If you know you’re going to be getting a puppy, shopping for its needs before you bring him into your home is the ideal situation.  However, I know that for many of us, this is not what happens.  Nevertheless, there are some products you definitely need to pick up for your pup’s first night home.  Here are Magellan’s picks:

Continue reading »

Teaching Your Dog to Lay Down

This is a little more difficult then sit. As always with teaching your dog, rewarding improperly will lead to problems in obedience training.

1. Take your treat and have your dog sit. Give your dog a treat and praise them so they know that this trick gets a reward.

2. Have them focus on the treat and close your hand around the treat. Slowly drop your hand to the ground and have the dog follow it with it’s nose. Say “Down” and the dog should go down while following your hand.

3. If your dog went down and didn’t attack your hand, then reward and praise. If he attacked your hand, say “No” and repeat. The dog should not lunge unnecessarily at your hand, or you might lose a finger or two. Wait until the dog calms down, and try again.

4. If the dog didn’t go down, you need to correct the behavior. Either pull its front paws towards you and lay them down, or pull down on his leash until he’s in the laying down position.

5. A good technique for the smaller dog owner, is to sit down with the dog. Position your legs straight ahead of you and bend the knee closest to your dog upwards. There should be a triangle sized gap under your leg. Entice your dog with the treat so he goes under the leg. While the dog is moving towards the treat, slowly straighten your leg to push your dog into the laying position, while saying “Down.” Reward and praise.

6. As your dog gets better at laying down, reduce the reward frequency and rely just on verbal praising. This will allow you to have him laying down in non-training situations.

What is crate training?

Crate training utilizes a confined small area or crate that your dog learns to associate as their resting/sleeping quarters. The concept behind this is dogs do not like to go where they sleep (or eat). Secondly, confinement allows you to control when and where your dog relieves themselves.

DOs:

• Do praise your puppy immediately after they finish their task. Lavish them with praise–verbal, physical, etc.
• Do immediately take your dog to their bathroom area to relieve themselves after they are released from the crate. In the past, we have utilized leash training with housebreaking, by taking them to their bathroom area on the leash. This helps new puppies get used to the leash, but it also gives you more control–you can direct their attention and bring them straight out to their spot, rather than risk them detouring through your house.
• Do create a schedule. Dogs will react well to schedules, so taking them out at regular intervals helps them learn bladder control and gives you peace of mind.
• Do have a regular feeding schedule. Feeding your dog at the same time each day will better establish the overall routine/schedule you’re trying to set, but it will also help you predict when your dog will need to go out (especially as it gets older).
• Do make sure to ration water at late hours. Puppies and dogs with weaker bladders should not have access to water past a certain time. We have used 7:30PM during the initial housebreaking stages up until we were certain the puppy could handle water later. Even so, we generally cut off water by 9PM.
• Do keep an eye on your puppy or dog at all times. Housebreaking goes very smoothly if you pay attention. Most accidents are really the pet owner’s fault!
• Do take your pup out after it plays. It doesn’t matter if they haven’t recently had any water or food–most young puppies need to relieve themselves after a play session, especially if they’ve been running around.

DON’Ts:

• Don’t confine your dog for extended periods of time. The crate is a great training tool, but it shouldn’t be a way for you to get a few extra hours of sleep when you know your puppy needs to relieve himself. Once a puppy starts to soil the area that he sleeps in, it can be a very difficult road to travel.
• Don’t let your dog out without taking him to his bathroom area. This is often how accidents can occur! Just because your pet doesn’t show you signs that they need to go doesn’t mean they don’t need to.
• Don’t give them a crate that is too big. It is important that the area is small. They should have enough room to rest and sleep comfortably, stand up, turn around, etc., but the point is not to give them a separate area that they can defecate in and not have to sleep in it. We completely empathsize with budget pet owners, and if you purchase a crate for your puppy that’s fit for his adult-size, be sure to block off the excess.
• Don’t punish your pup for making a mistake. Housebreaking is a process, and it is unfair to expect your pup to be perfect right away. It is only when a housebroken dog suddenly starts making mistakes in the house should you be concerned.

Have you used the crate training method to housebreak your dog? How did it go?

Simple obedience can be obtained with a small amount of effort from yourself and your dog. The reward is most beneficial, as you and your dog will maintain a greater bond and can start down a path of more advanced obedience training and the spending of more time together.

Teaching Your Dog to Sit

This is a very simple trick, but can have negative repercussions if the dog is rewarded improperly.

1. As long as your dog isn’t overly spoiled, even a piece of kibble will suffice as a treat. If you give him a toy, a rawhide, or anything to chew on, these opportunities can also be used to train your dog.

2. Take the treat and present it to your dog. Once they are aware of the treat, they may tend to go a bit insane, depending on the temperament of your dog. Do not reward this behavior. Wait until the dog has calmed down, and then proceed with the training.

3. Have your dog focus on the treat and then slowly move it above his head, this should cause him to sit. As you do this, say “Sit” or whatever command you’d like to use for that trick. Any verbal command can be used.

4. If your dog sat, then reward him with the treat and give him praise. Repeat as much as necessary.

5. If your dog didn’t sit, correct the behavior. Push the dog’s behind down into the sitting position and say “Sit.” Repeat the previous steps until dog does sit on command, and reward only when the dog has correctly done the trick. If your dog is large and is hard to get down in the sitting position, try using a leash and pulling upwards. This will normally trigger the dog to sit.

6. As your dog gets better at sitting, reduce the reward frequency and rely on verbal praising. This will allow you to have him sitting in non-training situations.

Quick Tips

Never reward your dog if you ask them to sit, and they not only sit, but go down to the ground as well. You have to make sure the dog distinguishes the two tricks separately and isn’t rewarded when he goes through the motions of your normal trick routine.

Always make sure your dog is calm before obedience training. You don’t want your dog jumping all over you, and lunging at your treat hand. Once your dog is calm, consider rewarding and praising this behavior, so the dog knows it’s encouraged to be calm.