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.

Dog Agility training can be an enormously rewarding, fun activity for both you and your dog. Unfortunately too many people think it will be too hard or too time consuming to train a dog to this level of activity. The truth is it’s quite easy to train your dog to enjoy agility courses.

Even when you are training the dog, you will need the training for yourself as wel. Even though it is human to know when someone is upset, dog have a hard time understanding what they are doing wrong.

Dogs of all ages, always like to please their owners. If they don’t have a clear understanding of how to make you happy, then of course they can’t do the things you want them to do.

This means you as the master must learn a little about effective rewards for when your dog does something you like and effective punishment for when your dog isn’t behaving well.

Training a Dog with Rewards

Even at a very early age, puppies are able to understand praise and reward. If you find the puppy going to the bathroom in the yard by himself, and give the action a name, the puppy will learn to associate the action with the name. When the puppy has done his business where you like it to be done, offer him a treat, a cuddle and plenty of praise.

Soon your puppy will like to do it’s business in the same place evey day and it will find that he/she goes their by instinct every time.

The same principles of acclamation and reward applies for each action you want your dog to learn.

Dogs will attempt to get praise and affection from you by performing each of the behaviors it remembers eliciting a good response from you.  When a dos always here NO when they are wrong, they will learn this ability and think that this is a good thing.

Turn your back to the dog and cross your arms if you want him to learn that his behavior is unacceptable. The best way to deal with your dog’s bad behavior is to ignore them; this is the most significant form of punishment you can give them.

How to train agility to a dog.

Praise and rewards are always essential whether you are training your dog or not. Canines enjoy being active. Curiosity come naturally to them and they are playful by nature.

If you show your dog that an agility course is fun and an easy way to get rewards and praise, your dog will love leaping over the obstacles on all agility courses.

You need to have patience when doing agility training. Initially, attempt to bring your dog to a nearby dog instruction course that provides a class in agility. It is best to verify that your dog has gone beyond the growing stage, around a year old, before starting agility training which could cause a pup injury.

Learn more about Training Dog for Agility here.

Use the agility course like a game and run around with your dog. If you have the choice, you may want to lower the bar on the jumps so they do not appear to be threatening. The way to get your dog doing what you want is by praise and food rewards.

Instructing your dog to do agility isn’t hard work for both owner and pet if they perceive it as enjoyable. He’ll soon be racing around the course like a pro waiting for his reward.

Learn more about Training Dog for Agility here.