Tag: Dog Training Advice

January is celebrated as “Train Your Dog Month,” so BestBullySticks.com thought we would help you “feed two dogs with one bone” if you will. Training is not only highly beneficial to building a strong relationship with your dog, but is also a great resolution for the New Year! So, train your dog and check something off your list by following the Healthy Dog Blog’s Dog Care Tips for the next four weeks! This week we’ll cover simple ways to make training successful for any dog.

Train Early & Often
The sooner you start training your dog, the more natural positive behaviors become in later life. Beginning at 8 weeks, start simple commands with your puppy. Training guru, Victoria Stilwell says early training trumps any genetic disposition. Working with your dog a little every day will ingrain positive behaviors as well.

Speak Your Dog’s Language
See the world through your dog’s eyes. Use what you know about your dog to train them. Also use a common language that can last. Clear hand signals and voice commands are necessary and remember to reward behaviors you want repeated.

“Listen” Carefully
Knowing your dog well is important for the training process. Paying attention to your dog’s facial expressions, ear, eye and body movement will tell you how not only your dog is responding, but how you determine your counter response.

Be Confident
All dogs need to feel secure and as their leader, you must espouse a calm, confident demeanor that lets your dog know they’re in safe hands. Training should be about encouragement and strengthening positive behavior, not about submissiveness.

Diet & Active Lifestyle
Keeping your dog on a wholesome diet and letting your dog get plenty of exercise will help your dog behave positively. Just like in your life, eating well and exercise improve demeanor and mood. Exercising especially prevents a dog from becoming bored, and thus potentially destructive.

Stay Positive
Never use harsh tactics to train your dog. It’s much more beneficial to you, your dog and your relationship to use positive reinforcement methods. Use Bravo! Turkey Training Treats or any of BBS’s other great dog treats to make Fido enjoy the training process.

Keep Training
Training is never over! By consistently working with your dog, no matter how long you’ve owned them or how old they are, training always promotes positive behaviors. It also allows great one-on-one quality time with Fido!

Have Fun!
Always remember to enjoy your dog! You chose the companionship of a dog because they bring joy into your life! Playing with your dog reduces stress. Snuggling with your dog is just plain wonderful. And, taking your dog on a walk makes both of you feel better.

Happy Dog Training Month! Use these techniques to start your successful dog-training journey! Check back next week on the Healthy Dog Blog for more Dog Training Tips!

You just got a new dog. Congratulations! He’s so cuddly, cute and he’s got that funny but strangely wonderful puppy breath. You just can’t get enough of him. It’s Puppy Love.

Best Bully Sticks knows that this beautiful beginning is full of “Aww, how cute!” moments. However, the unspoken danger is that cuteness can also lead to oversights in development. Those, “Aww, how cute! He’s trying to put my shoe in his mouth!” moments soon become, “Aww! Why does he always chew up my shoes?”  New dog owners can’t forget that the first years of a dog’s life are developmentally important to train and teach your dog. Many dog owners overlook important training opportunities, or train incorrectly. Read about these common dog training mistakes below.

Procrastination & Inattention
Of course you don’t think of it as procrastination at the time, but as we said before, if you don’t introduce positive behaviors to your dog immediately, it could be too late. Walking on a leash, basic commands, house training and socialization all need to be a part of your pup’s life from day one.

It also needs to be said that behaviors you think are cute now, may not be so cute later. It’s important to always think ahead to when you dog is full grown. For instance, if you have a large dog, you don’t want to allow certain habits to form, such as sitting in your lap, or jumping up on people.

One Eye On The Puppy
When you have a new dog, it’s very important to keep an eye on him at all times. Young dogs are full of energy and curiosity and you have to remember, they don’t come preloaded with a sense of what items in your house are off limits. Zero boundaries are set, so you have to set them. Thus, the importance of having your eyes on him at all times.

The best way to correct a dog is while he is in the act, and not after. If a dog is chewing on a shoe and you only find it after the fact and scold him for it, that dog has no idea why he’s getting in trouble. You can only positively set boundaries if you correct mistakes as they happen. Your dog doesn’t “grow out” of chewing and jumping. They’re bad behaviors, not a life stage. Read more

Some Simple Dog Training Advice

Having a dog as a pet brings a great deal of satisfaction and happiness for millions of owners and their families, but training a dog is essential if you are to fully enjoy having a dog and if the dog is to enjoy life with you.

Training methods vary greatly but there is one underlying principal they all share – positive reinforcement.  With positive reinforcement you are seeking to reward the animal every time they do what is being asked of them; the command is “Sit!”, the dog obeys and receives a reward or praise – this is positive reinforcement.

Techniques which involve physical punishment or intimidation are ineffective when it comes to training a dog and you should never hit your dog as though this may produce a short term association of pain or humiliation with an unwanted behavior it is terribly damaging to the relationship you have with the animal.  Your relationship with your dog is vital when it comes to training; your dog looks to you for leadership and views you in doggy terms as the leader of the pack; they look to you for companionship, food and shelter but they are also looking to you as their leader and provider of the standards to which they must conform.  When you hit your dog, you are damaging this perception and the animal is less likely to respond positively to you in future and a scared dog is not an animal you want around you or your family.

Positive reinforcement requires patience on the part of the owner; training your dog is a process and not something that will produce immediate and instant results.  Over time your dog will learn the concepts you are trying to teach but where there is a failure or the animal appears to be learning at a slow pace, it is frequently the owner who is actually the root cause of the issues.

When dog training is carried out, we are not actually training just the animal – we are training a team comprising the owner and the dog, and more often than not, the owner is the one failing in the training program.  Professional dog trainers do not take on a dog directly and train them as a rule, instead, they train the owner in how to train the dog as after all, it is the dog will be looking to the owner for leadership and commands in future and not the trainer.

A dog can also be trained at any age however, the sooner training commences the better; the old saying “You cannot teach a dog new tricks!”, does not hold true but it is more difficult to train an animal that has grown and become accustomed to a different set of rules to work and live by.  Dog training should commence while the animal is still in the puppy stage and can commence as soon as the puppy has been weaned and left the mother.  Start the training process with simple behaviours for the dog to learn – sit and heel, are two good ones to start off with.  Make the activity fun and not just fun for the dog but fun for you too and remember this is not a chore and don’t treat it as such as the dog will very quickly pick up on your cues; every dog will closely look at their owner and take everything in and they will very quickly learn your moods and your personality traits.

Lastly we always recommend dog treats and chews like bully sticks as training rewards as they are a great reward an will naturally keep teeth and gums healthy!