Obedience training is probably the best thing you can ever do for yourself and your dog. It should be noted that dog obedience training will not resolve all dog behavior problems. However, it’s a very useful foundation for resolving most of the dog behavior problems you’ll encounter.

Dog obedience training comes in several flavors. The most popular type is basic obedience, where you teach your dog how to sit, stay, fetch and lay down. There is also a more advanced training that can be used for purebred dog on how to behave during a dog show. The basic type of training also has several different methods that are currently popular. Many owners use rewards to get their dogs to behave or listen to commands. Others prefer the clicker method in order to condition their dogs to obey.

Most dog behavior problems can be addressed with proper home training. Obedience training is a commitment by the owner and the dog. You’ll need a lot of patience if you want to be successful at home obedience training. Most dogs behavior problems show-up because the owner fails to set and enforce the rules. Dog obedience training serves to make you the pack leader and teaches your dog to follow your instructions. Once this relationship is established, you and your dog will both enjoy a fruitful partnership.

It’s important to start basic obedience training when your dog is still a puppy. If you don’t train your puppy, you will have a much harder time once all the bad habits have set in. Basic dog obedience is the responsibility of the owner and should probably start with potty training as the first objective. Once that objective is accomplished, you’ll be well on your way to having a happy obedient dog.

Does your dog have a problem with excessive barking, biting and whining? Is your dog overly aggressive? While it’s always best to start training them as a puppy, the good news is it’s never too late to train your dog. If your dog is uncontrollable, then this is going to continue to get even worse. Obedience training can fix your dog’s behavior problems and teach your dog to substitute acceptable behaviors for unacceptable behaviors. Dogs are extremely intelligent and they can learn very quickly.

Once you understand how your dog learns, you can train him to follow basic obedience commands. The primary reason some training sessions fail is because the owner expects his dog to think like a human. These owners try screaming at their dog and doing all kinds of weird behaviors just hoping the dog will eventually listen. Obedience training will allow you to communicate to your dog exactly what your want them to do.

Many dog owners today get so frustrated that they end up hiring a dog trainer. But that’s only partially effective. There are some things your dog just can’t learn from a trainer. That’s because most obedience training actually takes place at home in your day to day dealings with your pet. However, with the proper tools, anyone can have a happy well-behaved pet.

Similar to human babies, puppies should not be left alone unsupervised. Just like babies, puppies are not fully aware of what is the expected protocol and might make mistakes. Do ensure that there is somebody who can be with the puppy to make sure he is monitored. This lessens the frequency of mistakes committed. Time and patience is a natural part of the learning curve. A puppy is not seen to be house-trained until he manages to avoid defecating in the house for at least 4 weeks. Bear in mind that it might take slightly longer if you are training older dogs.

Until then, you should keep a constant vigil over him, set up baby gates to control his movements in the house and confine him to his crate when unsupervised. Take note that if your puppy squats and urinates when he greets you, he may probably suffer from submissive urination. Such dogs are hypersensitive and should not be scolded for this behavior, since punishment only worsens the problem. However, as he grows older, he will no longer do this if you are calm and quiet. Or you could ask him to sit down for a tasty treat till someone greets him.

To prevent your puppy from committing the same mistake, you should remove all urine and fecal odor so that your puppy does not return to the same spot in your house where he made a mess. They have an innate tendency to go back to a spot they visited earlier.

To completely remove the odor, use a good deodorizer for doggy odors. If he urinated on a carpet, saturate it with a cleaning agent. Shut off all those rooms in your house where your puppy has made frequent mistakes. Let him enter here only when accompanied by a family member.

An extra tip to remove urine from carpet is to use black lights to find the exact urine spot to make cleaning more efficient. You can use commercial or create a homemade deodorizer by mixing 50% water and 50% white vinegar. Take note that you should never use ammonia on a urine spot. It will encourage your dog to return to the same spot.

As mention earlier, it is quite natural for a dog to make a mess during the potty training period. This is why you need to be ready to handle these problems.

a. Punishing him only after a mistake has been committed will slow down the speed of training.

b. Be patient. Like any training endeavor, potty training requires a lot of patience. Don’t rub his nose into his mess. This will not teach him not to repeat it and will only end up making him frightened of you.

c. If you catch him while he is in the midst of doing, stop him with a quick grab of his collar and pull him up while making a startling sound, a sharp noise or say “No” using your deep, stern tone loudly. Do this only when you catch him red-handed, but be sure not to be too loud or he will eliminate in front of you or perhaps even outdoors.

d. Then, take him outside and let him finish what he is doing. Lastly, pat him on his head while saying “Good boy!” or praising him. It is important to show your dog praises whenever he does something correct. Giving him food as a reward when he does his business in the appropriate spot can help too.

During potty training, the use of common sense will aid you big time in dealing with your puppy’s housebreaking endeavor. Use your common sense to determine the amount of water given to the dog before his bedtime especially if he is prone to urinating in the middle of the night. It will be useful to try to suit his timing initially before trying to get the dog to adjust to your timing.

Aside from patience and common sense, consistency is also one of the important factors of this dog training activity. If you suddenly forget about the routines yourself, don’t blame if your dog if he starts committing accidents more often.

Remember that the stakes are high

An overweight dog is something many owners should be very aware of especially after the middle age of about 7 years of age (depending on dogs’ size). A dogs weight can seriously put your dogs health at risk and cut their life short as well as causing a unnecessary painful ending.

Dogs tend to be able to eat as much as we choose to feed them at times and feeding your dog till he/she is full is a bad idea at the best of times. A set amount should be given to your dog each day and some notification next to your dogs bowl might help the confusion of who’s fed the dog and who hasn’t.

As your dog becomes older, you will need to check their weight more often as their metabolism will slow down and overeating will become out of control and a problem for your dog. Obviously dogs come in different sizes and shapes so there is not set amount of food that has to be given to your particular breed of dog and a small amount of research or a trip to the vets will be needed to see how much your dog should eat.

Determine the weight of your dog is correct by checking that your dogs’ ribs can be easily felt with little pressure, and are not visibly noticeable. Your dogs’ hips should be easily felt and not are surrounded by too much flesh and fat, and from looking down on your dog the body curves inwards after the rib cage slightly.

If these are all in place then your dog appears to be a healthy weight and this should be maintained throughout their life. Always ensure your dog has plenty of exercise and play time to maintain a healthy dog. If your dog becomes too thin then a vet should be contacted for advice and support as well as if your dog is very overweight.