Like many passionate dog owners, I’m a big fan of Cesar Millan, aka the Dog Whisperer. An old co-worker of mine was actually on his show and she said the transformation her dog went through was astounding. Now after actually seeing how she trained and treated her dog before she was on the show, I can say that I think it was more a problem in ownership than Cesar’s miracle working. But nonetheless, the man has a great and very effective philosophy when it comes to training dogs.

In his book, Cesar’s Way, he imparts his high philosophy for us starving peon dog owners. It’s very practical and definitely a holistic, owner-centered approach. Cesar firmly believes that there’s no such thing as a bad dog, just bad owners. He espouses his theory that dogs need three fundamental elements in their lives; exercise, discipline and affection. He says that despite what frazzled owners may feel, dogs are not complicated and need simplicity in training. This is so true; so often you see owners pleading and almost negotiating with their dogs thinking that they are “disciplining” them. Then they become frustrated when the dogs don’t respond to their “proposition” for obedience.

I would highly recommend this book for new dog owners. Its not the basic how-to obedience book that some people expect– it goes much deeper than that and will holistically make you a better dog owner, which will result in a better dog and a better life relationship.

If your dog has a strong prey drive, you can actually use this to your advantage in training. Some breeds with low prey drive will find nothing more rewarding and enjoyable than a doggie treat. Some dogs can’t get enough of pats, hugs and rubs of affection from their owners. Not so with high prey drive dogs. They love to chase! Balls, ropes, frisbees are the apple of their eye. This can work to your advantage; treats and pats may be part of every day interaction with you, but using a game of fetch or a tug-of-war rope session to reward and reinforce good behavior can be very effective when training these breeds.

There are several commands you will want your high prey drive dog to know and obey. Above all you want it to know that your commands are more important than the desire to chase. One example that I use is within the game of fetch or tug-of-war. My dog goes absolutely bonkers for tug of war and fetch. But through training, it is able to discipline itself because it knows that I am in control of the game.

With tug of war, I will place the rope on the ground. The dog’s impulse will be to snatch the prey and get the game going! But I say “NO!” and will not participate in the game until she drops it. After you succeed in getting her to wait for you, you can start making moves toward the rope. This will usually result in the dog immediately snatching it up, thinking the game has started. Again, firmly reprimand your dog and refuse to play until she drops it. Gradually continue until you get your dog to the point where it will sit completely still as the rope is placed on the ground and you pick it up in your hand. At that point graciously praise your dog and reward it with a good game of tug-of-war! This is just one way you can use your dog’s high prey drive to actually discipline that very drive!

An important concept to understand as a new dog owner is prey drive. This is a little-known concept that is important to how you decide to train, socialize and discipline your dog.

There are a lot of misconceptions about prey drive. Prey drive is basically an element of your dog’s temperment that influences how they interact and perceive other dogs, small animals, birds, and people. Like most traits of your dog, prey drive is determined by breed and heredity. However, like all things, natural prey drive is not the 100% determinant of your dog’s behavior. It’s very easy to villify or blame certain breeds– pit bulls and rotts come to mind– for having relatively higher prey drives than other dogs. But like all things when it comes to your dog, it comes down to the owner. Proper training and socialization overcomes inherited traits.

So how does prey drive manifest itself? One way is the intensity with which your dog will focus in on an object that it is chasing. For example, some dogs will chase an object with a powerful drive to catch it. This is fine when it’s chasing a ball, but this will also manifest itself in chasing birds, rodents, and– here’s where we have to be careful– other pets and children. See the importance of training prey drive now? We’ll cover training tips next time.

Hand in hand with training your dog to obey you, socialization is one of the most important aspects in raising a dog. With improper or lacking socialization in a dog’s early life, it can be very difficult and even impossible to alter the resulting behavior when it is an adult. That’s not to say that socialization isn’t a continuing process– it is, and needs to be done for a dog at all stages of his life. But for this article we are going to focus on puppy socialization, which is the single biggest factor for determining how your dog will behave around people, other pets, and different social environments.

Generally, the goal of socialization is to give your dog a view of life and the world around him as safe and friendly and not hostile, unpredictable and scary. A wary dog is unpredictable and can turn aggressive when it feels threatened.

The first step to socialization is exposure. You want to guide your pup through as many different environments and encounters with different kinds of people and animals as possible. Be careful where you choose to take them though, and always reassure your pup. Don’t take a young pup to a busy street with all kinds of trauma waiting around the corner like careless bicyclers and loud cars. Traumatizing your dog is only going to make things harder for you.

Next time: specifics of people socialization!

I decided that integrating your puppy into a household with small children deserved its own series of posts, as it is probably the most important issue for those with small children.

One thing that can cause a lot of problems, injuries and bad feelings is when dogs jump on children. Dogs grow quickly and their bodies grow much faster than their maturity and obedience levels! One problem this leads to is large puppies jumping on children and mounting them, which can cause fear and injury to the child. I remember when I sat down next to my German shepherd puppy who was growing fast and she ended up standing on top of me pinning me to the ground! I had to scream to my parents for help. It was very embarrassing.

The thing to remember with all dog training is that you have to get to them early. Even though a small jumping puppy may seem harmless and even cute, you have to think of the consequences when they are older and larger. Even small dogs who jump can be bothersome and destructive; having friends leave with muddy pawprints on their pants is very awkward. Think of it this way: if it’s behavior you don’t want your dog to be doing as an adult, then don’t allow them to do it as a puppy.

Aside from constantly reinforcing that jumping is not allowed with a stern “no jumping!” command, teach your small children to approach the dog from the front, such as stooping to stroke their chest or pat them. Have them avoid reaching their hands down to the dog’s head, because having hands hang over the dog will encourage him to jump!

Next time: Discipline and doggy treats!

First off, to start as a beginner, your dog needs to know his or her name.
If your dog does not know his or her name yet, you can train him to know and learn by calling him or her by the name you have given them and every time you call his or her name, give them a treat. Just 1 treat, not 10.

NOTE: Please make sure they are calm and do not feel nervous in any kind of way (Basically make them feel as comfortable as possible, this way they will learn quicker and will listen carefully since they won’t have a boggled mind).

Second, know what your dogs favorite treat is. If you do not know, please take some time to go to your local pet store to buy a couple treats, I have listed some great treats with lots of great source of vitamins for your dog in my previous post if you scroll down you can see pictures of them. If you know what your dogs favorite treat is, make sure to have a hand full. Please make sure that they do not jump up and go out of control. By this meaning, you can start off with saying “sit” or “down” and with your hand(not the one with the treat in it) push it’s back down while you say it. You may also want to try this way as well, when saying a command such as “sit” or “down” put the treat down as you’re saying it slowly. Do not rush your dog and make them feel nervous.

This is one of my best tricks and commands I have known to teach my dogs and my neighbors…
“Paw” or “Hand”. I wrote in my previous post below that I thought my Bambi how to give me his “paw” when I ask for “hand”. It really is your preference, but make sure you make the decision right away on if you want “paw” or “hand. Here is the way I did it, maybe you can follow it too~

I got his favorite “freezed dried liver treat” and got him to relax by petting him telling him “good boy bambi” and just keep petting them and NOTE: be at their level meaning: sit down when you are petting them to help them relax, if not they will feel like you are a BIG monster of some sort. I would get the bucket and shake it and say “bambi treat?” 3 times in a row. After a week or so, he learned what I meant when I said “bambi treat?” and started shaking the bucket of treats. Secondly, I took one treat out and I would let him see me taking the treat out of the bucket and I would ask him eye to eye (him sitting as well as me sitting) “bambi hand” and I would repeat it about 5 times. Believe me, this takes time, it does not happen over night, if it does then AWESOME! but keep in mind that it will take about a week or two to train them a command. (If you’re dog is smarter, maybe he’ll learn faster HEHE!). Third, I kept repeating the same two steps over and over again every morning, day and night, basically whenever I had the chance and when he finally gave me his paw, I would reward him by telling him “good boy bambi” make sure you say your dogs name after rewarding him to let him know it’s specifically for him/her.

Now I don’t guarantee that this will work for every single dog out there, which is why I mentioned there are probably over 100 or even more ways to teach and train your dog commands and tricks, but I hope it does work and helps you get an idea of how to start as a beginner. Soon I will go more into detail and list more ways to train your dog tricks and commands in later posts.

Thanks for reading! Best of luck to everyone and their lovely and adorable pups!! =D See you all back SOON!

You all at least one time in your mind had the idea probably cross your mind, “How to exercise my pup” no? Well I’ll give you some tips on how to exercise your pup and stay fit with them as well.

Depending on the size of the dog, please scroll to which category you fit into.

X-Small – Small Dogs:
Small dogs do not need vigorous exercising, although they do need daily exercise. For small dogs meaning teacups and toy sized dogs, a good exercise plan would be a good long walk, for half an hour to an hour twice a day even up to three times a day depending on how much time you have as well as depending on the mood of your pup. You can also play with them at home for them to get exercise in their diet. Gather some of their favorite toys and play fetch, or even just roll around with them and get their heart rate up.

Medium Dogs:
Medium dogs need in between a small dog and a large dogs time of exercising in their diet. Twice a day to about three times a day depending on your time and your pups mood will be a great and healthy diet for them. A nice long walk out to the park or quick half an hour jog will do.

Large Dogs:
Large dogs do need more frequent times of exercising and out time then the smaller breeds. You ask why? Well, they are 2-3 times larger in size, meaning larger the heart. The heart needs more activity as the larger the size of the heart is. Larger dogs cannot be sheltered inside a small apartment home. You need at least a backyard where they can run around and not feel like they live in a crate. Larger dogs should be taken out the same amount of times as the smaller breeds, but just for a longer period of time. They need a lot of running as well as movement with their joints.

Now, I hope those were helpful, but mainly obvious tips.
Exercise is healthy of course, it is even healthy for us humans. Without exercise even a human can gain weight, have a lot of stress, tension built up, a lot of fat built around our internal system, and you know the drill. So exercise is really helpful for your dogs health and diet. They will even live a longer life with exercise in their diet.

Many people do have dogs where it is a special situation such as:
The dog does not want to go outside, hates grass, or even just is home bodied.
In this kind of case, I mentioned that you do not need to force them outside. Just take a small toy, or their favorite toy and play with them indoors. Start off slowly with a peek-a-boo tactic, and gradually move foward. Make sure you are in control of their play time, this does not mean let them do whatever they want in the house or outside.

Here is a quick example of indoor exercising for your dog:

So today I am feeling much much better! I’m resting tons and eating very healthy!
so today’s topic is going to be about how to potty train your dog.

First off, no matter what the size is of your dog, it is possible to potty train them.
But yes, it is up to you on how you train them. They are going to need a lot of discipline.

One way of potty training your dog is crate training.
You can get a crate, large enough that they can circle around in the crate.
NOW, crate training comes with a lot of patience, time, and effort.
You cannot expect a dog to learn with a snap of your two fingers.
You must set a time schedule on when you would like to take them out for a potty break.

Example: I set 2 times for my dog to go pee since I am at work during the mid day.
One in the early morning around 7am and another at 7pm, yes that is 12 hours of holding their pee,
but note, that I do put a pee pad inside my dogs room a  14×13 room during the times that I am not home.
Every dog is different, but they can learn how to potty train all the same ways.

Leave them in the crate while you are gone, or in their room and take them out on a leash to go outside for a potty break.  Repeat this twice a day, everyday.

I know some people may be at work all day, or school, so please note to leave a pee pad out.
Pee pad training is not hard, put the pee pad in a corner of his/her room and naturally the pee pad comes manufactured with a scent that dogs know that they need to pee there (on the pad).

If you do not like the pee pad idea, please keep the dogs in a large crate and only let them out when you take them out to take a potty break or when you are home supervising them.

If you would like to keep a water dish out for them to take a sip whenever they would like, you may do so but please understand, that means more frequent potty breaks will be needed unless you put out a pee pad.
Pee pads usually are very good for smaller sized dogs such as a Toy sized dog.

When you take them out twice a day, make sure to take them walking a bit too, and not just for the potty break.  Dogs do need exercise which I will get into more on my next post =).

If you like your dogs to be indoors and never see the light of the day, please put a pee pad out and change it twice a day (or as needed) as well as plenty of clean and fresh water. Naturally, they will learn to pee on the pad. If they don’t, you may want to buy a spray that you spray on the pad itself to help them with their scences to go potty.  You can find it at any local pet store.

Thanks for reading! I will post about exercising your dog and how to have fun while being out with them tomorrow.