Training
Puppy Training Advice
Bringing your puppy home for the first time is naturally a happy and exciting occasion, but it can be a little daunting too – there is so much for both you and your puppy to learn!
● Start as you mean to go on. If you are always consistent you will avoid confusing your puppy
● Puppies have a very short attention span so train for short spells on a regular basis
● Keep it short and keep it simple, but most of all keep it fun - puppies respond better to cheerful voice tones rather than to threatening orders. Gentle play builds trust and a strong bond between you and your puppy as well as making training enjoyable
● Patience is the key ingredient in dog training. If you try to rush things you will only get frustrated and confuse your puppy
● Keep it interesting. Cultivate a range of different rewards incorporating play, fuss, praise, treats and toys - this will stop both of you from getting bored
● Make it FUN! If you approach training as a fun game for the both of you to play together rather than a chore that you must get through it will make it not only more enjoyable for you and your pup but also more productive!
A Trained Dog is a Happy Dog
Housetraining aside, there are thousands of things we want to teach our pups so that they can live happy and productive lives in our human world. Skills like good manners, optimism, confidence, calmness, impulse control and social interaction. These are concepts that will allow us to take our dogs with us wherever we want, whenever we want.
We like to think of this training as giving our dogs the how to guide on how to survive and act in our human world. Humans have lots of strange and often apparently conflicting rules, for instance, I can go on the sofa at home, but I cant go on the sofa when I go to their friends house? I can put the squeaky toy in my mouth and play with it but I cant put the squeaky guinea pig in my mouth and play with it? This basic training is a way for us to explain the world we are expecting our pups to live in and is an essential and unavoidable layer of having a puppy and raising a well rounded and polite pet that can deal well with their surroundings and any new situations they come across in their new lives with us.
There are also behaviours that every dog needs to learn, behaviours that could one day save their life.
These essentials might include:
· Reliable Recall
· Emergency Stop/Instant Down
· Leave It
There is no escaping training, it’s not just for those who want to compete in obedience or involve themselves in canine sports, it’s for every dog, and every owner, building a good relationship with your dog and achieving that dream you had when you imagined owning a dog.
Some behaviours we think of that may fit into this category are:
● Responding to its name
● Learning how to greet and behave politely around other people and dogs
● To walk nicely on the lead
● To sit down and stay on command
● To allow itself to be groomed and examined by you and your family
● To allow itself to be examined by a vet
The Number one thing to remember with training is Forget Dominance Theory!
Dominance Theory is simply incorrect; it damages your relationship with your dog and makes problem behaviours WORSE. Always work with positive reinforcement, building concepts and behaviours that create the dog you want. Rather than thinking your dog is trying to dominate you, think what they are unsure of? What are they insecure about? What concept do they need to work on?
Your dog is always doing the best they can with the training and information YOU have given them.
Podcasts
STAS - The Danger of Dominance
STAS - Here's What To Do With a Prong Collar
STAS - Should I use Aversives?
Shaped By Dog - Dominance & Behavior
Training Classes
Most owners can benefit from attending good training classes, and training in the company of other dogs is very useful, because of the realistic distractions it involves. Ideally, you should start your classes as soon as your puppy’s vaccinations are complete, but classes can be invaluable for older dogs too, and continue throughout the dog’s life.
There are lots of schools of thought on dog training and it is naturally important that you find a class and training instructors with the right approach for you and your puppy. Dog training can be lots of fun and very rewarding. After all, a trained dog is a happy dog, and a happy dog makes for a happy owner too.
Before enrolling with a dog training club it can be beneficial to go and visit several classes first (without your puppy) to make sure you have made the right choice.
Things you may wish to consider include:
● Do you like what you see – are the trainers friendly, are people happy and enjoying training their dogs?
● Are the dogs happily focused on their human family?
● Are the instructors giving lots of encouragement and information to all attendees?
● Are the instructors maintaining a controlled, safe environment for all?
● Are instructors treating everyone fairly and meeting the needs of the whole group?
● Are instructors using GAMES & CHOICE BASED, POSITIVE reinforcement training methods?
You can find training classes by using The Kennel Club’s Find a Club service to find a club near you running training classes, or call The Kennel Club on 01269 318540. You can also ask your vet and other dog owners for recommendations.
The Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme
The Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme is the UK’s largest dog training programme, and has been introduced to assist owners in training their dogs to be obedient in everyday situations. It’s simple but effective dog training techniques encompass all the skills necessary for a happy and rewarding partnership with your dog. There are four levels of the scheme, namely Puppy Foundation, Silver, Bronze and Gold. Each level is designed to further develop an owner’s understanding of training, while building a dog’s confidence and levels of obedience. All dogs are eligible to take part, whether they are young or old, pedigree or crossbreed. Over 2000 dog training schools throughout the UK offer our Good Citizen Scheme training courses.
You can search for a Good Citizen Dog Scheme Training School on the UKKC website, however, be sure to do your research on the training school that you find and how they teach and the methods and theories that they teach by.
Make sure that you AVOID any trainers or schools that promote or even mention Dominance, Leadership, Alpha Dogs, or “Pack Mentality”.
The Good Citizen Scheme is a great training programme, however, there are trainers listed on the kennel club website that still train using dominance theory and negative reinforcement. There is a great link in the further reading of this section to a Companion Psychology Article on how to find and choose a GOOD dog trainer.
Doing the work to find the best trainer you can find, that trains and teaches using modern, positive, proven science based theories, will springboard you and your dogs training and give you the very best foundation to excel in everything and anything you put your minds too!
The Kennel Club Accredited Instructors scheme is the UK’s first and only national and verified qualification in dog training and canine behaviour, recognised by City & Guilds. Representing the ‘gold standard’ in teaching, advice and service, members of the scheme abide by a strict Code of Practice designed to ensure that dog owners are provided with the best advice and service. Look for the badge of quality when you are choosing a trainer. You can see which clubs have accredited instructors on The Kennel Club’s Find a Club service.
Online Courses
Absolute Dogs - Sexier Than a Squirrel 28 Day Challenge
A great 28 day course with a new game each day to play with your dog, All based around recall skills and impulse control, important skills for a Saluki to keep their strong prey drive in check. over the 28 days they help you work on building value in proximity and training through games and optimism.
No equipment or previous training experience or knowledge is needed to complete the games and we have personally completed and enjoyed it with all of our dogs.
Susan Garrett - Home School the Dog
This is a fun course that we did with our dogs during the first 2020 lockdown, it explores how to train your dog through games based positive reinforcement with a fun and highly acclaimed instructor.
No equipment or previous training experience or knowledge is needed to complete the games and the course.
YouTube Videos
Absolute Dogs – How to Catch Your Dog after a Walk
Great video on the age old problem of recall and how to build a positive association with recall and going back on a lead for your dog.
Absolute Dogs - Top 5 Recall Tips
Top 5 tips for building a reliable recall in your dogs, this is a potentially lifesaving skill to teach and the time invested is worth every second with your pups.
Absolute Dogs - Calmness Wheel
Calmness is one of the most important things we can teach our dogs, it will hlp tthem to deal with almost every situation we could ever want to put them in, so here is a deep dive into how to promote, train and build calmness in your pup.
Absolute Dogs - The Boomerang Game (Chase)
Video breakdown of the boomerang game, built to harness your dogs inbuilt desire to chase and channel it into a positive form.
Absolute Dogs - Solve Jumping up
Games based fun to help you solve problems of jumping up in your pups.
Absolute Dogs - How to Stop Your Dog From Jumping Up
Games to play with your dog to help them learn not to jump up and when it is and isnt appropriate to jump.
Absolute Dogs - How to Stop Your Dogs From Counter Surfing
Great games to help your pup with impulse control and to help them defy temptation at thekitchen counter.
Absolute Dogs - How to Keep Your Dog Calm When Visitors Come
Calmness is a key concept to build value in with your dogs, it supports your dog in every aspect of their lives in a human world, here is a great video of how to implement this skill with visitors to your home.
Absolute Dogs - How to Stop Your Dog Doing Something Naughty
There are lots of things that your dogs are going to do that aren't going to be exactly desirable, here is how to deal with those moments.
Absolute Dogs - Top Tips for Dogs that Jump Up
Top tips from Tom and Lauren on tackling jumping up.
That Dog Geek - 7 Tips to Toilet Training Your Puppy
Top tips for Housetraining from That Dog Geek
Steve Mann - Loose Lead Walking Progressions
Great progressions for loose lead walking from the creator of the IMDT Steve Mann
Steve Mann - Recall Foundations
Some quick games you can play inside to build up your dogs recall
Steve Mann - How to Teach an Emergency Stop
Emergency Stop is one of the most important things you can possibly teach your dog, it can literally save your dogs life, here is how to start building up your dogs emergency stop positively!
Blogs
Susan Garratt - Understanding the Distraction Intensity Index in Dogs
Brilliant article exploring the importance of understanding our dogs distraction levels in different environments and how to manipulate it to help and progress your training.
Beacon Dog Training - Canine Learning Theory
A brilliant article helping us understand how our pups learn and what makes them do what they do.
Beacon Dog Training - Replacing Bad Behaviours with Good Behaviours
A great article that challenges how we approach training and teaching our dogs. Explaining how to train a positive behaviour to replace a negative one rather than simply try to eliminate problem behaviours.
Beacon Dog Training - Canine Learning Theory
A great article explaining how our dogs learn, why they do "naughty" things and how to use that to teach our dogs positive behaviors by moving the value to the behaviors we do want.
Dogs That - The 3D Model Of Dog Training
Great easy to remember system for teaching and proofing behaviors with your dog.
Dogs That - Inside Scoop On Potty Training Success
Great tips on house training success from one of our favorite trainers Susan Garrett
Susan Garrett - Teaching Puppies
Teaching puppies doesn't have to be some great long list or regimen that is so overwhelming you don't even try, its just about arranging coincidences.
Podcasts