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Good Citizenship Training
Help your dog become a valued member of his community. Enroll him in the Good Citizen training scheme.

Cesar Milan
Cesar Milan is either loved or hated by the training community. I'm doubtful of some of his training techniques, but his shows do make for good TV!! Have a look at his website and see for yourself...

Victoria Stillwell
This lady is great with dogs! She's the presenter of it's me or the dog on channel 4 and really knows her stuff!

Training site of the month
Check out K9 Obedience for more tips and tricks!

Dog Pages
When idiots breed their dogs because they think puppies are 'cute', this is where the pups end up! On a website looking for parents!

Basic Training

House Training
House training a puppy is all about being with him and keeping him close! You need to spot when he's about to have an accident and correct him as soon as you see him do it, take him outside to the spot you want him to pee in, and praise him like crazy when he goes in the right place. Shouting at a dog after he's done the deed inside does no good - all you teach him then is that going in front of you is naughty... so he'll get more sneaky!

Pulling on a leash
This takes a lot of patience to cure, along with a lot of practice! You must be firm from the start and insist your dog walks on a loose leash at all times. This might mean that initially you don't get further than your own front door! Start by holding him close to you on a loose lead and only proceed forward if he's walking nicely. The second he tries to dart in front of you, bring him back to your side and wait until he's calmed down. You need to correct him before he get's in front of you - don't let him rush past and get ahead because your correction will come too late!
More tips here

Separation Anxiety
There is no quick fix for this. You need to work with your dog in short sharp bursts. For example: if he howls when he's left home alone, start by putting your coat on and taking it off again seconds later until he's no longer anxious about it. Then pick up your bag and keys too. Then when he's used to that, go to the front door. Progress to opening and closing the door... and so on. Practice the routine you'd normally follow before leaving the house, adding each step until your dog is accepting each step in a calm manner. You might need a week of taking your coat on and off before he's calm and you can go on to picking up keys as well. That's fine, have some patience! Never go back to him or take that coat off whilst he's noisy. Always wait until there's a break in the noise before you go in. It may take time, but soon enough he'll be quiet as he'll be trying to hear your return ;-) Improve your success rate by reading more tips here

Barking
All dogs bark and it's good to let them! Barking gives dogs the opportunity to tell you they have noticed something different or something they don't like! If constant barking is getting on your nerves though, you need to teach a 'no speak' command. Teaching a 'speak' when the dog barks is easiest in the first instance, then you have the option of applying the 'no speak' command to quieten the dog once he associates 'speak' with barking. Use a pattern interruption if you need to such as a bottle of rice shaken to surprise the dog and quieten him in an instant. .

Clicker Training
This is probably the most important training skill you can learn. When you start training you'll use the clicker alongside some decent treats which you can slowly phase out over time. The clicker will be more than enough praise after a few weeks because it teaches the dog whenever he hears the clicker he's doing well and once he knows to listen for a click, he'll want one as often as he can get them! Read all you need to know about positive reinforcement clicker training here


MORE TIPS:

Teaching a stay. Dealing with food aggression. Crate Training.

BOOKS

These guys are the people you need to visit for any training books. They're cheap, and they don't charge expensive postage rates like a lot of book stores do!

How to teach...

A Sit!
Teaching a sit is easy because dogs like to sit down so often! It's basically a case of teaching the word 'sit' whist having him sit down! If your dog isn't a natural sitter, try holding a treat just above and behind his nose. It will be natural for him to sit back to sniff at the treat. If he jumps for it though, you're holding it too high!
Never push on a dogs back to make him sit. Instead, back him up against a wall so sitting is the only option!
 

Got training questions?

Click on the homepage. On the right hand side you'll see how you can email me or post to my blog. Or you can post on the forum. If I don't know the answer I will make it up.
The forum link is Here  

Training Books Reviewed

Jan Fennell has written 'a dogs best friend'. a collection of stories and memories of dogs brought into her life who have been turned around with great training and bought much love to their new owners.
Read review Here