How To Train A Dog

There are many ways you could learn How to prevent your dog or puppy from embarrassing you. The biggest way to help your puppy or dog is through some basic training and obedience classes.

Teaching old dog new tricks is just as easy as teaching a puppy to behave. However, getting a puppy to perform basic skills like sit, stay, come and heel, which is walking next to you, should be done as early as possible so that when they are older, they know what is expected of them and will listen to their owners.

Just as children need love, attention and boundaries, so do puppies; they need to know they are loved and cared for as well as where their boundaries are. Training a puppy can be rewarding and frustrating at the same time but well worth the efforts when they begin to grow into well behaved dogs.

It is most embarrassing when people come to your house and a puppy or dog full of energy comes bounding around the corner and jumps up on the visitor. This is especially difficult when the person visiting does not like or care for dogs.

To prevent your puppy or dog from jumping on visitors, even family members like grandma, it is important to teach them a simple command like a sit stay or a down stay which you can put them in before answering the door. A dog that can master this basic command will stay in this position no matter what is going on around them.

Schools for dogs and puppies are wonderful places for your pets to learn the good behavior they need and to control their excess energy some have. Depending on the dog’s breed and the amount of effort an owner puts out, this will determine when a dog or puppy ‘clicks’ with their training and masters the correct commands for stay, heel and sit.

There is another command that is important to the control of a dog or puppy and that is the command ‘leave it’. This tells the dog not to sniff, touch or go after something they want. For example if you and your dog are going for a walk and another individual with their puppy are approaching and are going to pass you and your dog, you would want to say leave it as you pass the other dog because your dog will want to sniff or investigate the other animal. This could be embarrassing if the dogs begin to sniff each other in the proper manor which is sniffing each others back side. Proper dog etiquette is to sniff the bottom, not the face because some dogs will bite or growl if approached in the face.

There are many different exercises a dog owner and their puppy will participate in at dog school and one that helps with the embarrassing jumping on strangers or visitors is the ‘meet and greet’ exercise. These workouts has the class split up into two groups, on either side of the arena, and then walk towards each other with their dogs at heel position. Once they are about a foot away from each other, the handler puts their dog or puppy on a sit stay and proceeds to greet the other dog handler with a handshake. The dogs are to remain sitting without jumping or moving. Another part of the exercise is for each handler to wave their arm over the top of the dog and pat the other person on the shoulder.

Learning How to prevent your dog or puppy from embarassing you can be a fun and fulfilling exercise in patience for both the owner and animal. It takes time and a lot of practice but if you keep at it, you will have a well behaved dog that you will not be embarrassed to take out in public or have sit next to you when company comes to your house.

Puppy training can be frustrating. Training a dog requires discipline and consistancy. When experiencing problems, consult a professional.