Dog Training Blogz

Even if you don’t bath your German Shepherd often, regular grooming is essential. By maintaining proper grooming procedures you can reduce your dog’s chance of having skin problems while keeping the coat shiny. It is best to maintain grooming every night, but first do eight to twelve weeks of moderate grooming. To manage the double coat present on a German Shepherd it is best to comb at least twice a week.

During the shedding season the normal shedding of a German Shepherd becomes much worse so you should consider using a shedding blade or similar tool since you will need proper training before you can use a shedding blade. When grooming your German Shepherd you should use a metal rake to take out the mats in the undercoat around the neck, chest and thigh areas. After bathing it is best to use a modern high velocity dryer to remove excess water instead of the hand fluff method. Always go in the direction of hair growth when you are brushing your dog.

When grooming your German Shepherd you may want to give them a haircut. You can use a pair of scissors to remove the long hairs that you find under the feet as well as the stray hairs around the feet. Rather, if you want a fluffier or fuller looking coat, you should brush the hair in the opposite direction of growth and then do light brushing in the direction of hair growth.

An alternative to the haircut is to use thinning shears to give the dog an overall neater appearance. Selective thinning is a good way to make your German Shepherd look heavier boned. Grooming isn’t just limited to the coat because you also need to focus on the toenails, ears and teeth. While brushing be sure to check the nails and trim them regularly as needed in order to avoid split or broken nails that will occur when they are left unattended and grow too long.

Grooming your German Shepherd allows you to make sure that the oils in the fur are evenly distributed which helps prevent matting and tangles from occurring. It also helps to remove the dead skin cells and loose hair, which can clog the coat and take away from the neat appearance. Just be careful not to cut or scratch your dog’s skin while you are grooming them. Use a combination of brushes and brush heads in order to make sure you tackle all parts of your dog’s coat.

For the German Shepherd it is best that you select the right shampoo as well, since they can be easily affected by wheat and may have other allergies as well. Oatmeal shampoo is one option but it can cause material to build up faster, which means you will have to bathe the dog more often. If you don’t have to worry about fleas then a shampoo with aloe is a good idea. By constantly using proper grooming techniques you can keep your German Shepherd looking well-groomed all the time.

Training your dog is important. An untrained dog can be a danger to itself, you and other people. A well behaved dog will be a pleasure to own. He will never bother other people and will be safe around children.

Pack Leader

Dogs are pack animals. Each dog in the pack has a position in the pecking order. One dog is the pack leader often referred to as the “alpha” another dog is second in command and so on. It is therefore vital that you are the pack leader as far as your dog is concerned. One of the best ways to be the dominant alpha is through commands. An alpha dog will not take instructions from its subordinates. You therefore teach your dog to take notice of your commands asserting your authority as the alpha dog.

5 easy steps to training your dog

1. Be patient - training your dog will take time

2. Involve the whole family in the training. The dog will then understand it’s position in the pack and will not attempt to dominate other family members.

3. Never hit your dog. This will lead to fear and not respect.

4. Be consistent. Dogs learn from repetition

5. Praise and reward. Always reward a positive outcome with a treat or verbal praise

House Training

The first goal when you bring a new puppy home is to house train it. This requires patience, constant supervision and vigilance. Most puppies will go to the toilet soon after eating, playing or sleeping. It is therefore vital that you get in to a routine. You need to have a specific location for the bathroom spot either in your home or just outside. Remember to reward your puppy with a treat or praise after they have gone to the toilet. If the puppy does happen to go to the toilet inside the home then do not punish them. Carefully clean up the mess with paper towel and leave the soiled paper temporarily at the puppies bathroom spot to make the puppy understand that this is the place where they are meant to go to the toilet.

To eliminate accidents the best course of action is to observe the puppy and when he shows signs that he is about to go to the toilet e.g. sniffing the floor immediately take him to his toilet spot.

Obedience Training

Effective communication is the most important skill in dog training that enables the dog to obey commands such as sit, come, heel and stay. One popular style of obedience training is reward training. Reward training encourages the dog by rewarding for good behavior. It is also important that you praise your dog in addition to the treats you give. The training should be carried out in regular short sessions as the dog’s behavior can change from time to time.

The best kind of treats to use are small easy to chew treats that can be eaten quickly by your dog. There is evidence to suggest that it does not matter how large the treat is, a reward is a reward for good behavior.

In order for you and your terrier dog to have a happy life together you are going to have to train your dog. There are many ways to do this.

A common misconception is that it is difficult, expensive and time consuming to train your dog. This is not the case. People with this attitude have the wrong perception of training your dog. You should try to enjoy training your dog. It is one of the biggest bonds you will have with the animal.

You must accept however, that although dogs are a lot smarter than many people would give them credit for, they are not as smart as humans. So training your dog will require a certain amount of patience and persistence. If you love your terrier dog enough, this will never be a problem.

It is essential to first determine the personality of your terrier dog. Terrier dogs are usually either submissive or dominant.

Submissive Dog

A submissive dog will exhibit some of the following qualities;

Avoids eye contact

Rolls over onto its back

Crouches down with its ears back and tail lowered

is comfortable on its back in your arms

Dominant dog

Conversely a dominant dog will exhibit these qualities;

Maintains eye contact

Is unwilling to move from its place on the couch

Dislikes grooming or petting

Is possessive of “its” belongings i.e. dish, bowl, toys

Regardless of which type your dog is training should be done in the same way. Just remember these points when deciding the most appropriate methods for training your dog.

So where do I train my dog?

A good place to teach your terrier dog new skills is at obedience classes. These classes can be especially beneficial to training younger terrier dogs. At these classes the younger terrier dogs will for perhaps the first time be around several people and other dogs at the same time. This can be very overwhelming for terrier dogs and they will most likely get very excited. It is best that this happens in a safe environment. Do remember that your dog is never to old to be taught obedience skills. I would in fact recommend that you retrain your dog once every couple of years as it will help the dog pick up new skills, and keep its mind active. There you see, you can teach an old dog new tricks.

So how do train my dog?

Training your terrier dog requires persistence, consistency, a cool head and the ability to convey your emotions well. Terrier dogs are very good at picking up body language and can sense your mood even through the tone of your voice. It is therefore essential that when training you dog you keep all anger and frustration hidden from the dog. Your Terrier dog will often reflect you attitude towards it. If you start to become angry and aggressive, the dog will fight back. An angry and aggressive style is the worst way to train your dog. In fact, Terrier dogs respond well to compliments and treats. Reward your dog often especially but not exclusively for picking up new skills. Basically when training your dog keep in mind it will reflect your attitude towards itself at any given time.

When training dogs I like to follow a few guidelines. Here are the ways I train my dogs.

Through Reiteration and Repetition

This is the way you will train a dog to follow your commands. Repeat your commands in a friendly and loud voice. Be sure to say the command clearly and directly to the dog. If necessary help the terrier dog to fulfil its task. Two examples are the sit command, by pushing down the terrier dogs rear and holding on to the dog whilst giving the stay command. Once the dog has successfully completed the command remember to reward the dog with a treat. Also, do not do the routine once then forget about it, continue to train the dog in that command over and over again, whilst gradually removing some of the rewards.

Persistence

Patience is a virtue. You will know this saying and you will know it is true, yet you still sometimes lose it. If you want to successfully train your dog you need to exhibit self control. The moment you start to lose your patience you can say goodbye to a well behaved terrier dog.

Commendation and Ammendation

As I said before the dog should know if it has done the right thing. You must also tell it if it has not done the right thing. This is where the patience will come in handy. A good use of body language will help to diminish the incorrect results and to keep hold of the good action your terrier dog performs.

Rewards

I have already mentioned this several times but this is the most important part in forming a strong bond with your terrier dog. Dog treats are a great way of rewarding your dog. Do not forget however to regularly pet your terrier dog when it does well. Do remember though that even though treats are good to much of a good thing can be bad. You main aim is to one day be able to have your dog execute a command without having to bribe it. Another lesser point is that a terrier dog can easily become overweight on snacks which can lead to health problems and expensive vet’s bills.

Whatever happens you will always remember training your dog and the day that your terrier dog managed to execute your first commands. Nothing is better than having enough control over your dog so that you can take it out in public regularly and enjoy its company.

Bringing a new puppy home is a great event for everyone in the household. This great little bundle will quickly grow up into a companion for life. So when do you start puppy house training? Well this should be done as soon as you bring the puppy home. This is to make sure that you stop any bad habits from the outset.

Here are some tips on puppy house training :

Give Your Puppy a Name

Start off by giving your puppy a name right from the start. They are able to understand a few words and will soon start to respond to their name.

Routine Feeding Time

When feeding your puppy, always try and do this at the same time each day. Puppies are the same as babies and love routine. This can be good for the puppy’s digestive tract and also can actually make the puppy more secure.

Toilet Training

Once your puppy has eaten then take the puppy outside or go for a walk. This will train your dog to go to the toilet and when doing this make them go in the same place in the yard every time. As mentioned earlier, puppies love routine so they will be pleased to go in the same place. When your dog does this always make sure that you praise him or her for this.

However, please take into account that puppies are too young to control their bowels or bladder, so don’t get mad with them. Never hit your puppy, as this can lead to a mean dog, just a quick “no” will do and don’t overdo it. Remember, that it can take anywhere up to a year for the puppy to be fully toilet trained, so please be ready for a few accidents.

The “Sit” Command

Puppies by their very nature love to jump all over people. This may be ok for you and members of your family. However, this may not be the case for visitors to your house. Therefore, one of the first training commands to teach your puppy is the “sit” command. This will give your puppy discipline and also stop it from being a nuisance to your visitors.

Adopt Routine Early

Adopt routine very early in the life of your puppy and it will soon become second nature to them. This will make the dog feel a part of the household. If there are other dogs in the house that are using a schedule then make sure your new addition is fitted into the same routine as the other dog(s).

Remember puppy house training can be a trying time and will test your patience. But if you stick in there with patience and dedication, you will end up with a loving dog who will be a fantastic companion to you and the rest of your family.

Learning new things can be stressful for your dog especially in the beginning when concepts and teaching methods are new. If your dog refused to eat during the early stages of training, stop the program and have a play session or calm your dog until it is relaxed and begins to accept treats again. This process may require 3 to 4 sessions but it is worth going through it to develop your dog’s positive attitude towards obedience.

Conduct 3 training sessions a day, each session lasting approximately 20 minutes while allowing at least 1 hour rest in-between sessions. In a 2-week period, there should be a total of 30 sessions.

Week 1 And Week 2

1) Teach your dog the “heel” command. Repeat a series of 3 to 5 circles and perform 5 series of 4-step “heels” per session.

2) Teach the “sit” and “release” command. Command your dog to “sit”, let it stay in the sit position for a moment then give the “release” command to release your dog from the “sit”. Repeat this series 5 times per session.

3) For each session, work on a series of 1 exercise and move to another exercise (i.e., work on one series of 4-step “heel”, then a series of “sit” and “break”, and finally a series of 4-step “heels”‘).

Although dogs need repetition to learn a skill, you need a variety of exercises to keep them interested as they bore easily.

Week 3 And Week 4

1) Reinforce the “heel” command. Test the “heel” command from lessons learned from week 1 and week 2.

2) Reinforcing the “sit” and “release” command. Begin training your dog to hold the “sit” position starting from 5 seconds and gradually stretching the time to 10 seconds.

3) Begin teaching your dog the “down” command (use treats to lure your dog to teach it the command). Repeat the series 2 times per session in week 3 and 3 times per session in week 4.

Week 5 And Week 6

1) Continue to reinforce and test the “heel”, “sit” and “release” commands. Begin to include distractions when training “heel” and “sit” to train your dog to continue focusing on you even there are distractions.

2) Extend the concept of holding position to build patience by extending the “sit” from 5 - 10 seconds to 30 seconds - 1 minute before releasing the “sit” command.

When you test your dog, you should repeat each test until it passes the test 3 consecutive times.

3) Start to reinforce the “down” command in week 5 by removing the treat and shoulder help. During week 6, begin reinforcing without any bodily assistance. You can reintroduce treats as the reward but do not tempt your dog. Only reward your dog after it has successfully completed the “down” command.

Training sessions may become more stressful for both you and your dog as you progress from the teaching phase and enter into the more difficult reinforcing phase. If you find a particular test too tough for both of you; stop the exercise and continue to practice the skills individually, you can repeat that particular test a few days later.

While the length and regularity of the sessions remain unchanged since the first week, the sessions are becoming less predictable and require varieties to make them as interesting and effective as they can be.

Week 7 And Week 8

1) While continuing to reinforce and test the “heel”, “sit” and “release” commands, don’t forget to reinforce the “down” command as well. In 1 of every 3 sessions, add distractions to your basic commands. Improve “down from a stand” exercise with the “down” command.

2) Extend the time-span of the holding position and begin teaching the “stay” command.

3) Begin combining the different commands when training. Teach “sit” and “down” from your front and testing motion “down” and motion “sit”.

4) Start teaching the “come” command. Put your dog on “sit/stay” position, while walking backwards monitor the position holding skills. Body language plays an important role in teaching this command and sending the wrong signals sometimes causes your dog not to hold the position.

Week 9, Week 10 And After

1) Reinforce “stay” and “come” command. Always practice a short leash recall to reinforce the final finish position. Repeat at least 10 times per session. “Come” is the most important command but the least practiced of all the other commands.

2) Conduct test and reinforce all obedience commands. Practice all commands equally, working on each command as little as 1 or as many as 5 repetitions per series though you should avoid creating patterns.

Make exercises targeted towards your practical obedience application. Include distraction training in at least 1 out of every 3 obedience practice sessions.