddy learn to hold and reach for the object 279

Sequence 4: Teaching Buddy to reach for it 280

Sequence 6: Walking while holding the dumbbell 281

Sequence 7: Training Buddy for the pick-up 281

Sequence 8: Bringing it back 282

Sequence 9: Putting it all together 283

Polishing and Perfecting the Retrieve 284

Wait for it: Testing your dog’s patience 284

Retrieving with distractions 284

Chapter 17: Trick Training for Fun 289

Shake and High Five 290

Sequence 1: Introducing the concept of shaking hands 291

Sequence 2: Lifting his paw 292

Sequence 3: Putting his paw on your palm 292

Sequence 4: Adding the High Five 292

Find the Pea under the Right Cup 293

Sequence 1: Establishing a pattern for the game 293

Sequence 2: Introducing the covered treat 294

Sequence 3: Adding a second cup with no treat 294

Sequence 4: Moving the cups and changing their position 295

Sequence 5: Finishing the trick 295

Hide in a Box 296

Sequence 1: Introducing the box on its side 297

Sequence 2: Standing the box correctly with opening on top 297

Sequence 3: Adding the Hide command 298

Sequence 4: Putting it all together 299

Pick a Hand 300

Sequence 1: Reviewing the Touch command 300

Sequence 2: Touching the back of the treat hand 300

Sequence 3: Offering both hands for dog to

choose the loaded hand 301

Sequence 4: Putting your hands behind your back first 302

Play Shy 303

Sequence 1: Putting his head between your legs 303

Sequence 2: Holding your legs closer together 304

Sequence 3: Holding his head pressed between your legs 305

Roll Over 306

Sequence 1: Rolling over with a little help 306

Sequence 2: Rolling over on his own 307

Sequence 3: Rolling over on command 307

Play Dead 307

Sequence 1: Laying down on his side or back 308

Sequence 2: Playing dead from the sitting or

standing position 308

Sequence 3: Playing dead at a distance 309

Sequence 4: Presenting the trick to an audience 309

Find Mine 310

Sequence 1: Retrieving something of yours 310

Sequence 2: Helping your dog find your item 310

Sequence 3: Allowing Buddy to find the keys with his nose 311

Sequence 4: Adding identical items and Buddy will find yours 312

Sequence 5: Untying the clean pencils after Buddy is always finding your scented pencil 313

Jump through a Hoop 314

Sequence 1: Walking and jumping through a hoop 314

Sequence 2: Jumping through the hoop off Leash 314

You Have Food on Your Nose 315

Sequence 1: Cupping your hand over your dog’s muzzle 315

Sequence 2: Putting the treat on your dog’s nose 316

Sequence 3: Balancing the treat longer 317

Sequence 4: Balancing the treat without your help 317

Take a Bow 318

Sequence 1: Bowing by using a food lure 318

Sequence 2: Practicing until Buddy bows with little to no help 319

Sequence 3: Taking a bow on command 319

Dog Catcher/Stranger Trick 320

Chapter 18: Training for Fun and Competition 323

Understanding the System: Your Road Map to the Companion Dog Title 324

Requirements for Pre-Novice 326

The Novice class: What’s expected from you and Buddy 328

First Things First: Teaching the Ready! Command 329

Using Control Position 330

Working through the sequences of the Ready! command 331

Heeling Despite Distractions 335

Helping your dog heel in new places 336

Using a distracter while you’re heeling 336

Let’s Dance, Buddy: Heel On and Then Off Leash 337

The halt 338

Changes of pace and turns 338

Putting a Twist on Things: Teaching the Figure 8 340

Sequence 1: Preparing Buddy for the Figure 8 341

Sequence 2: Introducing Buddy to the actual Figure 8 342

Sequence 3: Doing the perfect Figure 8 343

Your Dog Isn’t an Elephant: Reinforcing Training 344

Chapter 19: Completing the Companion Dog Title 347

You’re Getting a Check-Up: Preparing for the Stand for Examination 348

Sequence 1: Introducing the Stand command and Stand Stay 349

Sequence 2: Showing Buddy how to stand still without holding him in position 350

Sequence 3: Working on the Stand-Stay command 350

Sequence 4: Leaving Buddy in a Stand-Stay 351

Sequence 5: Getting Buddy familiar with the Return 351

Sequence 6: Preparing Buddy for the actual examination 352

Heeling Off Leash 353

Transitioning to Heeling Off Leash 354

Successfully getting off leash 356

Mastering the Recall 357

Stay 358

Come with distractions 358

Front 358

Finish 361

Training for the Group Stay Exercises 363

Setting up self-generated distractions 364

Increasing the level of difficulty 364

Part 5: Handling Special Situations 367

Chapter 20: Addressing Aggression 369

Understanding Aggression 369

Examining the link between aggression and drives 370

Looking at the causes of aggression 371

Managing a Dog’s Aggression — Prey, Pack, Defense Drives 374

Dealing with aggression from dogs high in prey drive 375

Handling aggression from dogs high in defense drive 377

Controlling aggression in dogs high in pack drive 382

Coping with Aggression around the Food Bowl 384

Dealing with Fear-Biters 384

Handling Aggression in Different Circumstances 386

Aggression in a multi-dog household 386

Aggression while grooming 387

Aggression at the veterinarian 387

Chapter 21: Helping Buddy Handle Special Situations 389

Reacting to Loud Noises and Thunder 389

Coping with Separation Anxiety 390

Testing the desensitizing approach 391

Trying the DAP approach 392

Looking at some other options 392

Soiling the House 393

Dribbling and Submissive Wetting 394

Taking Buddy on the Road 395

Getting used to entering the vehicle 396

Staying put before exiting the vehicle 396

Getting ready for your road trip 397

Easing carsickness 398

Going to Doggie Daycare 399

Minding Your Manners at the Dog Park 400

Keeping Your Canine Calm at the Vet’s Office 401

Being Patient with the Rescue Dog 402

Chapter 22: Keeping Your Senior Dog Young: Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks 403

Old Gray Muzzle: Exploring the Signs of Aging in Dog Years 404

Teaching Exercises to Keep Buddy’s Mind and Body Sharp 405

Begging 405

Crawling 406

Walking backward 407

Doing neck and head stretches 407

Using the coffee table stretch 408

Walking, sitting, and downing 409

Swimming 410

Applying mental stimulation 411

Taking Care of Your Older Dog’s Health and Nutrition Needs 412

Maintaining Buddy’s slim and trim figure with a satisfying diet 412

Making life easier with supplements 414

Keeping Up with Grooming 416

Bringing Home a Puppy to Help Rejuvenate Buddy 419

Looking Into Dog Beds, Ramps, Wheelchairs, and Carts 420

Making Buddy cozy: Beds 420

Making heights more manageable with ramps 421

Helping the handicapped dog: Wheelchairs and carts 421

Chapter 23: Supplementing Your Training Efforts with Expert Help 425

Going to Obedience Training Class 426

Good obedience training class criteria 427

Puppy classes 429

Advanced classes 430

Hiring a Private Trainer 430

Sending Buddy to a Board and Train 431

Part 6: The Part of Tens 433

Chapter 24: Ten Training Traps and How to Avoid Them 435

Procrastinating on Basic Training 435

Buying into Attention-Seeking Behavior 436

Forgetting to Release Your Dog from a Stay 436

Eliminating Rewards Too Soon 437

Using Your Dog’s Name as a Command 437

Having to Repeat Commands Away from Home 437

Punishing Your Dog When He Comes to You 438

Running After Your Dog 439

Expecting Too Much Too Quickly 439

Ignoring the Principle of Consistency 440

Chapter 25: Ten Fun and Exciting Sporting Activities 441

Agility Events 441

Tracking Titles 443

Barn Hunt AKC 444

Lure Coursing 445

Schutzhund Training 445

Flyball Competitions 446

Freestyle Performances 446

Dock Diving Dogs 446

Detection Dogs or Scent Work 447

Working as a Service Dog 448

Assistance dogs 448

Companions 449

Chapter 26: Ten Reasons Dogs Do What They Do 451

Why Do Dogs Insist on Jumping on People? 451

Why Do Dogs Sniff Parts of Your Anatomy That You’d Prefer They Didn’t? 452

Why Do Male Dogs Lift Their Legs So Often? 452

Why Do Dogs Mount Each Other? 453

Why Do Dogs Like to Chase Things? 453

Why Do Dogs Roll in Disgusting Things? 454

Why Do Dogs Eat Weeds or Grass? 454

Why Do Dogs Hump Humans’ Legs? 455

Why Do Dogs Scoot on Their Rear Ends? 455

Why Do Dogs Circle Before Lying Down? 455

Index 457