What does it mean when a dog barks? The bark is the dog’s word, and it can mean many things. Your dog barks when he is alerting you to an intruder, when he is afraid, when he is playful, and when he is bored. Barking is caused by the presence of stimuli such as strange people, dogs, sights or sounds, the owner’s absence, or as an attention seeking mechanism.

The easiest way to control barking is to socialize your dog to make him comfortable around people, places and things and to instill in him a strong chew toy habit so that he is mentally and physically exercised and occupied. However, just as you would not attempt to completely silence a person, you should not try to completely stop your dog from barking. Your dog just needs to learn some basic bark control such as when to bark and for how long.

Regardless of the reason for your dog barking, your goal is to properly socialize him, to teach him to focus on something other than barking, and to teach him to speak and be quiet on command so you can control when and for how long he barks.

Alarm Barker: Dogs who bark at the presence of intruders can be a valuable asset. It is very ironic that barking dogs are now such a problem in our society when it is also considered as an alarm.

Actually, barking is believed to be one of the main reasons we domesticated dogs in the first place and one of the reasons we live with dogs today. Usually, it is not the barking that is a problem, just that the dog is a little too enthusiastic. Most people want their dogs to let them know when someone has stepped onto the property. Barking only becomes a problem if the dog does not settle afterwards.

Teach your dog to bark and be quiet on cue; thereby having an on/off switch. To implement this training, invite three friends to come over for a speak-and-shush party, and within half an hour you will have a well- trained barker.

Have your dog’s treat on hand. Next, instruct your visitors to knock on the door and reward your dog by saying “thank you”, followed by a treat when he barks. Your dog may look a bit shocked for a moment. After all, he is probably used to being yelled at when he barks. Then, to get him to be quiet, say “shush,” and waggle a piece of treat in front of his nose.

Once he sniffs the food, he will be quiet and so give him the treat as a reward. Repeat this many times, and your dog will become increasingly aware of how much fun it is to speak on request and how rewarding it is to shush on request.

Topics: Basic Obedience Commands | 1 Comment »

Basically, dogs are known for their natural aggressive tendencies and this special trait was predominant when they were roaming in the wild almost thousands of years ago.

However, in today’s situation and when the dogs are used as domestic pets, excessive aggression in them is considered the most serious behavior problem that one must deal sternly with.

Aggression is largely stoppable, if you really understand puppy’s growth pattern, period and many other factors that influence the development of aggressive behavior. Uncontrolled aggression has been shown to result in increasing numbers of dog bites and most of the victims are under the age of 10.

Factors that influence aggression in pet dogs: There are many factors and parameters that play an important role in influencing aggression in dogs. Some of those factors are:

· Genetics and hereditary factors are the most important causative factors that induce excessive aggression in dogs. Some of the police and protection dogs are known to show extreme aggression against humans. Many terriers and hunting dogs are also known to display a wild aggression that needs to be checked properly.

· When you attempt to inbreed dogs, you can introduce characters of unstable temperament, and many hormones can also contribute to aggressive behavior in dogs. Dogs tend to be very aggressive while they are in heat or when females are nursing their puppies.

· Several environmental factors like pathetic living conditions, lack of social contacts, excessive punishments, fear and apprehensions could make your puppy overtly very aggressive. Apart from these factors, dogs may also develop aggression when they are given too much liberties and unwanted praise by the owners.

By birth, dogs are pack animals that follow a fair degree of hierarchy within their groups and this trait is still carried in their blood. One common example is their aggressive tendencies against small children in your home.

Most of the time, dogs consider family members and other people as members of a pack, and they try to establish their own ranking in that particular social pack.

Most of the dogs try to challenge other members of your family by trying to asset their position by challenging the most submissive members of your family. Your dog may also display aggressive tendencies especially when they are eating their food. If you do not try to correct these problems by using behavior correction training methods, your dog will start to assert its supremacy against everyone in your family.

Topics: Dog Training Tips | 1 Comment »

Here are some basic guidelines that apply to almost all problematic situations:

Control your dog to take control of the problem: When you put on a training collar and a lead, it is possible to control the dog with a fair degree of certainty.

When you put on the training tools like a collar on your puppy’s neck, you mean real business. This resolute behavior on your part will help instill a sense of seriousness in the mind of puppy as well. As you lead your puppy on its collar and leash, you can control its potentially bad behavior problem.

How to stay positive? Create an atmosphere of positive energy around your puppy. Try avoiding saying no to your dog; instead provide him enough challenging exercises to enable him to learn very quickly.
 
Positive approach will bring the best out of dog, help him grow self confidence and make him interested in learning new tricks and lessons.

Let the dog be a good doggy!! : More often some dog owners get annoyed to see a dog misbehaving in a particular manner. But, what they do not understand is that, that part of dog behavior is in fact its normal behavior. Avoid scolding the puppy at this critical juncture; instead provide him a separate access to play his tantrum.

But make sure that you don’t provide these facilities at the cost of the overall essence of training. Whenever your puppy shows a wrong behavior which you perceive it to be quite normal, get creative to provide an outlet for expressing that misbehavior.

Let your dog earn what he deserves: Never provide any treats if your puppy is not doing what is being asked by you. Teach your dog to plead “please”, before you offer any praise or treat and make him understand this harsh truth.

Act without ambiguity and be absolutely clear: As an owner, you can really confuse the situation by:

· Frequently changing the commands and orders,
· Repeat the same command over and over again,
· Not knowing exactly what you mean,
· Assuming that your puppy knows everything what you say and mean.

If you’re in doubt do the following:
· Cajole your dog physically to show what you mean,
· Give the exact line of command as per the given situation, so that your puppy will learn relating these events to recognize similar future occurrences.

Topics: Dog Training Tips | 2 Comments »