Beginner Dog Training

The level of your children’s participation in your dog’s training program will vary based on the age and abilities of the children.

Training, says Massachusetts dog trainer Donna Duford, should be fun, not work. Her seminars are such upbeat, tail-wagging events that the dogs seem to be having a party. Look closer and you’ll see a serious class, with participants taking notes as Duford reviews the laws of learning and defines classical conditioning, operant conditioning, positive and negative reinforcement, positive and negative punishment, continuous and variable reinforcement schedules, and other fundamentals of behavioral training.

I asked trainer and Whole Dog Journals Training Editor Pat Miller to write about the risks and responsibilities of off-leash dog walks in this issue. Thats because Im a huge fan of hiking with my dogs off-leash, but I recognize that the activity is a huge challenge for many dog owners.

There's a new dog coming into your life who needs to learn her name. A puppy perhaps? Or maybe an adult rescue do-over" dog? You might even have a dog who's been with you for a while

While our dogs are born with all sorts of natural canine inclinations – like searching out food, investigating scents, romping with friends – “listen to words from humans” is not part of their default program. With the right kind of teaching, responding to your cues will become a dog’s go-to choice because it is the most reliable route to the things he wants.

so he's trying it again.üIs this dog dominant or acting like an "alpha dog"? No; he's been trained to jump up and bite on cue."

Sit is one of the first things many people teach their dogs, and it’s a helpful trick. It’s the foundational skill for a sit-stay...

You may think feeding your dog is a simple matter of dumping food in his bowl and plopping it down on the floor in front of him. You may be wrong. Mealtime is fraught with significance for your dog, and loaded with opportunities for you to influence his health and his behavior. Failure to take advantage of these could actually contribute to the development and/or escalation of problems that might otherwise be averted. A few deliberate decisions and choices on your part can go far in creating harmony in your home.

There’s a reality show that airs on TLC called Little People, Big World that chronicles the daily lives of the Roloffs, an Oregon family made up of both small (both parents are under 4 feet tall) and average-sized people. The series tastefully portrays how every day activities and seemingly uneventful situations can affect the family members differently based on their size and how society views them. Most importantly, it successfully shows that size does matter, particularly in a society built for the average-sized person. I just wish there was a show, or at least an effective way to get that point across regarding small dogs. They and their owners have long been misjudged and misunderstood.

How do I stop my dog from stealing food? How do I get my dog to stop drinking toilet water? Why does my dog run off all the time? These are just a few of the countless things dogs do that make their guardians run to professional trainers for help. The reality of dog behavior modification is that often the solution to a dog's bad habit is not through training the dog, but through carefully managing every opportunity the dog has to practice unwanted behaviors.

In general, men tend to be more physical with their dogs, and more assertive, enjoying rough-and-tumble wrestling games and expecting the dog to understand and obey. Women tend to be softer, more into cuddling than wrestling, and take more interest in teaching the dog to understand the complex world of primate (human) communication.