How to Crate Train a Golden Retriever
A lot of people normally have the wrong conception when it comes to crates. This conception leads people to believe that crates are a punishment for dogs, and therefore they won’t use them. Much to the contrary, crates are actually one of the safest places you can put your Golden Retriever, which also gratifies his natural instincts to situate himself within a den.
If you have a crate and leave it open, your Golden will start to go to it when he gets sleepy or when he gets confused. Although Golden’s tend to like crates, you shouldn’t overuse one by allowing him to spend hours at a time inside of one. While you should be training him to get used to the crate, you should never allow him out if he is barking. Once your Golden starts to appreciate the crate, you can leave him in it for a few hours here and there – such as when you are away from home.
When you get your puppy and bring him home for the first time, you should already your crate there and situated where you want it to be. You should set the crate up in a central area, but never in areas that have a lot of traffic. Most people who use crates tend to leave them in the kitchen near a door, so the Golden can go outside whenever he needs to relieve himself.
Once you bring the puppy home, you should put him inside the house and allow him to start searching for the crate. Leave the door to the crate open, and the Golden puppy should start to wander in and out of it. You can also put a toy or dog treat inside the crate, to give your puppy extra incentive to enter. Once he goes inside praise him, and let him know that he is doing the right thing.
If your Golden Retriever stays in the crate on his own, praise him for it. Once your puppy starts getting in the habit of going into the crate on his own, you should place a new toy or treat inside for him to play with. After a while, you can close the door and see how he reacts. If he starts to whine, you can talk to him and put your fingers through the door, although you should never immediately take him out – instead wait for him to settle down.
Even though it may take some time, crate training is great for your Golden. You can use the crate when you need to leave, when you have family over, or for when your Golden has a medical condition such as diarrhea. If you use a bit of patience and never use the crate for punishment – your Golden Retriever puppy should catch on to the crate pretty quick.
Find tips about bichon yorkie, lemon beagle and other information at the Small Breed Dogs website.
How To Train A Dog Not To Bark
One of the most common questions dog owners are forced to address is how to train a dog not to bark.
Dogs love to bark. It’s a perfectly natural thing for your dog to do, just as it’s normal for
us humans to speak.
It’s when our dogs bark excessively that it becomes a problem for all concerned – including
our neighbours.
Considering this, our goal isn’t to to stop our dogs from barking, but rather how to control the excessive barking.
There are of course situations when we want our dogs to bark (and I guess there are also times when I like my chatty aunty to speak!;)
Training our dogs to stop or at least reduce their barking habit can be a very difficult task.
The first step in modifying this problem is to determine the reason why your dog is barking
in the first place. Once you’ve identified the cause or trigger, you can then plan your
training solution.
Why Do Dogs Bark?
- To express their needs (being bossy).
- Some dogs are bred to bark (some terriers and hounds).
- They are staking out their territory.
- To alert other members of their pack (that’s you and your family) of impending danger.
- When playing, just through sheer excitement.
- Barking at other animals. Depending on where you are in the world, it could be squirrels
or any other small animal.
- If they are isolated.
- Some dogs bark excessively when seperated from their pack (you and your family).
- If they are trapped behind some type of barrier like a fence or window.
- Just for fun!
- To express dominance (puppies normally test you out at some stage with a display of
dominance barking).
- They bark because their owners have inadvertently rewarded excessive barking in the past
(this is crucial to understand).
- Through boredom or a lack of physical and mental stimulation.
- May feel stressed or uncomfortable for some reason. Things like feeling threatened or if
they don’t have an appropriate place to sleep can cause excessive barking problems.
- Dogs that haven’t been properly socialized often become nuisance barkers.
- May be looking for a response or some attention from their pack.
Another thing to keep in mind is that even though it may appear to you that your dog is
barking at nothing, this is not necessarily the case. This is due to the fact that your dog
has a much more acute sense of hearing, smell and sight than us humans. Your dogs excessive barking is probably being triggered by something.
How To Stop Your Dog From Barking
Ok, now we’ve sorted out the reason for your dogs barking problem, we can put some training
techniques in place to control it.
The most important piece of advice to remember when trying to modify any dog behavioral
problem, is to clearly communicate to your dog what is acceptable behavior and what is not.
One of the biggest mistakes us dog owners make is to inadvertently reward our dogs excessive barking. We actually encourage and reinforce the barking problem when we commit these three dog training sins:
- Yell and scream at the dog, this just gives them the attention they were crying out for.
- Let them inside. If your dog is barking his head off outside, then you let him in, this
just rewards the barking.
- If your dog is barking and you react by giving him a comforting cuddle or a treat of some sort, you are definately encouraging your dog to bark again. By doing this you are communicating to your dog that you are happy with him. You should be making it clear that his excessive barking is inappropriate.
Right, lets get stuck into some proven techniques to stop your dog from barking. I’ve listed
the most common reasons why your dog may be barking, and some suggested solutions you can try.
Dog Goes Crazy Every Time The Phone Rings
This is a very common and annoying time for dogs to bark excessively. Try these training
techniques:
- Never yell at your dog.
- Get your dog used to the phone ringing, don’t make it such a big deal. Ring your home number from your cell phone or get a friend to keep calling you. When the phone rings just sit there, don’t say or do a thing. Repeat this process over a few days, your dog will probably continue to bark for a while but will give up before long.
- If you give your dog basic obedience training, behavioral problems such as excessive barking are easily controlled. Your dog looks up to you as their pack leader and is eager to please you in any situation. Teaching the Quiet! or Stop! obedience training command will soon correct nuisance barking problems.
- You may have some success by changing the tone and volume of your ring tone.
Dog Barks When You Are Not Home
I’m not going to pretend this type of barking will be easy for you to control, because in
reality it is often a difficult and lengthy process.
Always remember that dogs are social creatures, when they are seperated from their pack (you) they can become stressed and frustrated. This type of excessive barking is often caused by seperation anxiety.
- Firstly I’d say just use your common sense and get these dog ownership basics right. Keep your dog well exercised (physical and mental) and provide fresh water, chewing toys and a nice comfortable place to sleep. You can also try to block your dogs view of the street or other distractions. Basically, make sure your dog is happy.
- If you know your dog has been barking while you have been away, you must ignore him for a while when you return home. I understand this is difficult for lots of owners, but otherwise your dog believes that his barking is the reason you came back home to him. Just go about your business for a little while when you get home, ignoring your dog. When your dog has settled down, you then initiate contact with him.
- This next method takes time and patience, but can be a very effective way to stop your
dog from barking. It’s based on that important rule applicable to all training situations.
Praise or reward when your dog does something good, create a negative association when he does something bad. Leave the house as you normally would, but just hide somewhere nearby. When your dog starts to bark spray him with water or throw a tin can full of coins or rocks in his direction (this is the negative association). Try to keep out of your dogs sight while doing this if possible. Go and hide again, if he is quiet for a while, go in and reward his good behavior with some praise and maybe a treat. This process may need to be repeated over and over until you have broken the excessive barking habit.
- The above techniques have proven to be successful with my own dogs, but if they don’t
work for you, maybe you could try a Citronella Collar. Again this method uses the power of negative association. Every time your dog barks, a fine mist of citronella is sprayed into the air. Most dogs hate the smell, and soon realise if they don’t bark, the smell isn’t there to bother them. If you have more than one dog this method is not a suitable solution.
Dog Barks For Attention Or To Demand Something
This is one excessive barking problem that can be corrected very quickly.
- If you establish yourself as the pack leader or alpha dog in your owner-dog relationship, this type of barking problem won’t occur. You’ll also form a strong bond with your dog based on trust and respect.
- Another effective method you can try to stop this attention barking is simply ignoring your dog. Your dog will probably become frustrated and bark alot initially, but once he realizes that it is not getting him anywhere, he will stop. This training method can be hard on the ears for a while!
Dog Barks At Passers By
Workers like the Postman and Delivery Driver’s are constantly being barked at throughout their day.
Your dog perceives these type of people as intruders or a threat to their territory. The dog then barks and every time he barks he is rewarded, as the intruder goes away. Your dog is then very pleased that he has averted this threat, which leads him to do it again and again. His behavior is reinforced and therefore this can be a difficult problem to turn around.
- If possible, you could try to block your dogs vision or access to the area where these
people pass by.
- Dog obedience training is the best solution to this type of excessive barking. Once you have your dog properly obedience trained, you will be able to communicate to him that this is unacceptable behavior.
- If your dog consistently barks at a particular person, you may need this person to help
modify your dogs behavior. Just say your dog gets really agitated each time the postman
arrives. Have a chat to your postman and give him some of your dogs very favorite treats. Each time he delivers to your house, he can also deliver a tasty treat to your dog. In your dogs mind the postman goes from being a threat, to a welcome guest.
How To Train A Dog Not To Bark
In extreme cases of excessive barking, where all else has failed, some people advocate
debarking surgery. I’ve never needed to go down this path with any of my dogs, and don’t think I ever would. But if you have come to the end of the line and think you have run out of options, you could discuss debarking surgery with your Veterinarian.
Good luck in trying to control your dog’s excessive barking. If you consistently apply the above training techniques and add a little patience, you should have your dog under control before long.
Discover the right way to train your dog at home.
Dog Training Commands: How to Successfully Train Your Dog to Do Certain Commands
Although dogs are regarded as man’s best friend, the truth still exists that dog needs training to adapt to humans. Dog training commands is necessary for every dog owners to train their dogs to follow simple to complex commands.
Here are some tips to effectively render dog training commands:
Get your dog’s attention; you cannot render dog training commands effectively if you cannot catch your dogs’ attention. No matter how hard you tried if you cannot engage your dog’s attention it would be useless. A slight rubbing on its fur or nape will do the trick.
Get acquainted and know your dog. Dogs like humans have different learning curves. Observe your dog for a few days before starting dog training commands. This will give you hints on the habits that your dog has and how to take advantage of those habits to help you train your dog with ease.
Consistency. Learn how to be consistent with the dog training commands you are about to render. Tone of voice, body movements must be considered when giving dog training commands.
Acknowledge good behaviors. Use reinforcements to acknowledge good behavior. Affirmations and simple praises are enough encouragement for your dog to follow your instructions and to let your dog know that he is doing a good job.
Test your dog. After your dog performed a certain task consistently, use distractions to test if your dog will still follow your instructions.
Dog training commands is one way for you and your dog to communicate effectively. If you succeeded on training your dog, you will indeed win yourself a canine best friend that you and your family can enjoy.
In the event that you have not succeeded in providing an effective dog training commands due to dog behavior problems, do not lose hope because there are experts who can help you to effectively train your dog.
Did you know that you can successfully render dog training commands in the shortest possible time with positive results even if your dog has behavior problems? Put an end to the stress and annoyance of your dog behavior problems and slash your dog obedience training in half by using techniques that give you immediate results visit Dogs’ Corner
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Gerry Restrivera writes informative articles on various subjects including Dog Training Commands: How to Successfully Train Your Dog to Do Certain Commands. You are allowed to publish this article in its entirety provided that author?s name, bio and website links must remain intact and included with every reproduction.
Training Your Golden Retriever Pup – Simple Practical Tips To Train Your New Dog
Teeth Training:
Teeth is probably the most common training tip for Golden Retrievers. These puppies love chewing and will gnaw at anything they can get their mouth
on. Though there are chew toys available in the market just for this, there is an easier way for you to help your golden retriever satisfy its
instinct to chew and also help reduce the pain of new teeth growing.
The easiest way to begin is to fill a sock of yours with many ice cubes. After this, knot the opening of the sock and put it in the freezer. When
your golden puppy starts looking for things to chew, give him this ice cube filled sock. Keep many such ice cube filled socks handy in the freezer.
This will ensure a constant supply of chew toys for your dog. Always be by the side of your dog when it has the sock. Else, it might consume pieces
of the sock leading to serious health concerns.
Leash Training:
Often people leash their dog during training and drag it along the directions they want it to go. This is most certainly not the right way to train
the dog. It gives a bad message to the puppy and makes it dislike being in the leash. A better approach is to first help your puppy get used to the
leash and the collar. Put it on the dog and allow it to move freely in a fenced area dragging the leash along. This makes the pup understand that
leash does not affect it in any way.
Once the dog gets used to having the collar and the leash along with it, pick up the leash and then call the dog over to you. When he does come to
you, praise the pup and pat him or offer him a treat. This shows the pup that it is doing the right thing. Patience must be always at the top of your
emotions since this training can take a long time. Continue praising him when he does the right things and give him more time to get used to the
leash.
Digging around
Digging is another natural instincts of the Golden Retriever and it loves to dig too. This can drive you nuts if you don’t give this pup an area he
can use for himself. He might dig too many holes in your backyard for your liking. Also keeping him indoors can make him claw at the couch or bed or
the floor. You shouldn’t punish a golden retriever for digging since it is their nature.
For giving yourself peace of mind and to help your puppy satisfy its urge to dig, give him some place where he can dig. A kiddie pool or a sandbox is
more than enough. Bury a treat or two under the mud. This will give your retriever clues as to dig in that spot for treats and toys and will use the
same spot every time he feels the urge. When the pup gets older, by means of constant training, you can make him get his habits and natural instincts
under control
You can train your Golden Retriever really well by following the above tips. They are really fascinating dogs, if only you show the some patience.
They have a slower learning curve in spite of their smartness. But once they have learnt the basics, they will become an inseparable part of your
family.
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