If you have a very active dog, you know first hand just how stressful it can be sometimes to have him in and around the house with his boundless energy. Your dog may have had obedience training, but he may need further training, such as agility training, which is actually perfect for active dogs.

Dog agility training involves having your dog going through an obstacle course. The primary goal is for your dog to finish the course in less time with the fewest mistakes possible. The dogs that undergo dog agility training learn to go through the obstacle course without expecting to be given treats or rewards by their trainers. Dog agility training teaches your dog to successfully accomplish tasks without incentives. Dogs go through the obstacle course by responding to body signals and specific voice commands. Dog agility training, in order for it to be a success, requires dedication and commitment from both the dog and his trainer.

An obstacle course has different types of obstacles for your dog to go through. Some of these obstacles include jumps, teeter totters and poles that your dog needs to run in between. If you’re priming your dog for an agility competition, his obstacle course would consist of obstacles that are typically present in actual dog agility competitions. At the competition, a judge decides on the course your dog will use. Both you and your dog will be watched carefully by judges. You and your dog are marked based on your performance. Because not all dogs are the same, agility competitions group dogs based on size and breed.

If you and your dog both love spending time doing outdoor activities, your dog is perfect for dog agility training. Agility training is actually recommended for dogs that are very active and also show some aggressive behavior. However, before you start your dog on agility training, make sure he is pretty good at taking directions, or shows potential for doing so. Be aware that agility training requires high level of discipline; for the agility training to be deemed successful, your dog needs to be highly trainable. Make sure your dog is happy with what he is doing, once the agility training is in motion. Keep an eye out for signs that your dog isn’t enjoying it anymore. The last thing you want is to force your dog into doing something he will not enjoy.

Dog agility training is one sport that you and your dog can get involved in. But when is the best time to start your dog on agility training? Experts recommend starting as soon as you see your dog display an interest in obeying challenging commands. Dog agility training requires discipline and commitment, not just from your dog, but from you. It’s another great opportunity for you and your dog to form a closer bond.

So, the next time your pet gets on your nerves, instead of getting upset with your dog consider taking him for some dog training and have some fun with him.

Have a great “dog training” day,

Dr. Alfonso

Humans are first trained in the house. Parents see to it that their child learn the basic things at home and prepare them for advanced learning before they are enrolled to school. Just like us, puppies must also be trained at home. Puppy training is the very first task of a dog owner once she brings home a puppy. It it her responsibility to give proper puppy training and prepare the dog for a more advanced training program later in the future. House puppy training may demand a lot of your time and effort. It requires on hand supervision and constant vigilance, complete dedication, commitment and of course a very high level of patience.

To start your puppy training, the very first thing that you have to do is establish a routine that would leash your puppy. Sticking to the training schedule is very important. Bear in mind that your puppy must be able to eliminate after eating, after playing and after waking up from a short nap or sleep. Set a specific location within your home vicinity as the bathroom corner of your puppy. You have to encourage your puppy to recognize that spot and use it for his elimination. Be very particular on the distance. It should not be very far from your door so you can watch your puppy as she eliminate.

It is advisable to reward your puppy after she eliminates. You can pat your puppy while saying “good dog”. You can also incorporate a friendly and gentle squeeze and giving him some dog treat. This will encourage your puppy to continue doing good on this new habit. If then your puppy eliminates inside your home premises, do not yell at her for doing such thing. Remember a puppy is still a baby and it needs proper treatment for her to learn what is right or wrong. All you have to do is clean the soiled area using a paper towel. Place the paper towel to the bathroom spot. This will help your puppy realize that the bathroom spot is the place where she should eliminate. You can use verbal command such as “outside” and “go potty” when you want your puppy to eliminate. Make a regular feeding schedule for your puppy depending on his age. Feeding the puppy at a particular and specific time each day will help them eliminate in a scheduled timing everyday. This would greatly reduce the occurrence of accidents when it comes to the puppy’s feeding habit.

A lot of people are making use of paper towels and placing them inside the house as the bathroom spot of the puppy. Studies have shown that this kind of puppy training delays the whole process to two weeks or more. The best strategy that the owner must realize is to carefully and constantly observe the puppy each time she shows any signs of “pre-potty pattern”. These signs are constantly sniffing the floor and walking around. This gives you the idea that you puppy wants to eliminates. Immediately take your puppy outside to where you have assigned a bathroom spot for him. You can also resort to training your puppy how to control the urge to eliminate as an alternative.

Have a great “dog training” day,

Dr. Alfonso

When you get a brand-new dog, often you think that’s that. There’s nothing else to think or worry about. Wrong. Actually there’s tons more. You have to think about several things. Why did you get a dog? Did you even need one? Why a dog? Did you want a pet you can hug or just something that is almost maintenance free? Who will take care of that dog? You have to keep in mind that dogs are living, breathing creatures who need to eat, relieve themselves, and have a set of habits. Someone who took him home, you, will have to take care of him and get used to him.

So then, so that your dog will conform to your way of life, living, and rules, and so that you will be able to live with him better, you will have to train him. That’s right. You. You brought him home, you’re the responsible owner. That dog of yours will have to get used to the way you live and get used to your working and sleeping hours. But since you didn’t bring home a programmable cell phone, you can’t really realistically expect the dog to conform to your expectations immediately. Your dog has his own nature, his own ways, and he’ll do what’s natural for him, like pee and poo. And you will do the natural thing a new dog owner will do. Clean up the kitchen floor. Clean up the neighbor’s driveway. Replace the chewed on curtains.

So then, he needs training. Dog training is not there to completely alter your dog’s habits. It’s more of a realignment, a negotiation, so to speak. The rules of the house you will be imposing are more words you will be telling yourself. That dog knows the language of gestures and intentions, cause and effect, reward and punishment. You will have to speak those languages. He will be answerable to you. You’re the boss. You will have to make him listen to you, else you’ll be cleaning poo and pee and replacing chewed up stuff for a long time.

What can make the dog training smoother, easier is you bond with your pet. Bonding is not some mechanical and forced putting up with each other. The dog can sense if you’re sincere. The point is to spend time together so the dog will trust you, so you’ll be accustomed to him and his ways, and him with yours. The more you do this the more you’re in a position to restrain his behavior, the more you’ll know subtle clues and hints about his behavior, too.

When you get down to it, training your dog is not that hard that you have to hire someone else do it for you. You’ll have to raise him yourself and not leave him with a sitter. When you establish some rewards for good behavior his less unacceptable dog behavior will curb down and you can even begin to teach him some advanced behavior, like pretty tricks you can show off to your friends.

Have a great "dog training" day,

Dr. Alfonso

Training your dog is a richly rewarding experience. Those of us who’ve done this remember the moments fondly. Bonding with your dog is a memory to treasure. But do keep in mind there are elements affecting your dog’s training; these things you must know about, because each element contributes to the outcome of your dog’s training.

Timing

This is crucial because this would be enforcing discipline and also focus on your dog. Should you witness an unacceptable act your dog did, you would have to respond immediately to punish him, to let him know you disapprove. So when he destroys something in your home, walk up to him immediately and let him know you will not tolerate such acts in your home. When your dog does a good thing, though, reward him immediately so he’d know you approve of what he did, and so he’d do it again.

Fairness

Fairness is crucial, too, in training your dog. He looks up to you as his master. So it’s best if you retain a consistency in what you do. So if you want to teach your dog to keep still and stay, but then you constantly move around, you dog will know you are not consistent, you are not fair. When you give the order to stay, you stay first. Keep still and stop walking around, pay attention to the same activity.

Consistency

Related to fairness above is consistency. When you lay out the do’s and don’t of your house, you had better keep to it. Regardless. If you want your dog to stop eating your morning newspaper, you have better be firm about not tolerating his behavior. Otherwise you could be angry one morning and passive the next and the dog would be confused when you punish him again. He might not do as you say next time.

Fun

Training is not some stay at home army boot camp. Have fun when you spend time with your dog. The more rewards you give him for good behavior the more better behaved he will be. Try to be more cheerful and consistent with your behavior and orders so he’d do as you say, and both of you will have fun. Other than teaching your dog tricks, play some games. He’ll be more lively and more interested in doing activities with you.

Praise

His behavior, when good, should be followed by praise. The more you do this the more your dog will like it, the more he’ll keep doing the good things. Like people, dogs just like to be pampered. So feed him, pat him on the head, tell him sincerely that he really is a nice dog.

Firm and Gentle

Dogs also should not be inflicted physical harm on. Don’t hit him. How would you feel if someone hit you? You can be firm with rules but not excessive in punishment. Your dog can sense when what he did is not commensurate to what you do to him. Be firm with rules but gentle in treating them. Otherwise it will be even harder to train your dog.

Have a great "dog training" day,

Dr. Alfonso

Puppies look adorable. With all that furry chubbiness it is an amazing sight to behold. Training puppies to perform tricks is a nice thing to do but it takes a lot of dedication. Every puppy training tip it’s aimed towards the inculcation of a single behavior. A well trained puppy behaves far better than that. A proud owner can only say that it is worth the sacrifices and hard work that an adorable puppy can perform simple yet fascinating tricks.

Before you start training a puppy it is best that you as a dog owner should exert a little effort in understanding how they behave and how their minds go about. That is the ultimate puppy training tip. This can also be implored when dealing with animals of which you want to teach some tricks.

Another tidbit to remember, it is best not to expect a “human response” from a puppy. Though we treat our pets as the usual member of our family, we cannot expect them to be like human children are. If you keep these in mind, you just spared your life from the frustrations of not being able to “train a puppy”.

A new puppy in the home is an exciting experience. The puppy will have all the attention of the household. From this moment the puppy must learn on how to behave and be obedient. It is the responsibility of the owner to train the puppy as soon as he can. The dog owner has the option to do puppy house training or he could take the pet to puppy classes or to puppy school.
A socially adept puppy will grow up to be a well-adjusted dog later in his life. Like babies, we should be gentle in dealing with them because it is the experiences they have during their puppy years that will help in molding their personalities as adult dogs.

Puppies are expected to do what young human children do. They soil the entire house. Explore the world though biting and chewing, a lot of running and barking around. These are typical traits of a human toddler. In order to manage these, you have to be firm and stick to your decisions. Boundaries can help puppies identify the extent of authority and the extent of the acceptability of their behavior.

There are a lot of tricks and important house routines that a puppy can learn. But basic obedience, leash training and house training are more essential so to protect the puppy and the dog owner too.

Again, puppies are like human beings. Puppies love to be appreciated and rewarded when they have done something good. This time as a dog owner, you must include positive reinforcement in the puppy training. This is in forms of puppy deals (bone or food). Never punish a puppy when a command was not performed properly. It will only make your puppy to be fearful. Never allow the puppy to be anxious towards your training method. This will be a disadvantage. Since the puppy cannot perform a trick properly but concentrates primarily on the fear that the puppy has. Keep this in mind.

A happy puppy is a well-mannered puppy, so if you decide to go to puppy obedience classes or read some puppy training books or watch some puppy training videos, you will love the results you get if you train your dog properly. This will allow any dog owner to be very proud of what has become of his beloved pet.

Have a great “dog training” day,

Dr. Alfonso