Teaching Your Dog How to Stay Wednesday, 11 November 2009 20:14 |  Author: Prasanna |   
An important part of dog training is how to teach him to stay. The meaning of the stay command is that your dog should know how to keep on his exact position you have left him in until the command has been lifted. Depending on your choice as an owner, your dog should be in his “sit” or “down” position. Aside from the fact that this is an important training tool, your dog should know how to control himself. And once you have fully taught him the command properly, he will be able to educate himself with the discipline. In order to teach him the command, here are some things you can follow: The first step is to place your dog into either a sit or down position. Let’s just make use of the sit command. Once your pet is sitting, tell him to stay by showing him a hand signal which is generally used for this command. This hand signal is a flattened open hand with the palm towards his face. For a few seconds, perform the hand signal in front of his face as you slowly move to away from your dog. After doing this, stand still and quiet momentarily. While you are still standing beside your puppy, you should feed him a treat. Next, go back to standing in front of your pet as you give him the release command by telling him OK. As you say this command, encourage movement so that he will comprehend that you are already allowing him to move. Calmly praise him. Do not encourage rambunctious behaviors such as jumping. While these first two steps of the stay command training will only take about 5-7 seconds, you must gradually increase the time duration that you are standing next to your pet. When your dog is sitting down, tell him to stay. Give him a treat as you calmly praise him. Once he keeps remaining calm, you can keep giving him his doggie treats once every few seconds. He will soon associate being still with receiving a reward. |
Teaching Your Pet How to Fetch Wednesday, 04 November 2009 20:28 | Author: Prasanna |
Once you have a dog, you instantly want him to be knowledgeable of all the available tricks that you know. One of these famous tricks that you can teach your dog to do is to fetch things for you. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a dog just like the ones we see in the movies who are fetching the slippers of their owners the minute they walk into the front door? Although this can be achieved, it would be rather hard and would take a lot of time and patience on your part. For now, you can only teach your dog how to fetch a stick or his favorite toy. This can be done as soon as you feel your dog is ready for the more advanced parts of his training. Meaning, he should have already learned how to sit on his own. When he is already on that stage, you can grab his favorite toy such as a ball or a squeaky toy and use it as bait. Keep a long leash on your dog so that you can control him if he gets too far. Start by telling him to sit and wait until he comprehends your command and turns it into an action. Once he has done this, grab his toy and throw it in a short distance. Simultaneously, give him the command “Fetch” so that your dog will know that that word should be associated with the action. Allow your dog to run after his toy. When he has the toy in his mouth, gently pull him back using the leash. So that he will release the toy, show him his favorite doggie treat. You should wait until the dog gives you the toy willfully before you give the treat to him. Teaching Your Dog How To Swim Wednesday, 04 November 2009 20:12 | Author: Prasanna |
Although dogs are natural born swimmers, there are some instances where they can get very afraid of the water and swim their way out of the pool. Thus, if you want your dog to be a good swimmer, you have to train him properly so that he will not get terrified first. Once you are able to teach him well, you will be amazed that he will get into the water to take a swim, without your encouragement. The best way you can start training your dog how to swim is to take him to a lake or pool where you can also enter the water along with your pet. This is so that he will not get terrified. If your dog sees that you are in the water with him, he will get more self confident and would be eager to try swimming on his own. There will also come an instance where he will try to impress you by swimming around you. The same principle holds true whenever you are trying to teach your dog a new trick. You have to stand beside him so that he will feel that he is comfortable. Once you are not with him, he will feel frightened of trying out new things on his own. Aside from this, it will also strengthen your bond.
|