Dec 27 2008
TRAINING YOUR DOG (part 1)
Hi,
Having a dog as a kid is not the same as when you decide to have one when you live on your own or with your partner.
There are things you didnt know had to be done for the wellbeing of your pooch that you now have to think about….like making sure your pooch has water all the time!!!
I bought a black labrador from my sister in law’s friend. He was only 6 wks old and maybe he was too young but its done now.
We missed some of the early signs, so my first advice to you is to pay attention. Our dog did ask for the door but we thought he was just sniffing around the place! About 5 minutes later, of course he made a mess.
We took him out then, but it was a bit too late. Nevertheless, he did do his thing outdoors and we praised him as being a good dog.
I didnt know at the time that you’ll get much more from your dog if you praise him and give him goodies instead of say he’s been a very bad boy.
Next, I had a dog trainer come over to show me how to train my dog. According to her, some rules had to be followed (dont follow them, they dont work). She started by telling me that I had to be the boss and let my dog know I was the boss. (BS!!) She had raw hotdog weiners and this is how she’d get him to follow her. I wasnt too keen on feeding my dog raw hotdog weiners.
Then she said you had to set his food bowl on the floor and give him 15 minutes to eat. If he didnt eat in 15 minutes, you take the bowl away. I tried this stupid idea of hers and my poor pooch was emptying his bowl in about 2 minutes…….then he’d throw it all up.
So……forget about dog trainers!!
What I do is find a treat he likes. When he’s a puppy, whenever he does his thing outdoors…..praise him, pet him and give him a treat.
If he does it indoors, just say no…bad boy!! Sometimes Id take his paw and slightly tap it with my finger. It didnt hurt him, but he didnt like the idea of having his paw handled. (he doesnt mind now). After a while, every time Id say he was a bad boy, he’d give me his paw so I could tap it lol.
Now for the food. He knows where I keep his food and when he’s hungry, he sits at the door. I give him his food and leave the bowl out until im positive he’s done. He’ll eat a little, then go walk around, come back and eat some more. ….but he always leaves some food in his bowl. (I throw it away)
Of course, I always have cold FRESH water out for him. I use glass bowl set in a plastic bowl. Why glass……because it washes better than plastic and bacterias wont grow on glass if you wash it. I wash his water bowl at least…..minimum once a day and I always make sure the water in his bowl is fresh….I change the water often in the course of the day.
I’ll post again tomorrow for more dog tricks that work.
