Dog Obedience Training For Your Pet Dog

I have just adopted a second dog and would like to find a good training class to take both of them to. I live in Horfield, Bristol so anything close to there would be great. Thanks.
I was hoping for some recommendations rather than picking one from the internet or yellow pages.

Well after my last post yesterday , I thought I would show you that I DO walk my dog early in the morning.

Here is Gwennie on the trails this morning.

Wow, I just saw this great little article in the Times by the author of the ongoing new puppy story.

There is so much good stuff in this article I really can’t add much.

Have a read and then take your dog out for some playtime.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/garden/24puppy.html

– Post From My iPhone. Dog training on the go.

As a dog trainer, everything comes in waves. It seems like all the sudden I’ll have 20 Viszlas in a row, or 10 standard poodles in a row, or everyone is having the same sort of issue with their dog all the sudden. Well, that’s happening this month for sure.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been getting lots of calls from new and previous clients who are reporting that their dogs are doing odd, out of character things. One of my favorites was a lab mix that decided to eat through the drywall of every corner in the house, down to the studs, while the mom was away at work. In other cases, it’s been things like general destruction of toys, television remotes, underwear, eyeglasses….even plain old going nuts in the house for an hour at a time.

Initially I was a little puzzled with these reports since I knew a number of the dogs quite well. That ended last week when I realized that we’d had 60+ days of above 100 degree temperatures this summer. Then it all came clear. No one is walking their dogs and the poor little guys are going nuts. They have cabin fever.

All this destruction, chewing, general unfocused rambunctiousness is classic behavior for dogs who are not getting enough exercise. They are just trying to burn off all that pent up energy in one way or another and their poor owners are thinking they have suddenly gone nuts. That energy has to go somewhere and for a frustrated lab it’s probably going to squish out around the edges and manifest itself via chewing. Despite my warnings about temperatures previously, we’ve got to find a way to get them outside and moving.

I was really happy to see TONS of people out walking, running, and playing with their dogs on Saturday morning when we had a bit of a cool spell. I was on my bike at 6:30 am and haven’t see that many folks out walking their pups in weeks. The dogs looked happy to be out and getting some quality owner time, and the owners looked relieved to say the least.

Now, I’ll be the first to say “don’t walk you dog when it is 105 degrees out there”, but I’ll also be the first to say “get up earlier in the morning and walk your dog for 45 minutes every day.” The destruction factor will be much less in your house, your sanity will be considerably improved (by your dog being happier, and possibly you as well) with the exercise time.

So, when you call me this week and tell me the tale of what was most recently eaten in your house, the first question I’ll ask you is “how much exercise is the pup getting each morning?” Be ready for the question, and if you tell me less than 30 minutes we’re going to have the dog trainer talk. Always the dog trainer talk about exercising.

And, as a final note, remember the joke dog trainers tell each other when we get together. We say that if everyone walked their dog for an hour every day we’d all be out of a job and working in a call center cube within 72 hours.

Steve Haynes
Fidelio Dog Works

What I want to know is if any normal street or wilderness dog can learn obedience to an acceptable degree, it doesn’t have to be champion on those "best Dog Shows". Also, even if there may not guaranteed, have this happend before?; It maybe puppies better, or perhaps the majority of properly trained dogs are more "houseborn, house raised", but that is not what’s important in my question- what’s important is the answer about the likelyhood that it may happend ( Can it happend, could it be that a street dog become acceptably trained, even if the number of these dogs is less than the number of dogs that are well trained that are already house pets; In other words, can it happend with proper training or is it almost always nearly impossible to train an adult untrained dog to behave acceptably well, and it requires a miracle?); Also, ignore which method should be used, as long if there is a method and not simply a matter of absolute luck without the possibility of Human influences. Thanks

Training cats and dogs to use the litter box or to scratch at the door is simple if you start early. Usually the earlier the pet, the faster they will learn as long as they are weaned from their mother. The best performing dogs and cats have been started early and constantly praised for their efforts. Animals vary in personality so do not fear if the dog or cat doesn’t learn right away. Be patient and loving with your animal. If the pet does not learn after many weeks of training, something could be wrong. It might be a behavioral or medical problem. Check with your animal’s vet if you become concerned.

Kittens can be litter trained any time after 4 weeks. If the kitten is still around its mother, set up a smaller litter box next to the mother’s larger litter box. The cat will learn by watching and eventually start using it as well. If the cat does not have its mother to draw an example from, or it is still not learning to use the little box as it gets older, you have a little more work to do, but do not be alarmed. All animals vary on their learning abilities. Try putting the cat and its litter box in a small room such as a bathroom or laundry room, with food and water. Check every hour to see if the cat has used the box correctly. Do this one more time until the cat has used the litter box again correctly, then praise the cat, and remove its supplies back into the rest of the house. Place the litter box where you would like then show the cat where it is located. Always make sure the litter box is clean because cats have a tendency to not use a litter box if it is constantly dirty. Clean the box once a day in order to avoid this.

Anywhere from 5 to 8 weeks is acceptable to start potty training a puppy. As soon as a puppy can start going outside, do so. Take the dog out after eating, playing, and waking up and show it an area where it is acceptable to go. Also, pay attention to what the puppy does inside. If the puppy is sniffing around the house, take the dog to its spot outside. Pee-pads are also acceptable if you have a very young or small dog, but training a dog to do its business outside is always less messy.

Talk to the dog whenever you take it out. Phrases like “Let’s go outside” or “Let’s go potty” said excitedly will eventually be learned by the dog. When the dog finally does do its business outside, praise him or her immensely. Give the dog treats and a lot of attention. After the dog is potty trained, obedience training can begin via at home or dog training classes at your local humane society or local pet stores like Petsmart or PetCo.

We are going to puppy training classes on Monday and we don’t know what to give her as a treat when at the classes?