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Posts Tagged ‘secrets to dog training’

When you first set out to teach your dog to come, there are a few tips and secrets that Im going to share with you to better your results!

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 up, smacking or yelling at him etc..

Dont call over and discipline your dog for things such as running off, when he comes over. Your dog might think he is getting punished for obeying you. If your dog already knows negative associations when you call come, such as he thinks it means 'run asap!' or if he has started to ignore it, you might have to try a new command that means 'come' but sounds different. 

Forget your old come command and teach this exercise using a new, clear word. 'Here' or 'Hey' are popular ones, but really its up to you to use any command that you think will work.

Ideally, your dog should hear this new command, stop whatever hes doing and sit in front of you! For the best result, you should treat this step as if it was two seperate exercises.

Both exercises are best done seperatly, till your dog has them completely mastered. When this time comes, bring them together.

“Come sit in front of me”

Start with putting your dog on a short ish leash. Get your dogs attention, hold a favourtie treat of his/hers in your hand and take 3-4 quick steps backwards with the treat held in front, around nose height.

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 if and when he does, reward him with the treat, by lowering it to his mouth. Dont let him jump up to get it!

Next time, do the process standing in place and holding 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. Doing this helps your dog to accept your 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.

Secrets to Dog Training (formerly named SitStayFetch) has been revamped and was officially launched on February 2, 2009. SitStayFetch has been the top selling dog training course for over four years, and it has been bought by over 64,000 dog owners world-wide. Having taken a close look at it, I understand why it has outsold all other dog training guides on the internet period!. Secrets to Dog Training is even better!

Secrets to Dog Training is an extremely comprehensive guide, written by the world renowned dog professional, Daniel Stevens. Although the 261-page manual is impressively detailed, its step-by-step format provides dog owners with straight-forward instructions on how to quickly identify and solve their dog behavior problems. It’s also full of great pictures!

Click Here to Get Your Copy of Secrets to Dog Training

All of the training methods described in the book are tried and true, having been used by Daniel Stevens in his own life as a professional dog trainer.

What is Included?

A 5-page table of contents lets you know from the beginning that this guide is jam-packed full of information. This guide is much more that a dog training e-book, although it is worth buying just for that section. It starts with a chapter for new dog owners (how to choose the right puppy or dog for you, where to find your puppy, breed information, vaccinations and general health, diet and nutrition, puppy-proofing your house, handling and grooming, house training, choosing your vet, etc. These are just some of the subjects covered to give you an idea of the wide range of information.

Several different dog training techniques are outlined in the course, including crate training, clicker training, dog whispering, and more. Next, the more advanced dog behavior issues such as chewing, biting, aggression, digging, jumping, etc. are covered. This chapter includes several case studies which I found to be particularly informative and interesting. Everyone loves a good story!

There is an interesting section which stresses the necessity for the dog owner to be the “alpha dog” in the household. Doggy facial expessions, vocals and body language are also included in this section. The commands and various positions are clearly explained with the assistance of excellent photographs.

I’ve outlined just a fraction of what is covered but I’m sure you will agree that it is impressive.

What I Particularly Liked

I had already heard great things about this course before I actually took a look at it so had high expectations. I’m definitely of the opinion that Secrets to Dog Training is a top notch product that offers a vast amount of quality information for a very low price. It is being offered at the low price of only $39.95, which is an outstanding price for such a great course.

This book is well-written using easily understood language. Also, the book is divided into small sections which enhanced my reading experience and made the course very easy to follow and understand. Being faced with a wall of text can be quite overwhelming!

I was delighted to discover that Secrets to Dog Training includes obedience training for dogs of every age. All too often dog trainers offer training for puppies, not recognizing that these problem behaviors can continue into a dog’s adulthood.

Another excellent feature is the free consultations offered by the team at Secrets to Dog Training when you buy the course. Just send the team an email and they will provide you with an individual answer for your specific dog behavior problem. You’ll be given a response that will be jam-packed with knowledgeable advice and practical tips.

With a 60 day money back guarantee, you can’t lose when you buy Secrets to Dog Training.

Free Bonuses

As I’ve previously mentioned, the Secrets of Dog Training course is outstanding value; however, there’s even more being offered!

The following bonus items are included when you buy the guide: an audio book plus 5 extra ebooks on house training, security training, dog aggression, dog grooming, and secrets to becoming the alpha dog.

A new and exciting bonus being included with Secrets of Dog Training is a 30-minute downloadable video, which shows effective methods to solve those annoying dog obedience issues. Dave Johnson, the very popular dog trainer presents the techniques and makes them seem very straight forward!

Secrets to Dog Training – My Conclusions

You’ve probably already gathered that I’m impressed. I may have thought I knew dogs before, but this guide has made me realize that I still had a lot to learn.

The detailed information covered is easy to comprehend and extremely effective. This book is not only useful to dog owners who need help with problem behaviors in their dogs. Any dog owner would benefit from this guide and the dog/owner relationship is sure to be enhanced.

I highly recommend Secrets to Dog Training to anyone who currently owns a puppy or dog or is thinking about adopting one.

Click Here to Get Your Copy of Secrets to Dog Training

The biggest secret to dog training is understanding the system of positive reinforcement. All that’s really necessary after that is patience and consistency. Most problem behaviors in dogs stem from not understanding reinforcement or from not utilising it consistently.

To apply it consistently, you’re going to need an abundance of patience. You need to understand the amount of time needed to train a dog. You also need to understand that you need to be consistent every time you are with your dog, not just during training sessions. This means that you also need anyone who interacts with your dog to be consistent also.

Positive conditioning means that a positive reinforcement i.e. an enjoyable stimulus when your dog does some action will encourage him to perform that particular action again. It’s unfortunate that a lot of owners positively reinforce unwanted behaviors in their dogs. For example, they enter the house, the dog is jumping up on them and they give affection to the dog. Affection is a positive reinforcement and so the dog is being encouraged to jump up on people.

If you ever watch the Dog Whisperer on TV, you will see that even though the families have watched his program, maybe even read his books and know intellectually what they should do, they still reward all sorts of unwanted behavior without realising it. The Dog Whisperer is very different which is why the dogs behave differently with him. He behaves consistently and ignores the dog if it’s doing unwanted behaviors. In nearly all cases that he helps, the problems are with the owner and his inconsistency.

Lots of awareness and self-discipline are needed to stop yourself giving affection to a misbehaving dog. You also need to be aware that any attention, even when it’s shouting at your dog “stop barking”, may act as a positive reinforcement. So, the best response to unwanted behaviors in your dog may be to ignore them by turning away from your dog and giving no attention.

It’s more effective to focus on reinforcing positive behaviors rather than focusing on using negative reinforcement for unwanted behaviors. As the dog is encouraged more and more in positive behaviors, less time will be given by him to negative behaviors which go unrewarded.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t stop your dog doing unwanted behaviors. It just means that it’s not part of your training process – it’s just damage control. For example, if he jumps on the food counter, you can just pull him off.

How do you reinforce behaviors you want to encourage? You reward the behavior by giving a tasty treat or by giving affection. Using small tasty treats is probably the most efficient method. The treat needs to be given as close in time to the behavior as possible. This is where using clicker training makes this process easier. The clicker sound is used to mark the behavior precisely as it happens and the treat comes immediately afterwards. However, clicker training is a whole subject in itself but well worth looking into since it will supercharge your training.

Read more about the Secrets of Dog Training, about dog clicker training and about dealing with behavior problems in dogs in general.