Posts Tagged ‘Training’

How to Stop Puppy Chewing — the Do’s and Don’ts of Dog Training Basics

Tell me, does this describe you?  Puppy chewing is making your dream of having a happy, obedient dog into a nightmare of dog chewing problems as your belongings are shredded into a million little pieces.  Don’t despair.  You can stop puppy chewing by learning some dog training basics. 

You Need To Understand Why Puppies Chew On Things

If you’ve ever been around a human baby, you know that they learn about their surroundings by putting everything in their mouths.  A puppy is no different.  Puppies chew on chair legs, shoes, and whatever they can get hold of.  This is normal behavior, but that doesn’t mean it’s not destructive chewing.

Also like human babies, puppies chew on things because they’re teething.  When a dog chews, endorphins are released.  These chemicals soothe your puppy and make his sore gums feel better.

The Do’s Of Dog Training Basics For Puppies

Puppies don’t automatically outgrow chewing on everything.  It’s up to you as a dog owner to train him to stop puppy chewing on things that don’t belong to him.

You can prevent dog chewing problems by putting things away.  Don’t leave out eyeglasses, shoes, or the tv remote where he can get them.  Put the trash in a closet, and move plants to a safe place.  Pick up throw rugs, socks, and anything else he’s tempted to chew on.

Make furniture and things you can’t move taste bad to your puppy by spraying them with a bitter-tasting substance.  These sprays, available at pet stores, are very effective at stopping destructive chewing.

Provide lots of chew toys.  Only give him two or three at a time so he can learn that they belong to him.  If he starts chewing on something off-limits, say “drop-it” and make a noise to startle him into dropping the object.  Immediately give him one of his chew toys and praise him when he puts it in his mouth.  This teaches him two things; he’s learning the “drop-it” command, and he’s also learning what things he should and should chew on.

Your puppy needs a couple of hours of vigorous exercise every day.  Take him out and play with him.  Don’t miss training opportunities during this play time.  A young puppy can’t concentrate for long, but taking advantage of thirty seconds here and there to work on basic commands lays a good foundation for training. 

Keep an eye on your new friend.  If you’re busy and can’t watch him, put him on his leash and tie it to your belt.  Make sure he has something to play with.  Now he can’t wander off and get into mischief if you turn your back for a minute.

When you leave the house, confine your puppy to one area, either in his crate, or by using a wire-reinforced puppy gate. 

What Not To Do When Dealing With Dog Chewing Problems

Don’t confuse your puppy by giving him old shoes or socks or towels to chew on.  He can’t tell the difference between an old worn out running shoe and the ones you just paid $150 for yesterday.  The boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable things to chew on must be very clear.

Avoid leaving him tied up outside all the time.  Your puppy needs to spend lots of time with you, so he can learn what you expect from him.  He can’t do this if he’s always in a puppy-proof environment.

Unless you catch him the act of destructive chewing, don’t punish him.  He can’t understand that you’re angry about what he did three hours ago.  You might think he’s acting guilty, but what’s really happening is that he’s scared and threatened by you being angry and upset.  The guilty-looking behavior is actually a submissive posture that has nothing to do with being caught misbehaving.

You can see that it’s very easy to do the wrong thing when trying to stop puppy chewing.  The best way to train your puppy correctly is to make the investment in a well-recommended dog training course right now.

Dog Training – Pet Tricks Training

Teaching your pet tricks is easiest when you work with their nature, not against it. Most dogs are eager to please and respond enthusiastically to rewards. Teaching tricks is often as much a matter of simply using those rewards to direct or build on a spontaneous behavior as it is teaching an entirely foreign one.

Watch for spontaneous behavior close to the one desired. A dog will sometimes crawl on its belly for no apparent reason. It may be scratching; it may simply be having fun. If this is a desired trick, watch for the beginnings of the behavior, then be prepared to associate it with a hand gesture and voice command, then reward immediately.

Teaching the basic ’sit’, ‘come’, etc commands are usually simple. A few repetitions with a treat or verbal praise and the dog learns rapidly. Teaching tricks can sometimes be as easy as expanding on the basic behaviors. ‘Come’ can easily be transformed into ‘walk in a circle’. Abbreviate to one word, such as ‘circle’ or ’spin’ for example.

At first it might be helpful to use treats to encourage wanted actions, but don’t overdo it. Diets spoil easily, and ultimately you want the dog to respond to verbal command and praise without food rewards. After the command-behavior pair becomes automatic, treats can be withdrawn.

Favorite toys are a good way to encourage certain tricks. Take a short rope the dog loves to play tug with and encourage a jump by moving it rapidly up and down, just out of reach. Then, after the command-behavior pair is established forgo the rope and just use your hand.

Hide-and-seek is another game easily taught using a favorite bone or chew ball. The dog’s sense of smell is keen not only close up but at surprising distances. Take advantage of it by hiding the toy under a box a few feet away, then lengthen the distance, remove the box to another room or place it up on a table. Proceed in stages.

Dogs’ affection is a useful trick training aid. Many spontaneously want to offer a paw to express themselves. Put the dog in a ’sit’, and then kneel down in front of him. Hold up your own ‘paw’ and give a command ‘five’ (for ‘high five’ or ‘give me five’ or ‘paw’, whatever works).

Sometimes the paw comes up right away, for others you may have to gently pull it up using the voice command at the same time. Praise anyway, once you’re in position. Put the paw back down and try again.

Extending tricks is easy, too. Start with one ‘high five’, and then extend into ’sit pretty’ by taking the paw and lifting gently. The other will often come up spontaneously. Hold both and praise and reward. When sitting at the desk and I want mine to sit pretty, I often pat my chest and up he comes followed by lavish praise.

Training tricks should be fun, both for you and the dog. Other training is for safety, control, discouraging property destruction, etc. Tricks are strictly to give you and your friend something to laugh about. Enjoy!

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Dog Training part IV – Reward and punishment

Most training revolves around giving the dog consequences for his behaviour, in the hope of influencing the behaviour the dog will exhibit in the future. Operant conditioning defines four types of consequences:

Positive reinforcement adds something to the situation to increase the chance of the behaviour being exhibited again (for example, giving a dog a treat when he sits.)

Negative reinforcement removes something from the situation to increase the chance of the behaviour being exhibited again (for example, releasing the tension on an uncomfortable training collar when the dog stops pulling on the leash).

Positive punishment adds something to the situation to decrease the chance of the behaviour being exhibited again (for example, growling at a misbehaving dog).

Negative punishment removes something from the situation to decrease the chance of the behaviour being exhibited again (for example, walking away from a dog who jumps up).

Most modern trainers say that they use “positive training methods”, which is a different meaning of the word “positive” from that in operant conditioning. “Positive training methods” generally means preferring the use of reward-based training to increase good behavior over that of physical punishment to decrease bad behavior. However, a good trainer understands all four methods, whether or not she can put operant-conditioning terminology to them, and applies them as appropriate for the dog, the breed, the handler, and the situation.

Rewards

Positive reinforcers can be anything that the dog finds rewarding – special food treats, the chance to play with a tug toy, social interaction with other dogs, or the owners attention. The more rewarding a dog finds a particular reinforcer, the more work he will be prepared to do in order to obtain the reinforcer.

Some trainers go through a process of teaching a puppy to strongly desire a particular toy, in order to make the toy a more powerful positive reinforcer for good behaviour. This process is called “building prey drive”, and is commonly used in the training of Narcotics Detection and Police Service dogs. The goal is to produce a dog who will work independently for long periods of time.

Some trainers believe that the toy acts as a positive reinforcer for the desired behavior, when in all likelihood the prey drive works on an entirely different level from standard training and conditioning techniques. This is seen most clearly in the fact that, according to the laws of operant conditioning, positive reinforcers lose their effectiveness if they’re given every single time a dog does what is desired of him; the more predictable the reinforcer, the less reliable the behavior. Yet detection dogs only work well when they are always rewarded with a toy, every single time they find drugs or explosives, etc. The reason for this disparity is that when a dog is trained through the prey drive, the training activates an instinctive, automatic sequence that has to be completed in order for the dog to feel satisfied. That sequence is: search, eye-stalk, chase, grab-bite, and kill bite. So when a dog searches and finds drugs or explosives, he feels he hasn’t finished his job unless he can bite something. This is the primary reason he’s always given the toy. It’s not really a positive reinforcer. If it were it would reduce the reliability of the behavior overall. It’s a means of completing the predatory sequence for the dog.

Punishments

“Positive punishment” is probably the consequence that is least used by modern dog trainers, as it must be used very carefully. A dog is generally only given this type of punishment if it is willfully disobeying the owner. Punishing a dog who does not understand what is being asked of him is not only unfair to the dog, but can make the dog a fearful or unwilling worker.

Punishments are administered only as appropriate for the dog’s personality, age, and experience. A sharp No works for many dogs, but some dogs even show signs of fear or anxiety with harsh verbal corrections. On the other hand, certain dogs with ‘harder’ temperaments may ignore a verbal reprimand, and may work best if the reprimand is coupled with a physical punishment such as a quick tug on a training collar. Trainers generally advise keeping hand contact with the dog to positive interactions; if hands are used to threaten or hurt, some dogs may begin to behave defensively when stroked or handled.

Avoiding punishment

Keeping a puppy on a leash in challenging situations or in his crate or pen when not closely supervised prevents the puppy from getting into situations that might otherwise invite an owner’s harsh reaction (such as chewing up a favorite pair of shoes).

Next: Dog Training part V- The command voice

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