Are You Building a Good Relationship With Your Dog?

Most of us do not realize that every moment we spend with our dogs, we are not only building a relationship, we are also training them.

Whatever behavior you choose to reinforce, consciously or unconsciously is really a method of training. The many things your dog does, that you like and reinforce with kind words or treats are things your dog will do over and over again.

Dogs are like people, we all enjoy the moments that someone praises us or gives us good feedback about something we have done. We lap it up and feel good about ourselves, well, dogs do too and it is important that we let our dogs know when we are happy with their behavior.

The Center for the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine defines the bond that connects us to our beloved canines as..."the dynamic relationship between people and animals in that each influences the psychological and physiological state of the other." They also state that "People in the presence of animals are often perceived to be more happy and healthy."

But, what about the happiness and health of our pets? We need to do our job as caregivers to ensure that our side of the dog-human bond brings happiness and health to our pets as well.

So what are some of the things we can do to help make our pets happy and build a good relationship.

· One way is to touch our pets every chance we get. Give quick little massages behind the ears as you pass by. Scratch your dog under the chin as you put on its leash. If you cuddle and watch TV together, take time during the commercials to give a belly rub or whatever else your dog enjoys. Let your dog know you care and tell him/her so.

· Make it a point to carry treats with you, especially when going for a walk, use them to reinforce good behaviors and use them as distractions should a something out of the ordinary happen. Sometimes a scary thing can be made more pleasant by the use of a treat.

· Dogs love to learn and by teaching your dog to "say please" (which is sitting to have a leash put on or sitting to go out the open door,) you are teaching a good behavior and making it a pleasant experience by giving treats.

· Play with your dog. Dogs love to have their masters play with them, it is a time for fun and you can even slip in a behavior lesson or two while doing it.

· Say your dog's name before feeding him/her or before giving a treat. Dogs enjoy hearing their names, this reinforces a positive reaction to come when called as the experience is a pleasant one.

· Talk to your dog say "good morning" when you wake up and "good night" when you go to bed. Dogs love to be talked to, I have had some of my best conversations with my dogs and the nice thing is they do not repeat anything.

· Give your dog a special treat when you are leaving the house, a nice long lasting chew, a Kong ball or hide a few treats and tell your pet to go find them.

· Take as many opportunities as you can to build a relationship with your pet, respond to its bid for attention. If you catch your dog looking at you, give it a rub or just say its name and tell it what a good dog it is. Use the tone of your voice to convey a happy feeling, your dog will respond to it.

· Try to notice your dog when it is behaving nicely, like lying in its bed or playing quietly with a toy, acknowledge the behavior with a word, treat or a rub.

· If your dog comes into a room that you are in acknowledge him/her and give them a few moments of your time.

· Ignore the bad behaviors and give all the praise and treats you can to the opportunities that your dog gives you, when it behaves properly. There is an old saying that you catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar and that is true with dogs, too. Reacting to the good behaviors will reinforce them and by ignoring the bad ones, they for the most part will be forgotten, as they did not get any attention.

Building a solid relationship with your dog is easy and it is worthwhile. Dogs are great companions and offer us, the humans, such unconditional love; all they want in return is a little human kindness. The amount of time it takes to build a good relationship is so small, it takes so little effort and the returns you will get are so great, you will wonder why you did not think of these things sooner.

A dog and its human were meant to be together, you cannot find a better relationship, more loyalty or more comfort than when you lay your head next to that furry thing, hear it sigh and feel it cuddle closer. Heaven cannot be any better.

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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.

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Training Your Dog Without Headaches? Try These Ideas To Help

When training your dog, you want to ensure that you are using the most common and proven methods. This article will go into detail with the most popular and tested methods and let you know how to implement them. Follow the tried and true methods listed, and you should see success in your training.

Positive reinforcement is everything when you are working at training your dog. You need to give your dog lots of chances to get things right and then immediately reinforce that desirable behavior. You can use treats, praise or a combination of both to let the dog know how happy you are with what he just did.

Your dog should have a wide variety of social interactions daily. This will ensure he'll continue to blossom as a social animal, and he'll be able to use up some of his energy meeting all these exciting new people and dogs.

In order to train a well-mannered dog you should always be consistent with your punishments. If you let your dog get away with a particular bad behavior when you normally punish him for it, then your dog will be more likely to revert to bad behavior in general and not as likely to listen to your commands in the future.

One tip to keep in mind when training your dog, is to be sure to never discipline your dog for bad behavior when he is ill. This will only confuse your dog and might cause him to not respond to discipline in the future. Examples of this would be, if your dog defecates or vomits in a manner that is not typical to his normal behavior.

Dogs are creatures of habit. If you customarily take them out for their walk at the same time every night, they will grow to expect that walk, even to depend on it. Missing the scheduled date by even just a few minutes can result in an accident for the younger dog and even for the older one.

Before you ever get a dog, be sure that you have everything you need. You should have: sturdy food and water bowls; a good quality of dry dog food; a comfortable bed; a crate/kennel in the right size for the dog you plan to get; and an appropriate leash and collar or harness. By having everything in place, you will avoid a lot of rushing around and uncertainty with a new dog or puppy. This will help everybody settle in better.

When interacting with other dogs, expect a calm, sedate attitude from your pet before letting them go loose. By establishing a calm demeanor in your pet, you will cause a ripple effect through the other animals as well as teaching your dog that you control the environment. When it is time to go as well, this will make it easier to withdraw your dog.

In the foregoing, we have provided the most popular methods for training your dog. These tricks and tips have been used over a long amount of time with many types of dogs and many dog owners. So, if you follow these methods as suggested, you stand a good chance of training your dog correctly.

You want to ensure that you are using the most common and proven methods when training your dog. When you are working at training your dog, positive reinforcement is everything. One tip to keep in mind when training your dog, is to be sure to never discipline your dog for bad behavior when he is ill. You should have: sturdy food and water bowls; a good quality of dry dog food; a comfortable bed; a crate/kennel in the right size for the dog you plan to get; and an appropriate leash and collar or harness. These tips and tricks have been used over a long amount of time with many types of dogs and many dog owners.

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