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The most common mistake that I see people do with their puppy is start the off leash portion of their training too early. Puppies make owners overly confident that they will stay this way, by the natural instinct of a puppy to stay close to their leaders. However, early lessons that they can get away with their puppy speed, will unfortunately carry over as they grow into adulthood and make their natural curiosity and wander lust worse than it needs to be. It also starts to inhibit any problem behaviors related to prey drive. In puppy hood you can begin to teach the skills not to chase small furry animals, large furry animals, and cars. All of these things have the potential to be deadly to your puppy and future dog. At the point that dogs are puppies is a great time to start the checking in process that you are going to desire before allowing your dog to go loose. I do this with puppies or adult rescue dogs with almost no training by doing the following: 1. Inside, while not s...

Talking about things that can harm your dogs, here is some more information. Chocolate Raisins or Grapes Castor Beans Anti Freeze (and other products you may use to de-ice in winter that contain anti freeze) Caffeine Garlic Onion Mushroom Plants on the attached link http://www.dogpack.com/health/poisonplants.htm Moth Balls Broccoli Raw Salmon Too much Asprin & Asprin subsitutes (Tylenol) are always toxic http://www.school-for-champions.com/animalhealth/aspirin.htm Below are some helpful links regarding this: Poison Help Site Various Toxins Even More Toxins Need your dog trained? Visit the http://www.mannerlymutts.com/ services page. Or contact me at 207-361-4395 in York Maine. Ask for Robin Rubin, Dog Trainer.

I don't know if most of the dog owning public is aware of the levels that we pass through when teaching a dog a certain command. Here are the four levels that I usually think of: 1) Demonstrate to the dog what you want him to do .You can do this by positioning or luring your dog into position. Dogs need to be shown what to do, because they don’t naturally know the things we take for granted that older dogs have already been taught. Obviously they don't understand our verbal cues, and need to be shown what they will correspond to in the future. In the Demonstration phase, the command is verbalized in conjunction with the luring or placing the dog into correct position. 2) Teach your dog what you want him/her to do (consistency and repetition). Let them know this is not a one-time command performance. There are rewards for the correct completion of a task Be consistent. Don’t tell your dog to “sit” unless you are ready to help him/her into a sit if they don’t quite understa...

For the purposes of this article, I am talking about fear (not fear [with] aggression , which has both positive and negative definitions in dog training , behaviors OR aggression behaviors) . Nor the fear that a resource is going to be taken away, and not dominant behaviors (which in my definition are not necessarily undesirable). A dog's personality or temperament, IMO, can not be described as simply "fearful", "dominant", "abused", or "aggressive". Dogs have rich lives (or should have) just as we do, and are not put into one simple box definition. They may have behaviors that fit that definition (and will have other behaviors and characteristics beyond those), but dogs (themselves) can not be IMO defined this way. There are many environmental, medical, neurological, and genetic factors that can push a dog towards fearful behaviors. It's important for owners to know that things they may do can make (one would hope inadvertently) a...

Objectives: Using a crate is important for many reasons. House training, boarding, possible veterinarian visits where they are staying hours or overnight, safety in the house (puppies will try and chew wires and all sorts of things left to their own devices), just having a shower without worrying about what puppy is getting into, and separating out from company that may be afraid of dogs, in general. The objective is to create a peaceful place where your puppy or dog knows they are safe and comfortable to rest and relax. Equipment: Crate, flat collar on dog (so you have some hold on him putting him in or out), toys placed in the crate already, and a lot of patience. You don't want your puppy to see you getting frustrated. This is all a learning experience for them. STEP 1: With a pretty confident puppy, I will say crate and place him right in. If he resists to much on the collar, I would pick him up and place him in the crate. If he goes willingly with a light collar tug, l...

I get a fair number of calls a year for house training advice. I give out a lot of tips for free. Here are a list of tips that I give to owners that are seeking to housebreak their dog: Puppies NEED to go out more often than adults. Some can sleep through the night, and others can't. Some will need to go out about every two hours at first. When first bringing home a puppy, crate training and tethering when your attention can not be on them are great solutions. Let puppy or dog inside for loose play only after they have done number one and two as expected when first entering your home (and in their outside area obviously). Write down the times of any "accidents" and add those times to your schedule of when you let your dog or puppy out, until a reliable pattern develops. After an accident , immediately bring your puppy or dog outside. Keep separate bathroom times when your puppy or dog goes out vs play times. If the dog or puppy does not...

So many people do not train their dogs.   Some humans don't want to.   Some humans feel their dog is already well mannered as it is.   Some people have gone to training classes but not left with a trained dog (trained to a standard, and I will discuss that in another article).  However, living with a trained dog makes life so much easier.   I only wish people knew that once the work was put in, living with your dog is a delight NOT a chore. Here are some reasons to train your dog that benefit both members of the team: · Your dog is happier because he/she understands what you want. What are people thinking when they ask an untrained dog to sit? I know the dog is thinking “Whattttt??????” Dogs are not born with an innate ability to understand English, even if to us those words are the most common commands used. If your dog isn’t trained, he/she has no idea what you want of him/her. They will try to figure it out, and try out a few...

Puppies are in need of much learning and guidance. One of the most important things to do is to socialize your puppy well in the critical early weeks and months. The first thing that you want to check is that your vaccinations are up to date, and that it is safe to take puppy out to areas with other dogs and puppies. Take a moment to have a discussion with your vet about the best plan. Realize that this is not just about letting puppy loose with people and dogs. There is more to socialization than that. You want to monitor within reason how they react to other people and dogs, and also to control the interactions with people and dogs so that your puppy feels safe with you. Ideally practicing training exercises is also a great way to socialize. For instance, practicing a sit before greeting a human friend or a canine friend. In reference to 2, do some research to find out what puppy play looks like. Talk to professionals about appropriate corrections and signals that dogs and...

 Food, shelter, affection, exercise and veterinary care are the well known basic needs of your pet.   Many owners forget or neglect grooming most of which should be done once a week, and some of which should be done daily.   Grooming is not only about how your dog looks, but also relates to their health, comfort, and physical well being. Long haired dogs can develop very painful mats and tangles in their fur.  To leave a coat in this condition and then drop them off at a groomers like that is animal neglect and abuse.   Law does not define this that way except maybe in extreme cases, but animals being detangled or shaved down feel much pain from this.   Some long hair dogs need their coats combed out every day or so, while shorter hair dogs could use it every week.   Long coats are sometimes best shaved or trimmed by a groomer or yourself with proper instruction.   Hot months can be tough on dogs blessed with lu...

WEEK 1:   Settle/Calm (IE sit on the dog exercise/exam exercise), Start Leash and Collar Skills, Start Attention When Named Called, (all in non distracting settings), Puppy issues discussion WEEK 2:   (Review) Attention Homework, (Review) Handling Homework, (Review) Puppy's Comfort on Leash and Collar, (New) Lured Sit, (New) Let's go (also known as targeting and loose leash), (all in non distracting settings) (New) Leave it and/or out command WEEK 3:   (Review) Lured Sit Homework, (Review) Loose Leash Homework,  (New) Sits combined with loose leash, (New) Sits combined with stay, (New) Starting Recall or come command,  (New) Stand (starting to venture outside non distracting areas)   ***Also sits from an upright not lured position WEEK 4:   (Review)   Sits combined with loose leash (Review) Sits combined with stay (Review) Recall or come command (Review) Sit with dog owner standing and without lure (New) ...