Puppy/Dog Training Tips

[Altimus]

Re: Puppy/Dog Training Tips

A cage?? Wow I don't think I could do that to a dog... I feel bad enough seeing them at the Pet Store in a cage let alone one that I love and care for.

My German Shepherd sleeps in a cage and he has no problem. Around 10-11, he goes in there himself each night no problem.

I use the cage because he is still only five months old. I'll let him roam when he hits a year or so. As far as the cage, you don't want to use it too much as punishment because that what he'll see it as; corrections are key at the right time.

As far as training, I train my own based on a book I bought for German Shepherds. I also go to a German Shepherd training class weekly that later on specializes in Shutzhund.

[roadman]

Re: Puppy/Dog Training Tips

Good time to update this thread if folks are interested.

Our Springer Spaniel, Puzzle is 13 months old and just as pleasant as ever. What a great addition to the family.

Those first few nights in the crate were trying times, but after 3 or 4 nights, her whining subsided for the whole night. I'm sure it was separation anxiety from her other siblings.

The best thing we did was send her to puppy training and intermittent puppy training. She only had one bad mishap in intermediate puppy training and that was freaking out going in between other dogs and people. She only did it once, but the one incident blew her chance for advance training. The last class we were to walk with our dogs up and down the middle of people and their dogs. The idea was that your dog was to stay focused for the whole walk. Puzzle held her head high and I was estatic. We were the second to last to perform and with Puzzle being a high energy dog, I turned to the trainer and said, you had Puzzle wait 10 minutes? After the walk, the trainer came up to us and said, well done.

The only fly in the ointments was the biting stage Puzzle went through. That took a long time to conquer. Finally, she just quit biting us one day.

Also, since she has hunting inbred in her, she will on occasion go out our slow closing door and run around the neighborhood. She's only gone about 5 minutes and comes back home all the time. It's like a game to her and then she just gives up and say's , ok, game over. A few times it's been 15 to 20 minutes, but she does still come back. Our yard isn't all the way fenced in.

The good times have definitely outweighed the few things above.

[BunnyHardaway]

Re: Puppy/Dog Training Tips

My mom should've read this thread. I love my 3 Yorkies to death, but she gave them absolutely 0 training. They don't respond to any commands, aren't that well housebroken, etc. She used to just randomly give them treats, and even times after they'd done something bad.

[Cusefan]

Re: Puppy/Dog Training Tips

My mom should've read this thread. I love my 3 Yorkies to death, but she gave them absolutely 0 training. They don't respond to any commands, aren't that well housebroken, etc. She used to just randomly give them treats, and even times after they'd done something bad.

The Biggest mistake I see with people trying to train dogs is that they do not use a firm voice to scold them when they have done something bad. When the dog pisses on the carpet and they say bad, to the dog it sounds just like they are getting praised.

[BurghFan]

Re: Puppy/Dog Training Tips

My mom should've read this thread. I love my 3 Yorkies to death, but she gave them absolutely 0 training. They don't respond to any commands, aren't that well housebroken, etc. She used to just randomly give them treats, and even times after they'd done something bad.

My mom used some questionable methods in trying to break our black lab of some bad habits. He was a rescue dog that we adopted just before his 2nd B-day and has some psychological issues (we think he may have been abused/mistreated by his original owners). Anyways, when he was alone (or not getting attention) he would chew things such as shoes so my mom gets him a dog toy shaped like a shoe. The dog isn't to bright either, we use the bell method for the dogs to let us know when they had to go out and it took him about a year to figure it out. Usually he'd just go out whenever our other dog rang the bells (she's a chocolate lab who we bought from a pet store when she was 10 weeks old and only took a few weeks to learn to ring the bells) or when someone just took them out.

[FlyingFinn]

Re: Puppy/Dog Training Tips

My only advice is what ever you don't want the dog to do when it is full grown, don't let them do it when they are a puppy.

[Adam Dayton]

Re: Puppy/Dog Training Tips

Good time to update this thread if folks are interested.

Our Springer Spaniel, Puzzle is 13 months old and just as pleasant as ever. What a great addition to the family.

Those first few nights in the crate were trying times, but after 3 or 4 nights, her whining subsided for the whole night. I'm sure it was separation anxiety from her other siblings.

The best thing we did was send her to puppy training and intermittent puppy training. She only had one bad mishap in intermediate puppy training and that was freaking out going in between other dogs and people. She only did it once, but the one incident blew her chance for advance training. The last class we were to walk with our dogs up and down the middle of people and their dogs. The idea was that your dog was to stay focused for the whole walk. Puzzle held her head high and I was estatic. We were the second to last to perform and with Puzzle being a high energy dog, I turned to the trainer and said, you had Puzzle wait 10 minutes? After the walk, the trainer came up to us and said, well done.

The only fly in the ointments was the biting stage Puzzle went through. That took a long time to conquer. Finally, she just quit biting us one day.

Also, since she has hunting inbred in her, she will on occasion go out our slow closing door and run around the neighborhood. She's only gone about 5 minutes and comes back home all the time. It's like a game to her and then she just gives up and say's , ok, game over. A few times it's been 15 to 20 minutes, but she does still come back. Our yard isn't all the way fenced in.

The good times have definitely outweighed the few things above.

English Springer's are beautiful dogs. I had one for over a decade before we had to give him away. Congrats bro.