JAck Russell Terrier

Spring is here and that means nicer weather and more opportunities for taking your dog for walks. If your dog walks are anything but leisurely strolls, the following tips are just for you!

Change Your Direction

Abruptly changing the direction you’re heading in may be enough distraction to make your dog understand that he needs to follow you. Whenever your dog tugs on the leash or begins to get ahead of you, abruptly turn and start walking in the opposite direction. When his attention is averted and he returns to walk next to you, follow up immediately with lots of praise. A small dog treat helps, too. Don’t scold your dog for pulling ahead, simply catch him off guard and redirect him.

You may have to repeat this many times , even if it means your “walk” is only a few steps at a time, back and forth. The goal is to have your dog following you, and paying attention to the direction you’re headed in. Be generous with your praise and rewards and repeat this process several times. Your dog will slowly give up the tug of war game he’s been playing with your.

If you already own a remote dog trainer that offers both positive and negative reinforcement with tones, now would be a great time to put it to use.

Always Be Consistent

Once you’ve made up your mind that you want your dog to walk obediently beside you, don’t give in! Dogs can be easily confused when the rules aren’t consistent. Treat this as you would any other training session.

Practicing your dog’s new skills in a familiar place, such as your driveway or backyard, is the best way to start to your training. Once you’re confident your dog understands what’s expected of him, begin taking longer walks in less familiar places.

Keep Up the Good Work

As with all dog training, teaching your dog to walk properly on a leash is an ongoing process. It’s not something your dog will probably “get” in just one session. You’ll want to continue to use this technique occasionally to keep your dog on his toes and reinforce his new behavior.

Don’t be stingy with the praise and treats! Dogs love being rewarded for doing the right thing. Be generous with your praise and offer rewards when your dog is doing the right thing; he will be encouraged to continue payinging attention to you.

Is your dog driving you crazy with his bad behavior? Don’t just put it with it. It’s time to begin some serious dog training. This means you should be consistent and persistent with your training. However, make sure your training is always fun or your dog may get bored!

A Dog’s Basic Need

Your dog has to rely on you to provide for him. If you don’t provide your dog’s basic needs, it shouldn’t be a surprise if you have a badly behaved  or neurotic dog. What are the basic needs? Here are the main ones:

• food and water
• regular exercise
• company and social interaction
• a stimulating environment.

The main principle in dog training is to use positive and negative reinforcement. When your dog does a behavior that you want to encourage, you should reward him with a treat or affection. It’s vital that the reward comes immediately after the action or the dog will not connect the two thing.

It’s best to concentrate on positive reinforcement for wanted behaviors rather than negative reinforcement for bad behaviors. This has been found to be a more productive way of training.

Physical punishment is not productive or humane way to train dogs and will only lead to your dog being neurotic and fearful. That’s not going to be a good relationship between man and dog. You can say a firm “No” in a growling tone of voice to stop him engaging in an unwanted behavior. Ignoring your dog and turning away from him is the most productive thing for you to do when he behaves badly. Dogs love attention and being ignored is negative reinforcement enough.

At all costs you should avoid humanizing your dog. It will help you to do this if you study dog communication and the dynamics of a dog pack. You read about what their body language means: the position of the tail, the mouth positions, the ear position and the sounds they make.

Another important aspect of training is to position yourself as the pack leader. If your dog is pack leader, he is never going to be well-behaved for you because he thinks you are one of his pack. Some pointers to set yourself up as alpha dog:
-eat a biscuit or two in front of your dog as he waits for his food. The alpha dog always eats before the pack members.
-don’t allow him to onto the sofa or bed. The pack leader sleeps on higher ground.
-make sure you go through doors before your dog.

This is an introduction to some important points in dog training. I recommend you look into the most systematic of training methods: clicker training.