- Potty Patch For Dogs
Five Little-Known Secrets To Home-Training A Doberman
by
David Crocombe
There are secrets to dog training? .. Not really, most of it is common sense. However, many people do not know where to start when it comes to dog training.
A friend of mine recently got herself a Doberman puppy, which is about 8 weeks old. The dog will be a fantastic watch-dog and is a beautiful dog.
However, after a few days my friend called me up and said she had a couple of problems that she needed help with.
Firstly, she lives in an apartment and was not sure how to toliet the dog.
Secondly, she did not know how to train him, or even if she should train him? What else should she do?
The first thing I told my friend that she needs to start doing as soon as possible is to start training her doberman.
I recommended that she start crate training him from the beginning. The dog should sleep in the crate every night.
This will get him used to the idea of sleeping in the crate,and reduce the effect of separation anxiety.
The crate is a place that the Doberman may sleep in as he gets older ( obviously my friend would buy a bigger one).
It isn’t just the dog that suffers from seperation anxiety. After buying a crate and putting the puppy in it to sleep, she felt bad and took him out to sleep with her.
This is NOT a good idea. You must be clear in your actions once you do something that involves training. Dogs like this.
You MUST follow through, no matter how bad you feel.
To help with the toilet issue a good idea is to take him for a walk to toilet before bed, and first thing in the morning. If you can’t take him for a walk, then take him outside for toilet instead.
This is an effective form of enforcement. Of course, little puppies need to go toilet quite often, so it is a good idea to buy a large absorbant mat, or mats, that you can put in certain corners of the house or apartment.
Training your dog to use those mats takes dedication on your part.
You need to watch his behavior and when he is acting like he needs to go, pick him up and put him on the mat.
The following is a list of five things that I suggested that my friend do to help her:
The work that goes into owning a puppy can be very stressful. But the results from good training cannot be understimated.
1) Exercise you dog everyday – Puppies have a lot of energy. Regular exercise does two things. Firstly it establishes a routine – so make sure it is always about the same time. Secondly this helps get alot of their energy out and it really does reduce their need to cause trouble at home (i.e. chew stuff).
2) Once he gets a little older, start bringing him to dog parks so that he will become very dog friendly right from the get-go.
The more contact dogs have with other dogs and people the better trained he will be, and there will be less isssues when friends come to visit your apartment.
There is nothing worse than a dog that barks at EVERYTHING
3) Bring small children around him ASAP. This will help him get used to childrens smaller stature, as well as them tugging on his ears/tail, loud sudden noises that children make, etc.
It’s good to get your dogs exposed to all these things early on – before they become an 80lb solid mass of muscle with gigantic sharp teeth!
Pet and touch his food while he is eating it. Over time, your doberman will allow you to take the food bowl away and pet him while he is eating without any resistance.
5) Correct your puppy only at the exact moment he’s done something wrong, not an hour later. That way he will know what to expect from you.
As I mentioned earlier, dogs like boundaries and dont respond well to confusion.
There is no point shouting at him about toilleting on the carpet 1 hour after it has happened.
As soon as he starts to ook for a place to toilet and smell around, put him on a leash and take him outside so that he can relieve himself.
If my friend follows these simple ideas, her Doberman will become a well-trained, extremely sociable dog that will love to be around other dogs, people and small children.
These five suggestions are only a few of the manys that my friend will need to learn when training her doberman.
For more articles and resources on dog training, visit his site => David Crocombe is a dog trainer and owner of a 6 month old puppy.
Article Source:
ArticleRich.com