Train Your Dog Guide

Training your dog is an excellent opportunity for you to get to know your partner. Many training approaches can be utilized in this process, but the best methods will always include you, the owner. You might choose to take your four legged friend to a trainer, which usually works well for young puppies and newer pet owners. However, you can also train him yourself, given that there is a plethora of dog training equipment, such as dog training collars, as well as an enormous amount of media available in formats such as videos, books and internet material.

Do some research into the factors that go into a dog’s behavior before you dive into training your dog. Long ago, before the domestication of dogs as pets, they lived and traveled in packs, such as current wolves do. A dog’s instinct goes back to the days of the pack, and a dog will naturally see himself as part of a group always. Even a litter of puppies is a pack in many ways: siblings must fight for their food and battle for their place in the litter’s hierarchy. The problem is, your dog is no longer in a pack: now he is in your home!

Your dog views both you and himself as members of the same pack. In a pack, there will be a leader. In the wild, packs have alpha dogs - both male and female. In the wild, the alpha male and alpha female will pair up, usually. If you have more than one dog, you need to know about alpha behavior, as the alpha dog has the most freedom in the pack. The alpha dog will eat first, sleep where he wants and take what he thinks is his.

Since your dog considers you a part of the pack, training your dog must include the establishment of the alpha pack member, if you don’t want your dog in control this must be you. There are several ways that you can manage this quickly and easily with a puppy, but it may be more difficult with a full grown dog. If you have an aggressive dog it would be beneficial for you to utilize the services of a specialized trainer in behavioral modification.

There are two easy ways of making your alpha status. First, briefly stare at your dog, make eye contact then use the sit command. Only the alpha animal engages in a pattern of staring, and subordinates will always look away. The other technique that you can use is the sit command before feeding, petting, or play, this will help to establish your control.

There are two possibilities: your dog will be submissive to you if you’re the alpha, or you’ll be following your dominant dog if he’s the alpha. Since only you or your dog can be the one in charge, you’ll need to consider whether you’ll be training your dog or whether you’ll be trained by him.

Although you can take your dog to a professional trainer, it is possible to train it yourself. There is a vast array of dog training collars and other dog training equipment available for the person who wishes to train their dog at home. When training your dog, think in terms of how your dog sees the world. To the puppy, you are a fellow pack member, so you must establish yourself as the Alpha dog. To do this, make a practice of getting the dog follow a command before receiving food, play time, or other rewarding attention.

- Craig Mannington