There are dogs that are hard to train. They are stubborn and would not respond to the basic commands. If your dog is being particularly difficult, you might want to get a dog training collar. While the idea of having a collar to get your dog to follow your command, you should put in mind that a dog training collar is merely a tool to help you with training your dog. It is not the all and end all answer to dog obedience training. When it is used effectively, it can deliver very positive results.

What is a Dog Collar?

A dog collar is a rounded piece of material that is put around the dog’s neck. It is basically used to control a dog or identify him. Oftentimes, you’d see identification tags on dogs. Dog collars are common tools for directing or training dogs. Like anything, misuse of dog collars could cause injury or death.

Kinds of Dog Training Collars

There are different types of dog training collars. They come in all shapes and sizes. If you would go online, you’d end up with numerous brands for dog collars. A search in Google could give you Innotek, Sportdog, TriTronics, Dogtra and DT Systems collar. When choosing your dog training collar, you need to make sure that the collar goes well with your leash. This will allow you to control your dog without hurting him. So, make sure your dog collar fits well around your dog’s neck. It might be a good idea to take your dog neck’s measurement before you buy anything or to take your dog when you go shopping for a dog collar.

There are different kinds of dog collars. This includes the choke collar which is further classified into three kinds - the limited choke collar, snap-around choke collar and the choke chain. They serve various purposes. For instance, if you are going to train a service dog, you may want to get the limited choke collar. It fits perfectly around your dog’s neck so even if you pull on it with your dog’s leash, the collar wouldn’t change in size. So, you would avoid hurting your dog.

If you are looking for the healthiest and safest choke collar, you would want to get the snap-around choke collar. This collar doesn’t contract and it rides high on your dog’s neck so you would avoid pushing on your dog’s windpipe if you pull his leash. You would only need to use minimum force when training your dog. If you accidentally pull your hard, you wouldn’t have to worry about your snapping your dog’s neck backward.

Choosing Your Dog Training Collar

Basically, there are some factors that you have to consider when choosing your dog collar. These include finding the perfect fit. Your dog’s collar should fit snugly on your dog’s neck. It shouldn’t be too tight or too loose. Another thing that you have to consider is the size and measure of your dog’s head and neck. Measure the size so you would know what kind of dog training collar to get. Also, make sure that when you place the collar around your dog’s neck that it would rest on the top of his neck and not on the side or under his neck.

Have a great dog training day,

Dr Alfonso

Radical and excessive behavioral patterns by dogs can be at times distressing and irritating. Dogs occasionally act in a manner that is beyond the usual. They tend to act in modes that are not perceived as normal. Thus, dog obedience training is essential in making them act in an appropriate comportment.

Here are some of the normal behavioral guidelines and dog obedience training every owner should be fully aware of. This is a way of getting along with your dogs in an uncomplicated way:

Dogs are born to be territorial animals. They have a deeper sense in defending their house from strangers. They also consider the value of their owner’s belongings as they would frequently bark or growl especially when there will be instances that calls for their immediate action.

When a dog barks, this is his way of communicating with other dogs, with his owners, and also with unfamiliar people they consider threatening. Dogs bark if they hear and sense strange noises from either outside or inside the house. However, if a dog’s bark becomes too extreme and excessive, an owner can decide on choosing the barking collars that is specifically intended in correcting a dog’s unnecessary barking.

The next thing you need to consider in making an obedient dog is to feed them in a quiet place free from any forms of interruptions. Dogs can be very hazardous when they become preoccupied while eating. This would only lead to possible attacks from dogs that can be very detrimental to other people’s safety.

Dogs are also considered to be born explorer. They become very curious with their surroundings and all of the things revolving around them. It is also a fact that dogs love to chew and nibble all things visible to their eyes. This is not deemed to be an abnormal state but anything excessive and is beyond the normal is not a good option to take.

Another form of dog obedience training is that, dogs should be particularly trained to urinate and defecate in the right places away from the house. Yet, it can never be denied that for some reason your dog would relieve to other places that they find to be apposite. When this happens, punishing them will only worsen the situation. Thus, making every way possible to let your dog have enough opportunities to roam outside the house is one way of giving them not only their freedom but also their sense of discipline in acting towards different behavioral ways.

The forms of nipping and biting are considered normal traits of dogs as their means of protecting themselves from other detrimental sources. However, if this particular behavior becomes extreme, appropriate actions should be done without further ado and before all of these signs become a real problem.

Dealing with your dog’s behavior and providing them with dog obedience training are necessary move for every pet owner. Therefore, trying to understand your dog coupled with accurate and fitting attention would be a vital thing to do in starting a good life together with your dog.

Once you take your dog or your puppy at home, the first thing that you would have to do is to begin dog obedience training. This could be a tedious process; but if you’re successful at it, you’d definitely reap a lot of benefits.

A well-behaved and obedient dog could be a source of great joy to you and your family. However, a disobedient dog could be a constant source of frustration. You cannot imagine how stressful it is to keep up with an undisciplined dog. Just imagine your dog peeing on sheets, barking uncontrollably at people wherever you go, chewing on your shoes or your furniture - the list is positively endless!

Communicate with Your Dog

In order to enforce dog obedience in your pet, you need to start dog obedience training immediately. The first thing that you have to understand is good communication with your dog. You should be able to communicate successfully with your dog if you want to be effective at your dog obedience training. A tirade of words directed at your errant dog may not be as effective as a one word command, "No!" In fact, one word commands are easier for dogs to grasp. You would, in fact, notice that dog commands are usually one-word commands like sit, heel, roll, fetch. You have to make sure, however, that your dog understands your commands.

How to Enforce Dog Obedience in Your Pet

Teaching your dog obedience should not be about hard work for your dog. You should make sure that your pet would have a lot of fun with you. Think of those hours as bonding time with your dog. Learn to play with your dog. You should also learn to enjoy those training hours. Think of it as play time as well. Otherwise, if you’re too serious about training your dog, you might end up frustrated and stressed out if your dog is not doing so well. Also, make sure that you constantly lavish your dog with praises when he’s doing well with his program. Give him treats for a job well done. This is also a great motivation for your dog. He will associate the word to the treats.

If you would like to be successful with the program, you should make sure that you adapt constant and repetitive training methods. Repetitiveness is crucial to your success. The more you do it, the more your dog will learn. Avoid hurting or scolding your dog when you are training him. Making him feel bad would confuse him. He’d lose his concentration and would commit more mistakes. Dog obedience training requires a lot of patience from you.

Training your dog and instilling dog obedience is an ongoing process. You must constantly repeat the commands words so that he won’t forget what they mean. This will also help you establish dominance over your dog so that he would recognize you as the leader of his pack. Dog obedience would also help your pet know how he must act and react to stimuli.

Have a great dog training day,

Dr. Alfonso

One of the most popular and basic dog training commands is the sit command. This is the kind of command that is commonly used among novice and professional dog trainers.

Before learning other basic dog training commands it is important to learn all the fundamentals before emerging your dog to acquire the most complex orders. The sit command is considered a sign of obedience that should be taught as soon as your dog becomes acquainted and comfortable with the name given to him.

There are a lot of ways in giving out this command yet, what an owner should know is the value of proper timing. Proper timing is very vital; though practicing frequently few dog training commands without having to consider other circumstances is not a bad idea after all, however, proper timing alongside your dog’s frame of mind is very salient factors to consider when you want your dog to catch up easily with your teachings.

It is also imperative to be knowledgeable of moments when dogs are gleaned at their best. A dog is considered responsive to training methods and instructions usually before meals or when a dog is starving and is yearning for something. Knowing this will help you focus on the appropriate ways to make them be in their utmost attention in the course of the training.

Afterwards, make certain to reward your dogs for a good deed or for something they’ve done that is considerably appropriate. Avoid making them hang around for a longer period of time for this will only propel confusing points to your dogs. This will greatly affect his behavior and would result to disobedience in the long run.

Once you are able to get fully aware of all the information you need to know, it is now time to begin with the actual training. Before doing so, have yourself fully equipped with the treats especially when your dog performs well. You should also start in a quiet place so as to avoid any disturbance and distraction from outside sources. Then, try to gradually move the treats above your dog’s head, take notice that while doing this kind of trick; your dog would logically fall back into a sitting position by means of bending their legs when they try to aim for the treat or the target above his head.

When you get satisfactory results upon accomplishing a task, give your dogs some reward. This task might probably take several days or even weeks to be completed yet, it can be perfected as you try to instill those dog training commands regularly. If your dog refuses to stay in one place while doing the exercises, it is best to try using other disciplinary procedures that can be accessible on the net.

It is important therefore, to take note of appropriate dog training commands whenever you employ different tips and techniques. A general understanding of different dog commands as well as their basic needs will greatly help in ensuring an amenable and submissive dog.

Have a great dog training day,

Dr. Alfonso

The prenatal period, is a recognized important period during the development of puppies. It is said that long term effects towards the behavioral development of mammals occur while they are still inside their mommies. Earlier studies often overlooked the existence of this period in a puppy’s life cycle since actual observations of the puppies behavior isn’t possible. But with the development of the ultrasound machine an unborn puppy can now be observed within its mum even as early as the 4th of week of gestation! In fact, some believe that training a puppy can begin at this time.

They have observed that puppy fetuses react to touch or to pressure from outside their mothers abdomen. It is also theorized that since puppies have a very well-developed sense of touch even at birth, then it could be possible that this sensitivity is also as developed even before they are born. Thus it is also theorized that constant gentle patting of the mother dog’s abdomen can help in the development of positive socialization of the puppies with people. After birth and during the first 2 weeks of a puppy’s life, which is also known as the neonate period, it is said that puppies can already learn basic associations. Thus, it is considered prime time for training a puppy.

However these early experiences are very unlikely to get carried over to the puppy’s later life. So training a puppy while its still young might be a good idea but the chances of this training being remembered when your puppy gets older is very unlikely. The next period in a puppy’s development is what’s called the socialization. Social investigation, play fighting and playful sexual behavior is adamant to the puppy’s ability to develop social relationships during its life. So training a puppy to play fight with other puppies is beneficial to it and should be encouraged.

During the same period, reactions such as getting startled as well as reactions to sudden movement as well as sounds develop. This would help the puppy to differentiate what is dangerous and what is safe as well as which events are insignificant. The development of a puppy’s attachment to specific areas in its environment occurs. This could manifest itself through a disturbed reaction in the puppy when something is moved or changed. This thing is called localization and it often happens to puppies between 6-7 weeks old and then wears off as time goes by till it reaches the point when any change is no longer stressful to the puppy.

It is also said that a dog who is petted regularly by its owner especially during the first eight weeks of its life is more likely easier to be trained as well as more ideal to be living with humans. As such, most people believe that puppies should be placed in their permanent home within the first 8-10 weeks of living, although there are some dog breeders that believe that puppies should not be placed on their permanent home when they are 12 weeks, especially if they are of the small breed . There are even laws, in some places, wherein puppies are not allowed to be taken away from their mothers before reaching 8 weeks. Puppies are also more fearful of any change during the periods of 10-12 weeks thus making it harder for them to adapt to a new home.

Starting dog obedience training and puppy socialization is critical as soon as the puppy gets to his permanent home.

Have a great "dog training" day,

Dr. Mayra Alfonso