Developing confidence within your new puppy should start the minute they arrive home. Introducing your puppy to new experiences and situations in a controlled manner as early as possible is the best way to avoid potential fears and phobias later in life.....
All dogs are pre-programmed to soil outside their nest, so in this respect puppies already have an instinct to move away from the nest at around 3 weeks of age to go to the toilet. With time, puppies will learn by themselves to be toilet trained. All we are doing is speeding up the process and adding a few helpful things along the way.....
Dog whistles were traditionally considered the domain of the gun dog and herding dog handler. They are now becoming increasingly popular with the wider dog training community as well as many pet dog owners who want to achieve better distance control of their dogs.....
I promise your eyes will glaze when your dog has mastered this one. This trick takes quite a lot of practice to get right, but you will love the result when your dog endearingly hides his eyes behind his paw.
This is one of my favourite dog tricks and I was amazed how easy it is to teach! This was the first trick Dexter learnt using a clicker, but you need to build this one up in steps:
Dexter loves this one and he does this with such enthusiasm. Again, this trick is done in a number of small steps and he will learn other very useful commands whilst learning the overall trick:
Staying when told is another wonderful skill to teach your dog. It allows you to settle your dog down when you want a few quiet moments in the evening or to keep her out of trouble so you can check out a strange noise in the garden.
The first dog to be trained as a smoke alarm was a female Labrador in 1985. This was the work of Swedish animal psychologist Anders Hallgren who, during tests, established that a dog can smell smoke up to a full minute before conventional smoke alarms. During a fire emergency, these extra seconds save lives.
This article walks through the process of teaching your dog to sit on cue reliably. Even if your dog already knows to sit when asked, it’s handy to practice teaching sit with the ‘lure and reward’ method.
One of the most valuable things you can teach your dog is to come when called. Ironically, the more control you have over your dog, the less you need to use it and the more freedom your dog will have. So time spent on this exercise is well worth it.
Teaching tricks is another wonderful way to play with your dog. Trick training has the advantage of feeling silly and fun for both of you,while still teaching your dog that it's fun to pay attention.
Many dogs respond to their owners' commands at close quarters. But the further away they get, the more deaf they seem to get. How many of you have spent considerable sections of walks chasing after your dog that refuses to stay close to you and obey commands?
Some say that clicker training is one of the most significant advances in dog training in recent history. Derived from dolphin training, the idea behind this technique is that dogs are better able to understand exactly what we are asking of them if we are able to precisely tell them the exact moment they are doing it.
Very often the behaviour of a dog is highly influenced by the behaviour of the children around it. This is no surprise since they often spend considerably more time with the dog than adults do.
Unless a school has been recommended to you, it is a good idea to visit a class without your dog. Here are few hints and tips to be looking for from a good puppy school:
It is a sad fact that dog rescue centres are often full with abandoned and homeless dogs. But thanks to increased public awareness, more and more people are responding and choose to provide a loving home to an adult rescue dog.
With a target stick you can teach your dog to move to particular locations, into cars, over jumps, retrieve objects by name, close doors, switch on/off lights and of course heel work
Dog agility is a sport in which a dog moves through an obstacle course with the guidance of his or her handler. Dogs run off lead, so the handler's only controls are voice and body language, requiring exceptional high standards of obedience.
Is it cruel to lock my dog in a crate or cage?
Many people think this is true, as they would certainly not want to be locked in a dog crate (note that dog crate and dog cage are the same thing) for any length of time themselves. Well, this is not the case for dogs who are 'den' animals.
At the age of 4 ½ months, puppies quickly move from cuddly teddy bears to confident and mischievous adolescents. For your own and your dogs benefit, it is important to adequately prepare for this transformation to make it as enjoyable (!) as possible.....
At the age of 4 ½ months, puppies quickly move from cuddly teddy bears to confident and mischievous adolescents. For your own and your dogs benefit, it is important to adequately prepare for this transformation to make it as enjoyable (!) as possible.