Dog Care School

Love and Understand your dog!

First thing you got to do when your puppy reach home...

Do not rush for any dog training before you start to SOCIALIZE your pup!

Dog behavior training skills is very important as this affect you and your dog life. The first dog behavior training skill that your dog need will be socialization skill. And on going socialization is extremely important to prevent dog behavior problems. Socialization is especially important before the age of 6 months, but should also throughout your dog's lifetime.

Do not get shock, without proper socialization skills you pup might be in danger of getting aggression and fearful dog behavior. Lack of socialization can lead to:
1. Hyperactive dog behavior,
2. Excessive Barking,
3. Shyness and
4. Aggression.

The younger you begin socializing your dog, the better dog behavior your dog will have. But all dogs can be gradually brought into new and even initially fearful situations and learn to enjoy them.

Dog Training!

Socialization is a lifelong process. For example, if your dog does not see any dogs for months or years at a time, you would expect his behavior to change around them when he does finally see them again.
How to expose your dog to something new or something he is wary of:
1.Make sure that you remain calm and up-beat and keep his leash loose, if he is wearing one.

2.Expose him gradually to what he is fearful of, never forcing him. Allow him to retreat if he wants too.

3.Reward him for being calm or for exploring the new situation.

Apart from this, there are few more things that I would like to add on for puppy socialization skills. Remember do not rush for all the sit, stay and fetch training as without proper socialization skills your puppy might not be able to undergo adult dog training. This happened because dog born with the natural instinct that they are skeptical towards strangers and will not give any opportunity or chances for human to harm or even touch them. Their natural instinct!

Before SIT-STAY-FETCH! training, you need to start with SOCIALIZATION skills !

Besides physical contact you also need to socialize your puppy by exposing them to sighting, smelling, sounds, people and other dogs. Let your puppy to get used to the environment, teaching or exposing your puppy to pay attention to you especially when you called their name.

I would suggest you to start socialize your puppy by feeding him. Do not place the food in the bowl/kong. Let your puppy to get food from you either sitting or looking at you or coming to you when you called him. This will build the physical contact with your new born puppy. Dog training already starts where your puppy start to listen to you, come to you when you called him.

Apart from that, I will try my best to get all the family members to feed him. This will help him to get rid of the chances of feeling afraid or having separation anxiety when was left with others people when I am not around.

During the first three months try to expose your dog to as much new environment as possible. Bring him to the children playground, shopping mall or garden for every single day. These will help to reduce the chances of him getting afraid when exposed to new environment and increase his ability to adapt to new environment. These will also help to reduce separation anxiety in the future.

I practice crate training for all my dogs. Make sure your puppy will be crate trained and get used to stay comfortably alone without making noise.

Try to expose your dog regularly to all of the things and situations you would like him to be able to cope with calmly in the future. Progress slowly enough so that it is easy for your dog to enjoy the sessions. It will seem like a lot of time to spend at first, but it will pay off with a well-behaved dog behavior! Below are some examples, but is not an exhaustive list:
1.Meeting new people of all types, including children, men, crowds, people wearing hats, disabled, etc.

2.Meeting new dogs (due to disease risk, do not bring your pup to areas with lots of dogs until after 4 months -unless it's a well-run puppy kindergarten). Positive training classes are great for this.

3.Exposure to other pets such as cats, horses, birds.

4.Teach him to enjoy his crate.

5.Riding in the car (be sure to restrain him using a secured crate or dog seatbelt for safety).

6.Being held, touched all over and in different ways, being bathed and groomed.

7.Visiting the veterinarian's office, groomer, daycare, boarding kennel.

8.Exposure to loud noises and strange objects (ex. umbrella opening).

9.Exposure to traffic, motorcycles, bicycles, skateboards, joggers.

10.Getting him used to being left alone for a few hours at a time.

REMEMBER - SOCIALIZATION is not just for FUN!

Socializing your dog is a very important aspect toward having a well-adjusted, well-behaved dog. Of course, it's also usually fun to take your dog for walks, to the park or even for a ride in the car. But even if you don't particularly enjoy taking your dog places, it's still important to get him out of the house, off your property and into the outside world.

Being a well-socialized dog means being your pet should be comfortable with many things in life. In order to avoid behavior problems such as excessive barking, separation anxiety, fear, aggression and many more, your dog should be socialized with people, other dogs, bicycles, joggers, noises, trash cans and as many more things as you can possibly think of.

How does socialization relate to the problems mentioned above?

For example, dogs that are comfortable with people, dogs and bikes are less likely to bark excessively when normal neighborhood happenings occur near your house. Dogs who are thoroughly socialized are far less likely to have confidence-related problems such as separation anxiety, fear or aggression.

When taking your dog out for socialization, it is important to handle situations correctly. Remember that whenever you pet a dog, you're praising a dog. Therefore, if your dog is afraid of something he's seeing, be sure not to pet him while he's acting afraid. Instead of feeling soothed, your pet is likely to feel you are reinforcing his fear, as if you're saying, "Good boy be afraid."

Instead, when your dog acts afraid redirect his behavior to a more relaxed activity such as doing an obedience command, giving paw or playing ball. Then, when he acts more relaxed, that's the appropriate time to pet and praise.

Other ideas for socialization include bringing your dog "out front" when your kids are playing outside, attending a group class, going to dog-related events and more.

By making sure you take your dog out into the world on a regular basis, you can avoid problems and even help solve existing ones. You'll probably also have some fun doing things with your pet and family together! ( Source of article)

DOG-TRAINING-START!

Love and Understand your dog!