Raising a Well-Mannered Dog

1. Learn to read your dog. What does your dog do when he wants attention? When he needs to relieve himself? When he's stressed out? What things excite and motivate your dog? Knowing what your dog is trying to tell you, and understanding why he does what he does are powerful training aids.

2. Define desireable behavior. If the way that the dog communicates a need is not desireable, decide what you feel is a more appropriate way for him to express a need. If you don't know what you want your dog to do, you can't teach him to do it. If your dog greets you by jumping on you and snagging your $200 pant suit, how would you prefer they greet you? An alternative greeting might be to sit in front of you. Or you may simply want him to never jump up. Decide this and stick to it... don't make exceptions or you will confuse your dog.

3. Decide on a reward for the desired behavior. Personally I don't like food rewards used by themselves, as you either eventually have to wean the dog from that reward or always have a pocket of liver treats. Food rewards can be useful, however, for creating a positive association with a sound. This method is used in clicker training, which is beyond the scope of this article. It can also be used to endow and word with positive associations for your dog. So that if the word "Good!" doesn't mean anything for you dog, you can say "Good!" while providing a healthy treat for a while, then gradually reduce the frequency of the treat while continuing to use the word "Good!". If your dog already has a fetish for a particular toy, the toy alone can be used as a reward. Toy rewards are common in police dog training.

4. Learn to correct your dog appropriately. Short and sweet is the key. "No" in a firm voice will accomplish much more than a 2 minute tirade, or trying to explain to your dog why shouldn't take your skivvies out of the hamper. All the yelling in the world won't accomplish what one short snap of the leash can, i.e. get your dog's attention. Hitting, harming, with-holding food or water are Never appropriate means of correction for any living thing! For young puppies, "time outs" can be effective. A puppy learns very quickly that biting ends playtime if you immediate crate/pen him at the first nip. Dogs are pack animals, being seperated from the pack, even for a brief time can be powerful negative reinforcement.

5. Start early. If you have a young puppy, it's really never too early to start training. A puppy may not be ready to learn to fetch your slippers and open your beer, but he can learn that chewing on fingers is not good, while chewing on his own toys is good. He can learn his position in your "pack", i.e. that he is on the bottom of the pecking order, meaning that it is *not* ok to take food from your 2 year old child, or off of your dining table, and it is not ok to bite anyone, ever.

6. Keep it short. Sometime around six months (the exact timing is open to discussion), you can start "formal" training sessions with your dog. Your dog will learn much more quickly if you keep your sessions fairly short. A couple of 15 minute training sessions several hours apart will have a much greater impact than one 30 minute training session, as your dog's interest-level will be higher throughout the time spent in training.

7. Be consistent. If you shout your dog off the sofa all morning, then let him up for a cuddle in the afternoon, you can expect him to be on the couch whenever you're not around as well. If you give your dog an old sock to play with, don't be too surprised when he chews up your new ones as well... you can't expect him to know the difference. Either he can play with no socks or he can play with any sock. If you want your dog to sit nicely to greet you, don't invite him to jump up half the time... either he is allowed to all the time, or he's never allowed to. A dog will have a hard time understanding that it's ok sometimes and not others...

8. Give your dog plenty of mental and physical activity. This is especially important if your dog is of one of the working dog breeds, such as Collies, Shepards, or terriers... if you don't give them work to do, they will invent their own 'work'. They may decide that their to-do list while you are at work includes pulling every thread of yarn from the carpet in front of the door. Provide opportunities for them to exercise daily, give them "problems" to solve, e.g. how to get the peanut butter out of a rubber toy designed for hiding treats...

9. Look after your dog's physical health. Your dog's potty problems may be due to physical health issues that need to be addressed. Dietary deficiencies can lead to poor behaviors such as eating feces or soap.

10. Give your dog lots of love! A well-loved, well-bonded dog is going to be much more excited to please you than a dog who is indifferent to your presence. If the only time you pay attention to your dog is when they chew your shoes, he is much more likely to chew your shoes... negative attention is better than no attention.

This list is only meant to outline a good context for dog training. The specific method of training (clicker, etc.) that is best for you and your dog will vary by breed, personality, your ability to commit time to the process.

There are a ton of resources available on the web, and there are professionals who can either train your dog for you or help you learn to be a better training partner for your dog (or both). Most of the pet "super stores" have inexpensive dog training programs, and your vet, groomer or breeder may be able to recommend a dog trainer as well.

Please give serious consideration to spaying or neutering your dog. Not only will this help many dogs to improve their behavior (especially in male dogs), it helps reduce the number of unwanted dogs ending up in shelters and/or being euthanized.