Here are some helpful tips to teach your puppy how to walk on a leash without pulling or tugging:

• Find a comfortable collar or training harness. Do not choose a collar or harness that is too tight or too loose.
• Let your puppy wear the collar or harness around the house until he gets used to it. This may take a few minutes, a few hours, or a few days. But eventually, he will get used to it.
• Hook the leash up to your puppy and let him get used to it also. If he doesn’t seem to be bothered with the leash, he’s ready to go outside to be trained. If he’s afraid of it, try to comfort him, but keep the leash hooked up until he knows the leash is not a bad thing.
• When leash training your puppy, your goal is to keep slack in the leash. If your puppy keeps the leash tight by pulling and tugging, then he’s not properly trained yet.
• The easiest technique is to just start walking. If you puppy starts to tug or pull on the leash, give it a quick little tug, then turn and walk in a different direction.
• When you start to head in the opposite direction, don’t drag him along. Wait for him to catch up. As long as the leash is not tight (the leash is slack) then you can keep walking.
• As soon as the puppy starts to tug or pull at the leash again, give the leash a quick little jerk and turn around again.
• Repeat this process until your puppy understands that he is not taking you for a walk, but you are taking him for a walk.

Puppies and dogs love going for walks, and should be exercised frequently. Walking a dog who is constantly pulling you along is no fun. If you follow these simple tips when your puppy is still young, you and your dog will have countless enjoyable walks for years to come.

It’s important that dog owners do not encourage bad dog behavior. Dogs jumping up on people is one of those behaviors that people often inadvertently encourage. Sure, it’s cute when the dog is still a puppy, but when Fido grows up, the cuteness is gone and the behavior can be annoying or dangerous.

As a responsible dog owner, you must train your dog that jumping up on people is not acceptable behavior. Training your dog while he is still a puppy is obviously best, but even older dogs can learn to behave.

The techniques to teach your puppy or dog to not jump on people are quite simple.

First, when the puppy or dog jumps up on someone, gently place his feet back down to the floor. While he is standing there, praise him for staying down. Never praise him while he is still standing up on the person.

Second, if you’re puppy or adult dog tends to get so excited that he can’t seem to control himself, give him another way to show his excitement besides jumping up. Get down to his level and teach him to shake, or spin around, or something that will let him release some energy.

As with all dog training techniques, the most important thing you can do for your dog is be consistent with your dog training methods. If you have a family of four and you are the only one teaching your dog to not jump on people, he will be getting mixed messages. Everyone in the family must discourage this bad dog behavior, and encourage the expected behavior.

And if all else fails, and your dog absolutely, positively must have a hug… just lay on the floor and give him one. He’ll love you for it.

You might dream of having he best trained dog in the world, but it all begins with house training your dog or puppy. When your dog can let you know that it’s time to relieve himself, you know you’ve done your job. So how do you house train your puppy or dog? Here are 20 helpful tips:

• Be patient with your puppy. Most puppies do not have bladder or bowel control until they are about 6 months old.
• Start house training your puppy as soon early in his life as possible
• Until your puppy know that outside is the expected place to go potty, provide an inside potty area covered with newspaper or some type of absorbent materials. When your puppy soils the paper, always replace it as soon as possible.
• If you can not supervise your puppy, keep him confined to the potty area, which should be a small room completely covered with the newspaper material.
• When your puppy starts to get older, make the newspaper area smaller. He will realize that the newspaper is the area to soil in.
• It’s important to always provide easy access for your puppy to get to the potty area.
• While at home, take your puppy to the potty area often - about every 45 minutes.
• While not at home, keep the puppy confined in his puppy-safe area. Remember, puppies like to chew things, so remove any tempting items from the room.
• When your puppy pees or poops in the designated area, always praise and reward him.
• Establish a regular feeding schedule for your puppy. Do not provide a non-stop supply of food. This will assist in developing regular bowel habits.
• When just beginning, your puppy will not be on a peeing or pooping schedule, so don’t expect him to have one immediately. It takes time. It may even seem like he never stops!
• Consider crate training your puppy.
• Never punish your puppy if he has an accident. This will only make him afraid and he will not understand. Never put your puppies nose in his pee or poop. Sniffing pee and poop is how dogs recognize their scent. Don’t make it a punishment.
• Don’t let your puppy have free reign in your house until he is properly house trained.
• Be consistent with taking your dog outside to pee or poop regularly.
• Eventually, you will be able to remove the paper potty area from your house, and your puppy will understand that outside is the only acceptable place to pee or poop.
• Don’t be discouraged if your puppy seems to be making progress, then seems to suddenly forget what you’ve taught him. Minor setbacks are expected.

Above all, remember that your puppy does not want to make you made by urinating or pooping in your house. If he does, it’s only because he doesn’t understand. As his master and friend, he is expecting you to train him on what is acceptable and what is not.

The Small Dog Breed Photo Contest is running through the end of November, so there is plenty of time to enter.

Here are a few of the [tag]dog Halloween costume[/tag] photos…

Are you looking for a great place to purchase dog Halloween costumes for your dog? Check out this website:
Dog Costumes at CostumeCraze.com

Are you looking for a great place to purchase dog Halloween costumes for your dog? Check out this website:
Dog Costumes at CostumeCraze.com

.

The saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” isn’t actually true, but it’s usually easier to [tag]train a puppy[/tag] than it is to train an old stubborn dog. One reason is that a puppy doesn’t have any bad habits yet. Another reason is that you are starting from scratch, and your [tag]puppy training techniques[/tag] will be the only techniques your dog will learn.

Before you begin attempting to [tag]train a puppy[/tag], keep in mind that puppies are easily distracted, and usually don’t have a long attention span. Most experiences are new experiences for a puppy, so opportunities for distractions are everywhere. Because of this, you should keep your puppy’s training sessions short and rewarding in order to make this new experience a positive “new memory” for your puppy.

It’s important to allow the puppy plenty of time to play and socialize with other puppies and dogs. [tag]Socialization training[/tag] is vital to making your new puppy a good canine citizen, as dog aggression is a growing problem in many areas. A properly socialized dog learns how to play nicely with other dogs, and overly aggressive play is punished by the other dogs in the play group.

Play learning is something that happens among siblings in litters of puppies. When puppies play with each other, they learn what is appropriate and what is not. Inappropriate behavior, such as hard biting or scratching, is punished by the other puppies, by the mother dog, or both.

Unfortunately, many puppies are removed from their mothers and sold or adopted before the puppy has learned to socialize. Play sessions will play an important role in any good puppy training program.

Introducing your puppy to new experiences and new locations is also an important part of puppy training. Teaching your dog to be obedient and responsive, even in the face of many distractions, is very important when training dogs and puppies.

One great way to socialize your puppy both to new people and new dogs is to take it on a trip to your local pet store. Many major pet store chains, and some independent ones as well, allow pet parents to bring their furry children, and these stores can be great places for puppies to get used to new sights, sounds and smells. Of course you will want to make sure the store allows pets before heading over.

It is important for puppy owners to structure their pet’s environment so that the puppy is rewarded for good behaviors and not rewarded for others. One good example of this is jumping on people. Many people inadvertently reward this behavior because it can be cute. While it is true that jumping can be cute for a 10 pound puppy, it will not be so cute when that puppy has grown into a 100 pound dog.

Instead of rewarding the puppy for jumping, try rewarding it for sitting instead. This type of positive reinforcement will result in a well behaved adult dog that is a valued member of both the family and the community at large.

This type of reinforcement can also be used in [tag]potty training the new puppy[/tag]. For instance, teaching a puppy to use a unique surface such as gravel or asphalt is a good technique. The theory is that the puppy will associate this surface with going potty, and therefore be reluctant to use other surfaces (like your kitchen carpet for instance) as a potty.

These are just a few tips for training your new puppy. Please browse our site for additional [tag]dog training techniques[/tag].

I have 2 yorkies. The younger yorkie is an extremely submissive dog. It’s not wrong. It’s just his personality. He knows he is loved and has nothing to worry about, but he wants everyone else to know that he is not a threat. As much as we try to encourage him, he will still hunch down and tinkle when he gets around strangers, or when he is startled.

As much as we’ve tried to correct this behavior, he just won’t change. However, we have learned to control his submissive urination by following these tips.

1. If we know visitors are coming over, we will limit the amount of water he gets before their visit. Of course we don’t let him get too thirsty, but we do keep his drinking to a minimum.
2. We will take him outside prior to their visit so he can pee as much as possible.
3. When the visitors arrive, we take him outside to meet them. If he does urinate, at least it won’t be in the house.
4. We ask our visitors to temporarily ignore him. When we tell them that he might pee on their shoe, they understand immediately.
5. When the visitors are in the house, they understand that they can not hover over our little yorkie. This can seem threatening to submissive dogs if they aren’t comfortable with the person yet.
6. Because our yorkie is comfortable with us, we will hold him while he is introduced to our visitors.
7. We give him plenty of time to get comfortable with our visitors before we let him have free reign. We keep him somewhat confined until he doesn’t feel threatened by our visitors.

Occasionally, he will urinate if he gets startled or overly excited. We never punish him for this, but we do tell him “no” in a firm voice. He is still very young, and the problem is getting less frequent. As he has learned that the urination is not appreciated, it has become less of an issue.

If you’ve tried everything you can think of, and the submissive urination is not getting any better, you should consider consulting a veterinarian. There are medications which can help your submissive puppy or dog relax a little more.

Above all, don’t ever get angry at your dog for his submissive or excited urinating. He really only wants to make you happy, so show him a little mercy.

“Old” is a relative word. What’s old to some dogs is not old to other dogs. Generally speaking, you can [tag]train a dog[/tag] of any age. Sure, [tag]dog training[/tag] might be a little tougher with a dog that’s 8 years old than it is with a dog that’s 3 years old, but it’s probably more of a challenge for the dog’s trainer than it is for the dog.

The fact is, most people get rid of dogs because of [tag]dog obedience[/tag] problems. Every dog needs [tag]basic obedience training[/tag], and if you’re not spending time [tag]training your dog[/tag], even your older dog, your neglecting your responsibility as a pet owner.

So how can you teach an old dog new tricks? With patience and persistence. Without getting into actual [tag]dog training techniques[/tag], let me tell you a story…

A man in North Carolina had a dog for 7 years. The dog had NEVER been inside the man’s house. Never! It just lived outside, roaming the property, sleeping in his dog house for 7 years.

One day, the man died, so the his niece decided to take care of the dog. The dog was a mutt, by the way. She took the dog into her house and after 6 weeks of consistent training the dog was completely housebroken and had learned to sit on command.

If you’re looking for proven [tag]dog training techniques[/tag], click here a complete [tag]dog training guide[/tag].

An ex-neighbor of mine owned a Pit Bull / Labrador Retriever mix a few years ago. She was the sweetest dog… so playful and friendly. But, man, did she like to dig holes in the yard.

When my neighbor moved into their house, their back yard was full of green grass and numerous plants and flowers. After about 6 months, the dog had completely destroyed the plants and flowers, and had scraped up about a third of the grass. Eventually, they came to me for some advice. Together we figured out the best ways (with trial and error) to stop their dog from digging those annoying holes.

[tag]Why do dogs dig holes[/tag]? There are several reasons [tag]why dogs dig[/tag]:

1. The dog is bored.
2. The dog has too much pent up energy.
3. The dog is trying to stay warm or cool.
4. The dog thinks it’s fun.
5. The dog is looking for something.
6. The dog is seeking attention.
7. The dog is trying to escape.

Whatever the reason, here are steps you can take to train your dog not to dig in your yard or garden.

1. Make sure your dog has plenty of exercise. Take him for a walk. Play fetch with him. A dog who gets exercise often will be less likely to dig.
2. Stay involved with your dog. Teach him new tricks (yes, even an old dog can learn new tricks). Keep his mind occupied with things other than digging.
3. Provide plenty of thought provoking toys for your dog, such as a Kong. Again, keep his mind off of digging.
4. Provide an acceptable digging area, such as a sand pit or an area with loose dirt. If you catch your dog digging somewhere inappropriate, move him to the digging area. Place a few toys partially buried in the digging area so your dog learns to dig there.
5. Provide a comfortable shelter for your pet. If your dog tends to lay down in the holes he digs, he is probably trying to warm or cool himself. Give your dog a nice, insulated shelter and plenty of drinking water in a spill-proof dish.
6. If your dog seems to be digging for pests (rodents, bugs, etc.) then call an exterminator to get rid of the pest. It’s not your dog’s fault that the little rodents are tormenting him. Help him out!
7. If your dog is digging at the base of a fence, trying to escape, try burying chicken wire at the base of the fence. Make sure any sharp edges are facing down.
8. Never give your dog attention when he digs. That may be what he’s digging for. If you think he’s digging because he needs more attention, then give him more attention at other times through the day. Dogs are social animals, so don’t ignore them.
9. This might sound gross, but if your dog is consistently digging in one spot and you can’t get him to stop… try putting some his own poo in the hole. Most likely he will leave it alone.
10. If your dog is digging in your garden, install a sprinkler in the digging area. When you catch your dog digging there, turn on the sprinkler. This works best if you can turn on the faucet when your dog isn’t looking. Then you don’t take the blame and your dog won’t identify you as the source of the water.

These are all tips that you can try with your dog. The chicken wire and the digging pit worked for my neighbor. Remember, spend time with your dog and give him plenty of exercise. Those 2 things alone will do wonders when you’re trying to make your dog stop digging holes. Have fun!

First, keep this in mind. The key to teaching your cat to stay off the counters is “negative reinforcement.” Your cat needs to learn that jumping on the counters produces a negative result. Also, you need to realize that cats are natural climbers, so you need to have a cat tree, cat shelves, or something that your cat is allowed to climb onto.

Method 1: Spray Bottle

This method works, but is not the most recommended because you take the chance of your cat associating YOU with the negative results. But here’s how it works…

Keep a water spray bottle handy at all times. Any time the cat jumps onto the counter, give it a quick little squirt (not in the face). The trick is to not let the cat know that the squirt is coming from you because that will just teach him that the negative results only happen when you’re around.

Method 2: Soda Cans On A String

This method also works, but is not recommended as much as method 3. But here’s how it works…

Tie a few empty soda cans together across the edge of the counter. Put a can on one end of the counter, then a string, then another can, then more string, another can, etc. Space the cans every 2 - 3 feet. Tie the string high enough than when the cat jumps up, he will trip the string, pulling the cans over. The noise will scare the cat.

The problem with this technique is that it could scare your cat a little too much, resulting unnecessary anxiety for your cat.

Method 3: Surface Covering

This is my most recommended method. The goal is to create some type of surface on the counter that is uncomfortable for your cat to walk on. You’re not looking to cause pain, just discomfort. The best things to use are double sided tape, upside-down contact paper, or upside-down plastic carpet runners (with the little plastic pokey things).

All you have to do is place the tape, contact paper, or carpet runner on top of the counter. When your cat steps on it, he’ll feel the sticky tape or contact paper, or step on the pokey things on the carpet runner, and realize he doesn’t like the feeling. Within a few days, he should have no interest in jumping on the counter. It works great!

Remember, don’t ever punish your cat for jumping up on things. Instead, practice negative reinforcement to change his behavior. He’ll lose interest in the bad behavior before you know it.

• Buy or build cat scratching posts and place them where your cat is sure to frequent. Different cats like different types of cat scratching posts, so you might need to try several kinds.
• Encourage your cat to use the scratching post by putting catnip on and around it, and reward your cat when he scratches the post.
• Try putting the scratching post next to your cat’s napping area, or bring your cat to the post after a nap. Cats love to stretch and scratch after naps, so make it easy for him.
• NEVER encourage your cat to scratch on old furniture. Your cat doesn’t know the difference between old and new.
• NEVER punish or yell at your cat for scratching or clawing your furniture. This will just teach your cat that he shouldn’t scratch when you’re around and can result in stress and anxiety (which usually results in worse behavior).
• A quick spray from a water bottle isn’t punishment. The trick is to not let your cat know that the spray is coming from you. Hide the bottle and give him a little squirt when he’s not looking at you. He’ll get confused and eventually realize that scratching the furniture results in getting wet. Most cats hate that!
• Consult your vet for alternative scratching solutions.

Scratching and clawing is natural for cats. They do it to sharpen their claws, stretch their muscles, and mark their territory. You can’t take that natural tendency out of a cat. But with proper training, your cat can learn to use the scratching posts, and not scratch or claw your furniture.