photo courtesy Flickr.com/oakleyoriginals
Dogs are den animals, naturally preferring to sleep in enclosed spaces (this isn’t true of all dogs, but generally speaking). If properly introduced to his crate, a dog will come to treat it as his bedroom; a safe retreat from the stress of life with those crazy two legged members of his family. It is not uncommon for dogs to …read more
Want more? Check out 14 Quick and Easy Ways to Keep Your Dog Occupied
Music by Jason Shaw at Audionautix.com
photo courtesy Flickr.com/defrostca
Great! This is all well and good, but sometimes, the committed door dasher will still get out. Someone will accidentally leave the door open, and Rover will make a break for it.
When he does:
You call him. “Rover, COME!” He ignores …read more
photo courtesy Flickr.com/helloturkeytoe
How To Prevent Door Dashing
To do that, teach Rover that he has his cues all out of whack. Because at the moment, the sound of the door knob turning means “prepare to launch.” Change it to mean “stand back and you’ll be rewarded.”
Teach the “wait” command, if you haven’t already. I use wait instead of stay for door dashing because …read more
Here’s a quick tutorial for teaching your dog to wait.
Not to be confused with the stay command, Wait is a useful command to have in addition to Stay. “Stay” means “stay in that position until I release you.” Wait means “don’t move forward.”
Tomorrow I’ll post a how-to that follows up on this, for teaching your dog to wait at the front door. (Update: Here’s the article: How to Stop Your Dog From Bolting Out The Door)
…read more
Does your dog have a knack for search-and-destroy missions?
That is, does she find everything that you don’t want her to chew on, and chew on it? Check out this video for step-by-step instructions on breaking this expensive habit:
(Note: this video was designed to be watched on Youtube, so when I mention links in the sidebar, I’m talking about the Youtube sidebar. Capiche?)
Music by Jason Shaw at Audionautix.com
Does your dog have a digging problem?
Is your yard/garden starting to look like the surface of the moon? Good news: There’s actually a pretty simple solution.
You just have to realize that digging isn’t a “problem.” It’s actually a completely normal thing for a dog to do. What do you do when you’re bored? Watch TV? Read? Play games? Browse Youtube? (I’m guilty of that one)
It’s the same thing for your dog. Sparky digs because he’s bored and digging is fun. So instead of punishing the dog for this, you just have to redirect the behavior.
Check out this short video (less than two minutes long) to find out how:
Music by Jason Shaw at Audionautix.com
Photo credits:
Digging dog: Flickr.com/jkleeman
Sandbox puppy: Flickr.com/carradine65
Do you know how to effectively use food rewards when you’re training your dog? Check out 3LostDogs’ “inaugural” video tutorial to find out all the basics
you’ll need to know to get started:
Music by Jason Shaw at Audionautix.com
Note: This post is part two of a housetraining series. Check out part one, Housetraining 101: The Basics
courtesy Flickr.com/amagill
You can’t prevent every accident in the house; expect to be cleaning up a few messes. Just keep in mind that every accident your dog has in the house sets you back in your training that much more, because it reinforces that “going” in the house is an option. …read more
photo courtesy Flickr.com/kristenadams
Before we get started, there are a couple of things we need to get out of the way first:
One – Yes, you CAN housetrain your dog. It takes some commitment, but so does anything that’s worth doing, right? Take a deep breath. I believe in you.
Two – Accept that there WILL be accidents in the house. It’s not the end of the world, it doesn’t mean that you have a bad dog and it doesn’t mean that you are a bad owner.
Okay, so the anti-secret housetraining formula? …read more
