Dog training school

Archive for the ‘Dog School’ Category

You can have a spectacular party for your dog with a few tips on how to set things up and on how to get things done. Planning is the key to getting the party running successfully and knowing beforehand what needs to be done, what you need to buy, who to invite and where to have the party will help to give you and your beloved pet the kind of party that is both fun and memorable.

Why you are celebrating is up to you. It could be your pet’s birthday, graduation from dog school or a doggy shower. Whatever the reason, you will need to plan around that occasion and come up with ideas that will make your pet, your guests, and your guests’ pets enjoy the day immensely.

Start Off with a Motif for Your Doggy Party

Some people may think that any motif will do for a doggy party, but hey, if you are celebrating an occasion for your pet, why not do it the right way? The motif for your pet’s party may depend on the occasion itself. If its a birthday, you may want to put the usual birthday type decorations for your dog’s birthday, although you might want to think more in terms of doggy décor, like bones with ribbons, smaller party hats and such.

If the party is for his doggy school graduation, you can have a graduation style motif for your party. Or if it is a puppy shower, you can have a shower motif, like small baby bottles and hanging mobiles to help give out that baby shower effect for you dog’s puppy shower.

Plan the Location, the Invitations and the Food

Location

Before you can send out invites or even create a food menu for both humans and animals in your party, you may need to look for a suitable venue for your doggy bash. While the most convenient place for such an event may be your backyard, you may need to reconsider the hassle of having so many dogs and humans trampling through your house. Try to consider a park for a picnic-like setting. You can also try to find a venue that allows pets, if you are planning on an indoor affair.

Invitations

When you are thinking of who to invite for your dog’s bash, you may want to consider the people who interact with your dog on a regular basis. You should consider inviting those friends of yours who are dog lovers as well and those who may have pets that your dog has interacted with in the past. You can also invite the dogs that your pet has played with on your walks or from some of the doggy establishments you visit. Try to make sure that you do not have too many dogs coming to your pup’s party since this may result in chaos. Just have enough of your pet’s pals around to really make it a pet event.

Once you know who you plan to invite for your dog’s big day, you may then plan the menu and choose which kinds of food you may want to serve your guests and your pet’s guests. You can also choose the invitations you want for the occasion and send them out as soon as you think it is possible to give people time to prepare for the coming event.

The Menu

When you are considering the food for the party, you might want to think in terms of two menus, one for your human guests and another for your pet’s furry four legged friends. This menu should consist of easy to eat foods since the pet owners you invite will also have to tend to their little ones and having food that is complicated or hard to handle may just cramp the movements of your guests. The menu that your four legged guests will have should consist of the kind of food that they can easily nibble on. There are a few doggy bakeries that specialize in packages like this for such occasions and looking through their menus for what you might want for your doggy guests will indeed help you set things up without a hitch.

Of course, you may want to prepare individual place settings and doggy bowls for your dog’s pals. Having an individual place setting for each canine will help each one get his or her own share of the goodies at the party and may also serve to help avoid chaotic scenarios when feeding time comes around.

Activities

What is a party without a few games? Try to organize a few games that involve both the pets and the owners. These activities may include fetch games, funny games or simple dog and owner games, like races where both owners and pets run to and from a set point in the venue. You can even try to come up with a fashion show contest where the owners dress up their dogs in their nicest togs and have the guests who do not have pets at the party judge who is the best costumed pooch in the venue.

Other activities may involve a simple trick contest. The pup that does the most doggy tricks may win a prize or the pup that performs the most unique trick wins a prize. Of course, you may have to prepare a prize that is suited to the winners and you may even include prizes for the owners too, if you want.

Do not forget to take pictures of the event so that you can look back at it and enjoy reliving the day anytime you want. You can place these photos in a special album with your pet’s face on the front and the date of the party as well as the occasion.

All in all, planning a party for your dog need not be a hassle if you plan way ahead of time. Having all the things you need in place and doing what needs to be done before hand will indeed help your pet enjoy his or her party and will help you enjoy it too.

Understanding what drives your dog can help you teach him more quickly and efficiently.

Similar to humans, dogs have unique personalities and learning styles thus respond differently to various training methods. Whereas one person learns better from seeing, another learns better from touching. Same with doge, some respond better to hand gestures, others to voice commands – techniques that work with one may not work as effectively with others. Therefore, when developing a training program it is important to consider what motivates your dog.

Professional trainers Wendy and Jack Volhard observed how different dogs behave when faced with various stimuli and categorized these behaviors into four distinct drives: prey, pack, fight, and flight drives.

The prey drive is demonstrated through behaviors that mimic hunting and foraging. For example, dogs that seek and chew their toys (or household items), chase moving object, steal food or stalk other animals express a strong prey drive. In order to ensure a dog with a high prey drive is satisfied a handler must present many opportunities for him to employ his instinct to hunt, such as hiding toys/treats for him to find and playing fetch.

Behavior Dog Training Tip: Since dogs with a high prey drive may exhibit aggressive behaviors towards people and other animals, it is important that they be thoroughly socialized – exposing them to as many different people, places and things as possible, at a very early age.

Dogs who need to be around people and enjoy other dogs demonstrate a high Pack drive. Such dogs cry when left alone, initiate play, solicit touch and are attentive to their handler’s voice. Participating in such activities will ensure that your dog feels satisfied.

Behavior Dog Training Tip: The high pack drive dogs require less effort to motivate in that they express a strong desire to please and respond well to enthusiastic praise.

The Fight drive is strong in dogs who maintain their self-confidence in stressful situations. Dogs that exhibit a strong fight drive will not back down when approached by other animals, guards his territory/food and enjoys activities such as tug-of-war.

Behavior Dog Training Tip: In order for any dogs, especially that with a high fight drive, to control their defense drive and properly assess threat, they require ample socialization.

The Flight drive is also a defense drive and indicates a dog’s lack of self-confidence. A dog with high flight drive may hide behind his owner when approached by new people or dogs, is stressed when separated from his owner, lays on his belly when reprimanded or may panic when cornered.

Behavior Dog Training Tip: Dogs with a strong flight drive again need socialization so as to accurately assess and appropriately respond to stressful situations. They also do not respond well to compulsion training which may propagate their fears. Dogs with a high flight drive tend to be nervous and fearful and require an abundance of attention and positive reinforcement.

I hope this article will prompt dog owners to learn more about, what I term, Behavior Dog Training. Discovering what motivates your dog will enable you to manipulate a dog’s inherent drives in order to reinforce appropriate behavior and build a stronger more satisfying relationship.

Dog training is one of the most important things you can do for your pet. It will greatly improve the relationship between you and your dog.

Dog training will give you a means of communicating with your dog. The most obvious way it can help with communication is by teaching your dog to respond to commands. Next time you come across your dog ripping apart your favorite pair of slippers, you will be able to use simple oral commands to stop the destruction. Dog training will also improve communication by allowing your dog to find its place within your household social hierarchy. By teaching your dog to sit and give you its paw, you are telling the dog that you are in charge. When your dog obeys your command, it is recognizing your position.

Dog training can also protect your dog. A dog that has been properly trained won’t go chasing after a bouncing ball into traffic. A dog that has been properly trained won’t take a nip at other dogs or pedestrians when you are out for walks. A dog that has gone through dog training will be a confident dog. You will also be able to give it more freedom to do things like run off the leash when you know it will return on your command.

Finally, dog training can be a fun activity for you and your dog to do together, a time for you to focus all your attention on your dog. It need not be a chore, and it should never resemble an extended punishment.

The most important concept in dog training is the reward. Rewarding your dog with treats is the fastest and most pleasant way for your dog to learn new commands. While punishing your dog has its place in most dog training regimes, it should be used sparingly. If all your dog ever receives is punishments or reprimands, your dog will quickly learn to ignore or avoid you. This will make it extremely hard to properly train your dog.

Dog training should start as early as possible. While you may not see immediate benefits, and many doubt puppy can actually be trained, it will at the very least set the stage for successful dog training later in life. The methods you use to train your dog will seem familiar and a part of its daily routine. This is not to say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks. Just be prepared to put more effort into it than you would with a younger dog, and to always be patient.

While there are many resources available for you to train your dog on your own, the easiest way is to use a dog trainer. You should spend a lot of time picking a dog trainer, however, as bad training techniques could be very damaging to your dog.

Anyone can call himself or herself a dog trainer. It is therefore important to only use a dog trainer that has been glowingly recommended by someone with well-trained dogs, or by a reputable organization such as the ASPCA or other humane societies. And before spending any money, ensure that the dog trainer uses methods you are comfortable with. Visit the facility and see a dog training session in action. If you see any signs of cruelty or hostility by the instructor towards the dogs, find someone else.