Basic Dog Training and Obedience
When you get a new puppy or dog, you will want to teach him at least some ‘manners” or basic dog training and obedience.
Once you have made a decision on what kind of dog you want as part of your family, you’ll need to train your dog. This will make your life and his more pleasant. Training could start at an early age, regular obedience is a little more complicated and a little harder for him to understand, and should probably not be started until 5-6 months old. “Manners” can be started at a young age, with proper care not to do it harshly. If you don’t want to go through the whole course of obedience training, at least teach him some “manners.”
The basic things to teach him are: Sit, heel, Come, Off and Give
Sit. It’s easier to teach him if he has a training collar on him with a leash attached to it. (A training collar is a choker chain). If he has a regular collar on, he won’t feel the correction as well. Now stand at the dog’s side, not in front of him. The leash should be in your right hand, and the dog on your left side. To get the dog to sit just pull straight up on the leash using your right hand and push his butt down with your left hand, while you say the word “SIT”. Once he is sitting, praise him. Don’t expect him to sit there for long, as he doesn’t know what stay means yet. Repeat the steps several times, with praise when he listens.
Heel. Now that you have the hang of your dog “Sitting”, lets move to heel. Heel is good to teach the dog, because when you are taking the dog for a walk, he is at your side and not pulling you every which a way. To start, have your dog on your left side, leash in your right hand and dog sitting. Just a note here, you don’t want to choke the dog as he is walking by your side. You need to give him some slack, but not too much because if he starts going the other way, you need to jerk on the leash to get his attention. If there is too much slack in your lead, you can’t give the correction at the right time, and it does no good. Now, with that said, let’s go on. With the dog in the sitting position on your left side, to teach him to heal, you need to step off on your left foot while saying “heel”! You will need to give the dog a little jerk on the leash to get him off the sit position, just as you say “heel” and step off on your left foot. Timing is very important. You may want to “over exaggerate” sticking out your left foot at first when you step off on the heeling position. By doing it this way at first, it will help the dog learn that when your left foot goes out he has to get up and start heeling. Then as he learns it, you just go back to your normal way of starting out on your left foot.
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Keep your dog on your left side at all times. If he starts to pull away, give him a sharp jerk with the leash to pull him back to your left side. Once he returns, praise him. Every time he strays away, another good jerk to make him come back, and again praise. You can talk to him while you are training him, telling him he is a good boy, or when you have to jerk him back, say ‘heel’ and then praise when he returns.
Do the training of sitting and heeling for 10 to 15 minutes each day for a week. (Less time if he dog is young, about 10 minutes a day. If you find yourself getting angry because he isn’t listening right away, stop training. If you are angry he’ll know it and he will give up trying, so just start your training again the next day. After each training session make it fun. Romp and play with your dog…give him doggie cookies as treats after the session. Dogs want to please their masters so keep him happy and you’ll be happy.
Stay and Come commands
The first step in teaching your dog to come when he is called is to first teach him to stay. When you are teaching him the “stay” command, you have the dog sitting and you on the left side. Place your left hand in front of his face and at the same time say “stay”, and step off on your right foot so you are facing him and are just a few inches away from his face. In the beginning only stay in front of the dog for about 10-15 seconds, because when he sees you move, he’ll want to move too. After a few seconds, return to the dogs side, and release him from the command as he should still be sitting, and praise him. Because he won’t stay when he is told at first, you’ll have to repeat this several times. If he moves, just get him in the sitting position again and start over. As he starts staying as he is told, you can then start moving farther away from him each time, and coming back to his side without him moving. When you are done with that command, you can release him from the commands by saying “Okay” or “Good Job” and then start petting him and praising him enthusiastically. If he knows he did well, he’ll want to keep pleasing you.
Once he has learned “stay”, you can start on the “come” command. This is an important command, especially for his safety. You should strive to train your dog to respond immediately to this command. Have your dog in the sitting position and you by his side. Again, place your left hand in front of his face and at the same time say “stay”, and step off on your right foot so you are facing him and are about a foot or so away. Then wait for 20 seconds or so and call the dog in a happy voice. He won’t come if he thinks he’s in trouble. You can say the dog’s name and the word Come if you like, (Example: Rover, COME!), and give a small jerk on his leash to get him up and started coming towards you. When he starts coming towards you, run backwards 4 or 5 steps, all the while praising your dog for coming towards you. Once he is there, give him the “sit” command, so he sits in front of you. Then lavish him with praise for doing a good job. Repeat these steps until he has learned to come to you and sits.
“OFF” is another good command to teach him. A small dog that jumps on everyone, may be ‘cute’ at first, but that dog may grow up to be a huge dog and he can knock you over if you are not expecting it. Also a small child could get hurt if he jumps up on them to play. It’s also annoying if the dog is muddy and he jumps up on you or your guests.
When a dog jumps up they just want attention from you, and they associate ‘YOU’ with your face, and they feel they have to jump up to get closer to you.
You decide to take “Dusty” out for a walk. You stop to talk to a friend of yours and “Dusty” tries to jump up on them. What do you do? When he starts to jump up, pull backwards on the leash with a firm jerk, and say “NO….OFF.” Then tell him to sit. If he is sitting, he can’t jump on anyone. Once he is sitting, praise him. Your dog may be cute, but that doesn’t mean that your friends want him jumping up on them.
I recently was given a German Shepherd male, (which they call Zeus), that my son could not keep anymore. He is a huge dog and is only 1 year old. We own the father of this dog, (Dancer) and when 2 of my sons rough house with Dancer, (and they are in their 30’s), he has knocked them both on their butts. He is strong. His son, Zeus, is much bigger. Larger and bigger boned than any we’ve owned. The point is he was never taught any manners. So I have just started teaching him the word “Off”. What I do is stretch both my arms out in front of me while holding my palms facing him and say in a forceful voice, “OFF!” If he still tries to jump on me, I push him away and repeat OFF! He seems to be getting it, because when I’m cleaning up his yard he runs toward me and I say OFF! While holding up my arms, palms facing him and he stops and doesn’t jump on me.
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Another way to stop larger dogs that are trying to jump on you, is to grab their front paws as they jump, one in each hand and hold them gently but firmly. Don’t say anything to him but continue to hold him up on his hind feet for a few seconds longer when he tries to get down. This position is unnatural to him, and will make jumping up less fun. When you let go and he has all four feet on the ground, praise him. If a small dog jumps on you, give him a quick shake on his collar and say “off!” Then as soon as he has all four feet on the floor, give him praise but in a calm voice. If you sound too excited in your praise, your puppy or small dog will jump up again, wanting your attention. Repeat this exercise over and over, until they grasp the concept.
Give –To get him to give something to you, grab what is in his mouth, such as a toy, and while you are holding onto part of the toy he has in his mouth, keep saying “give,” as you work it out of his mouth. Once it is out, tell him he’s a good boy. It can also be fun when your dog is playing with his toy, and you say, “give,” he will let go, so you can throw it for him to bring back.
This is also important thing to teach your dog because if he has something in his mouth that is harmful, you want him to give it to you before he eats it.
Tips:
When teaching your dog these commands above, always have him on his leash and in his training collar. You need him on his leash to make the right corrections when needed and also for his safety.
The tone of your voice is very important in training. Give commands in a firm, moderate voice, never threatening. Give praise in a high-pitched, excited voice. Give corrections and/or reprimands are a low, gruff voice (not threatening) and draw out the words. Example: “Ba-a-ad do-o-og”.
When doing the recall or “Come” exercise, NEVER, NEVER, punish your dog if he has done something wrong after he has come to you. If he heads the other way when he is called, you must go to him, to correct him. Otherwise, he will associate coming to you with punishment and will want to go the other way.
On the OFF command, never push the dog to hard to get him off you. Just a gentle, but firm push to get him on all fours again and then, praise him.
Once you think you and your dog are ready to learn the full course of Obedience, ask your Veterinarian if he knows of any classes. Check out any Dog clubs in your area to see if they offer classes and you can also look in your local newspaper for Obedience classes.
Training should be fun for both you and your dog. Have patience with your dog and praise, praise, praise.
Remember too, dogs love to please their masters.
Do not break their spirit or their hearts.