How To Train Your Dog In Just 15 Minutes A Day

I really think that most new dog owners want a nicely trained dog however they fail to train their dog because they feel that it will be too time intensive. That could not be farther from the truth. In fact I teach people that if you will simply work with your dog for only 15 minutes a day you can have a well trained dog that you can be very proud of. 

First of all since you wanted a dog I assume that you have 15 minutes a day that you can spend with him. If you say no then you should do you and your dog a huge favor and find a new home for your pet so he can have a home that will spend time with him. 

Now that we have determined that you have 15 minutes a day let's talk about what you should do during those 15 minutes. You need to train your dog to do all the basic exercises that every good dog should know and they include: 

· Walk on a leash without dragging you down the street 

· Sit on command when you tell it one time 

· Down on command, this is the exercise that makes you the alpha 

· Sit-stay so you can have people come in your home without the dog darting out the door 

· Down-stay so you can leave a room and it is still there when you return 

· The recall so your dog comes when you call it, every time 

The next question is how do you do this training? The best way is to hire a trainer to help guide you through the steps. PLEASE find a trainer that uses motivational methods but doesn't rely on treats to bribe your dog to do the exercises. Instead find a real trainer that will help you train your dog to do these exercises out of mutual trust and respect. Plainly put a dog that needs a treat to do an exercise is not trained. 

Now back to that daily 15 minute training session. You can do some of this training while you go for a daily walk. In fact do not get in the habit of only doing the training at home in the living room. You should be able to do these exercises anywhere with all types of distractions. 

So after the dog is working great in the house then start doing your training on the driveway and then later move to the street. Then start adding more distractions including people and other dogs. This is referred to as proofing your dog. 

If you will simply give your dog 15 minutes of training a day you will be amazed how quickly and easily you can have the best trained dog on the block.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Train-Your-Dog-In-Just-15-Minutes-A-Day&id=8609754

2 Commands That Could Save Your Dog's Life

For some people having a well-trained dog is a must. For other people having a well-trained dog would just be nice. No matter which way you look at it however there are two commands that are absolutely essential for any dog. These are commands that could save your dog's life. 

The Down Command 

Yes the down command is one of those life-saving exercises that should be taught to every dog from a young age. In fact the down command is the exercise that develops that master dog relationship. I always tell my clients that when your dog is 20 feet away, you say down and it immediately drops to the ground without you doing anything else will be the day that your dog says you are the master. 

Another added bonus is the fact that a lot of things have been written about aggression and one thing that many of them talk about is that if your dog had been taught the down command at an early age you probably would not have seen the aggression. 

As I mentioned the down command can also be a life-saving exercise. For example your dog sees that squirrel and starts running after it toward the street and here comes a car. You yell down and the dog drops to the ground before it ever reaches the street. The command just saved your dogs life, I've actually seen this happen on multiple occasions. 

The Come Command 

As you can imagine the come command or the recall is another exercises that can save your dog's life. This is another exercise that should be taught to your dog at an early age before it realizes it doesn't have to come when you call. I tell my clients to keep their dogs on a leash until their dog learns how to come so it never learns it doesn't have to. 

In teaching this exercise you want to do something spectacular every time your dog comes when called. That can be by giving it a ton of praise, a toy, and even a treat. What we are trying to do in the beginning is to develop a habit in the dog so that when he hears the command come he does it each and every time without even thinking about it. 

And here's one important thing to remember you never want to punish your dog when it finally does come to you. For example, it got out the front door and is running around the neighborhood, you are frustrated, you are angry and finally the dog does come to you. You have to give it praise. Punishing the dog at this point will only teach it not to come to you again. 

At this point you may be saying to yourself why is it important to teach both commands when one should do the trick. I have found over the years that most dogs respond better to either the come command or the down command. By teaching your dog both commands you'll have two tools that can accomplish the same job and maybe save your dogs life one day.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?2-Commands-That-Could-Save-Your-Dogs-Life&id=8368167

5 Commands Every Dog Should Know

Every dog should know some basic commands. There are five commands that are really very important and could actually be lifesaving in an emergency situation. Every dog no matter its size or its age should you know these very basic commands. 

SIT COMMAND 

The sit is a very basic command and should be taught to your dog early. But here's the deal, your dog should just not do the sit command in the living room it should be able to do the sit command even if it's outside with distractions. Proofing your dog so that he can perform these basic exercises around distractions is very important. 

DOWN COMMAND 

The down command is probably the most important exercise you can teach your dog. The down command is the exercise that establishes you as the master with your dog. When your dog is 20 feet away, you say down and the dog drops to the ground is the day that the dog says you are the alpha. 

A lot of things have been written about aggression and one thing that many of these publications talk about is if the dog had been taught the down command as a young dog you would have probably never seen the aggression. 

STAY COMMAND 

The stay command is exactly what it sounds like the dog is either sitting or downing and you tell the dog to stay. Your dog should maintain that position until you give it its release word. 

RECALL (COME WHEN CALLED) 

Again another important exercise is the recall. It is a very important exercise because it could actually keep your dog from running out into the street and getting hit by a car. This is the exercise that you should work on repeatedly so that your dog comes to you as soon as you call. 

LEAVE IT 

The leave it command has a bunch of uses. The main ones are to keep your dog from getting into something that it shouldn't. It could also mean to ignore something for example another dog when you're out for a walk. 

These are all exercises that should be taught to your dog at a young age and can be found in almost any good basic obedience class. Take the time to train your dog and you'll have a dog that your entire family can enjoy for the rest of its life.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?5-Commands-Every-Dog-Should-Know&id=8331746

Why Your Dog Won't Come When Called and How To Fix It

Unreliable recalls are a common complaint among dog owners. Generally speaking, there are two primary reasons for this.

One - rock solid recalls require a tremendous amount of training. Most dogs will come when called inside the home, but get the dog outside in a high-distraction environment and all bets are off. It is absolutely crucial to train your recall amidst all kinds of distractions once your dog has learned the command in a low distraction setting. This is not a skill that is learned quickly. It really has to be developed and proofed over the course of the dog's life. You can set up all kinds of training scenarios so that your dog may learn to love coming to you when called. And be sure to always ALWAYS praise and reward heavily when your dog follows through. Which leads me to my next point...

In addition to lack of high-level proofing, unreliable recalls are usually the result of insufficient rewards and inadvertent punishments. Picture this...

My dog, Punk, and I are out in a park. Punk is off leash, running around, having a dog-tastic time. He finds something naughty on the ground to get in to, and concerned for his health and safety, I decide I need him to return to me. "Punk, COME!" Impressively, Punk does come (after I have repeated the command several times) and when he does, I scold him for getting in to something bad... he should know better! This type of scenario is extremely common, and from a human perspective, it makes sense. But from the dog's perspective... not so much. Punk doesn't know that the scolding is in response to his naughty behavior, in his mind he just got scolded for complying with the request to "come". Furthermore, he just left some delicious, stinky, rotten sidewalk snack in order to obey Human, and then was punished??? In this sequence of events, we have taken something pleasurable away from the dog when we call him to come to us, and when he does come, rather than reward his compliant behavior, we scold the dog. So what does the dog learn? When my Human tells me to Come, I will be punished (twice!!), so I must NOT be supposed to Come. And BOOM... you have completely undermined your dog's recall.

The takeaway here is that a reliable recall requires tons and tons of training in varied scenarios with lots of distractions. And it requires heavy rewarding each and every time, even when the dog is getting into trouble prior to the recall. You have to make the recall highly rewarding to the dog if you want to reinforce this behavior.