Archive for October, 2009

Dog Training with the Innotek Bark Collar

People love their dogs, but unfortunately, their neighbors don’t love their barking as much. Barking at innapropiate times, like at night, can be corrected with the use of the Innotek Bark Collar.

If you need a training collar for your dog, you can get one of the many models that Innotek produces. If you have a small, medium or a large dog there is a collar to fit. There are two basic types of collars, and both of them come in every size. People prefer the version that can detect the vibrations that barking causes and then deliver a small static discharge to the dog’s neck.

Using a system that has been patented by Innotek, their bark collars can be adjusted so that the intensity of the static shock can be toned up or down. The collar has seven levels of discharge and, when first used, will deliver the lowest level of shock and gradually increase until the barking stops. At this point the collar will automatically set itself so that all future shocks are at the level below the last one delivered. Some Innotek bark collars work with an even wider range of intensity levels.

The use of the collar should be restricted to only around thirty minutes a day, and even so, only at time when barking is inconvenient, such as when people sleep, otherwise, not being allowed to bark can stress your dog.

There’s another kind of Innotek bark collar which uses a spraying device that is activated when the dog barks. The version that uses a static shock is sometimes objected by some people, even though it’s completely harmless. These collars deliver a spray of citrus smell that works exactly like the static shock, that is, they confuse the dog by surprising it and making it wonder what happened.

Every Innotek bark collar comes with a small set of instructions in the package that will let you know how to properly use the collar in a safe way that will eliminate excessive or agressive barking.

Summary: This is just a brief explanation of Innotek collars. It talks a bit about the different types of Innotek collars available. In general, no matter which type you get, you’ll get results.

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The Role of Beagle Training in Shaping Pet Therapy Dogs

 

One very critical tasks any dog can take up is being a Pet Therapy Dog. Overtime, therapy dogs are “absorbed” into the person’s recovery process, whether they are suffering from physical or emotional issues. Sometimes, even the intervention of a therapy dog has resulted to a recovery in the resolve to live by a patient on the verge of refusing treatment! While a variety of animals have been used in pet therapy, it is dogs though that have excelled the most in lending a, er, paw at those who are most in need of help. Pet therapy dogs with beagle training indeed can literally go places!

Years ago, people noticed a real link on the average between dog ownership and being responsible, caring, and being efficient at time management. Not only that, but dog owners were less likely to get affected by loneliness, since every time they bring their pets to out, they get to mingle and socialize with the neighborhood too. Even the mere act of petting the dog has been documented as having a favorable impact on people internal well-being. All these valuable inputs served as the inspiration for the use of canines as therapy dogs for those who have some debilitating physical or emotional issues. In the long run, it can be observed that the therapy dogs aided with Beagle training helped the patients to reclaim or renew their social skills, raise their sense of self-esteem, bring down their anxiety levels, and make needed improvements in their motor skills.

And so, to the beagles. This breed of scent hounds are among those used most often in pet therapy programs. A beagle from a trusted breeder comes to possess a friendly and sociable demeanor more than most dog breeds with the help of Beagle training. Radiating a contagious love of life, the dog is unmistakably interested in everything and everyone, all the time. Beagles have an immense amount of love to give, and they are never timid nor reserved, since they will want to shower affection on the human they are focused on. Their affection for humans and children makes them successes for the long run from children’s hospitals to retirement homes. Its also a plus that their size does not make them anywhere near scary, so even those who are not used to dogs will not feel uncomfortable with them. In fact, one minute with a beagle is all that is needed to hit it off with them!

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Training Your Pet With An Automatic Rechargeable No Bark Collar

After you finish work, you normally arrive home very tired and a bit irritated. The minute you open the door, your loved dog comes and greets you with a wagging tail. However, if your dog gets too excited, it can start barking uncontrollably. If this happens to you, you might feel frustrated by the problem, but you can easily solve it by getting the BC200 automatic rechargeable no bark collar from Innotek.

There’s More To Training Than Love

For those of us who have dogs, we consider ourselves truly blessed, because of the warmth, friendship, and loyalty emanating from them. Nevertheless, once our furry friends start barking in moments where we need peace and quiet, or when we want to sleep, it can be very irritating. Sometimes you can’t even tell why your dog is barking. If this is your case, then the BC200 collar is just what you need.

Reasons to use Innotek’s BC-200

The BC-200 incorporates the features that worked better from its predecessors while adding a few new features. Innotek’s BC-200 has been PetSafe approved, so you shouldn’t worry about the collar being harmful to your dog. It’s light to carry, comfortable to wear, wear resistant, and it has no external settings that the dog can accidentally change or activate. You don’t have to worry about your dog wearing the no bark collar during rain or snow, since it is designed to be water proof. Even in bad weather, the collar will only work when your dog barks. Using modern technology, this collar has been designed in a smaller size than previous models, making it easier to wear. Only now, your dog can really have the collar on for longer, because the BC-200 uses a rechargeable NiMH battery. However, the best thing about the collar is that it really works.

The BC 200 is one of Innotek’s best products. Professionals accept it as a humane way to keep your dog quiet when needed. Give it a try and experience the serenity.

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Finding Work as a Dog Trainer

If you are some one who loves working with dogs, you may want to consider becoming a professional dog trainer. Jobs training dogs are becoming more popular than ever due to the influx of so many celebrity dog training shows on TV. These shows are bringing more awareness to viewers how important having a well trained dog can be to having a well behaved and enjoyable pet dog. Before getting a job training dogs, you need to get the knowledge and experience needed to become a professional dog trainer.

If you are interested, you can check with the Association of Pet Dog trainers and find out more about what it takes to  become a professional dog trainer. This organization provides a lot of useful information about dog training jobs. The A.P.D.T. has information about all the details of becoming a dog trainer. At the A.P.D.T. you can access their Forum for email questions, and also find out about their newsletters and seminars, to learn much more about your new vocation.

You can find a dog trainer training academy specializing in teaching future dog trainers the basics of the business. Besides learning the techniques of dog obedience training, you will also learn how to run a business in a good dog training academy. A good educational program will include courses to teach about the following subjects:

History of Dog Training-During the history course, you will learn the background of dog training-starting in the 19th Century on up through today’s more modern techniques.

Animal Learning-In this section you will learn  all about how dogs understand and learn things, and  various methods  used to train the dogs, such as: positive and negative reinforcement; desensitization; motivations; conditioning emotional responses, habituation and more. You will also learn techniques for behavior modification and about the most effective dog training methods.

Dog Behavior-The dog behavior course teaches you about how dog’s develop their behaviors at different stages of life, characterises dogs may have depending on their breeds, dog body language, hormonal influences and social development and more.

Designing your classes-You will learn how a dog training business is set up and run, and about how to work with your employees and clients.

Business Management-The business management section of the course is designed to educate you on the ins and outs of starting up and running a professional dog training business-and succeeding with it.

At the completion of the courses, you will earn a national certification from the Certification Council For Pet Dog Trainers.

Of course, when you start a business your goal is to be successful and make some money while training dogs. To be successful, you will need to learn how to attract customers in addition to how to set up the training classes. You also should learn how to make the classes interesting and fun for the owners and their pets. One very good way to get started, once you are qualified enough, is by working with a mentor at another dog training academy. By working with a mentor you will gain valuable experience working with dog owners and training their dogs. You also get the benefit of learning how to run a dog training business on a daily basis. Experience like this is very valuable for you to have before opening your own dog training business.

After gaining sufficient enough experience you can then try to open up your own business. One way to get started promoting your new business is to network with Community Groups, Veterinarians, Pet Stores and Animal shelters to get possible leads for customers. Once you have trained some dogs, you can then start to get a lot of customers through word of mouth. If you are interested in a career training dogs, begin by checking out the A.P.D.T. for the basic information that will get you started.

If you want to learn more about how to train your dog, using the very best positive training techniques, please check out the helpful dog obedience training articles at: http://BehaveDoggy.com.

Please click here to read my full review of the best on-line dog training program: Secrets to Dog Training Review.

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House Break Your Puppy Using the Crate Method

Bringing home a new puppy is always an exciting and fun time for the family. The whole family loves playing with the new puppy. Of course, there is one aspect of the new puppy no one likes-the puppy thinks the whole world is his toilet. Crate training puppies is the easiest and best way to deal with the whole house training process. I used to do it the old fashioned newspaper on the floor way (with predictably “crappy” results).The paper on the floor technique was a sloppy way to go about it, but better than nothing. After stepping on a particularly nasty “accident” in the middle of the night that was deviously hidden by the dark, I decided I better look into getting a crate for my puppy.

The crate training method for puppy house training is a system that greatly reduces the number of “accidents” that will most likely happen around the house before your puppy has been thoroughly house trained.  You are asked to keep your new puppy inside his crate all the time unless you are actively supervising him-such as it’s playtime  or dinner time or time for some training. That’s because it seems that if you aren’t actively watching him, that is when he is most likely to leave a puddle or drop a bomb on the carpet.

  • When crate training your puppy, try to keep his crate in the room you are spending most of the day in. If you work in a home office, for instance, place the kennel in the office with you, so your puppy feels more secure.  By being close to the puppy you’ll know when it is time to take him out for relief. Except for potty breaks or when you have a couple hours free for a supervised play time you’ll want to keep him in the crate-don’t let him out just because he is bored and whining .
  • Your puppy will always need to go potty very shortly after waking up from a nice nap, so be alert for when you hear him wake up and make some noises.  He will also need to go within 30 minutes or so after eating or drinking, so don’t put him back into is crate if he has just had a meal until he has first taken care of business.Training him to use the same area you have determined as his spot every time you take him out reinforces the idea of going then and there.
  • It is good to try to create a routine of  eating, playing, exercise and training so the puppy gets plenty of stimulation when he is not in his crate. This way, he’ll take a nice long nap-up to a couple hours, and he won’t be bored in his crate.
  • The key to making the crate training work best for your puppy is to be very consistent with the training. If you aren’t good about keeping him in his crate when unsupervised, accidents are going to happen. You don’t want any accidents at all to happen, because once they do, the puppy will be able to smell that spot even after you have cleaned it up, and may want to revisit it again.  Remember, if your puppy does have an occasional accident, don’t hit him or yell at him. If you do catch him in the act you should firmly say “No”  and try to get him to finish outside in his spot if possible.  Remember, the potty training should always focus on praise and reward for a good job-using the right spot-but don’t get negative if there is an occasional setback. Your results with the crate training method for house breaking your puppy will be best if you really keep to the system.

I found the crate training method worked much better than the old newspaper on the floor technique. Maybe my pup was a quick learner, but within a couple weeks or so, he was house training.  I did lose a little sleep at first if he whined at night, but I made sure the puppy didn’t eat late or drink very much before going to bed for the night, so that wasn’t as big a problem as I would have thought. If you always make the crate seem like a den, rather than a place to put your puppy when you are mad at him, he will have a good attitude about going in there, and you shouldn’t have the whining problem some puppies have when in the crate.

So, if you are about to get or just got  a new puppy you will be smart to use this crate training method for house training your new pet. To learn a lot more about the house training of your puppy, I highly recommend the Ultimate Guide to House Training book. This excellent book gives you a very thorough blueprint on how to overcome the house training hurdles new puppy owners must face(check out my review).The Ultimate House Training Guide Review.

For more free helpful articles about dog obedience training and solving behavior problems, please visit www.BehaveDoggy.com.

 

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Hand Signals for Training Your Dog

Besides using verbal commands while obedience training your dog, you should also learn the dog training hand signals. The dog training hand signals make it possible to command your dog over distance, as long as you are visible to him-even when he can’t hear you. This is how  hunting dogs or agility dogs  are controlled in the field by their handlers. Whatever the handlers need their dog to do can be done through the hand signals even without using verbal commands.

It is best to teach your dog the hand signals at the same time you are teaching the obedience exercises. Any good dog obedience program of dog training class will teach you the various hand signals. You can even make up your own particular hand signals-just make sure to pick one for each exercise and use it consistently.

Dogs learn the hand signal concept very quickly because they naturally tune in very closely to another dog’s body language as part of the way they communicate with each other. If you are beginning your dog’s training now, be sure to utilize the hand signals as part of your training regimen. Even for a dog that has been obedience trained only with verbal commands, the hand signals will help you over distances, so add them to your training now. Get started by using the hand signals to teach the basic steps-sit, down and stay. This way you are following the usual route of obedience training anyway. Teaching these first 3 hand signals to your dog, prepares him for easily learning all the other hand signals.

  • To teach your dog the hand signal that means sit, you should bend your arm at the elbow and quickly raise your hand up to your head’s level, while firmly commanding your dog to sit. Be sure to repeat the same sit hand signal each time you say sit, so your dog can quickly associate the vocal command with the hand signal.
  • To teach the hand signal for the down  position you should hold  your arm out straight from the shoulder and then lower your hand with the  palm facing down towards the floor. Do this at the same moment you command your dog down. Your dog should learn to follow your hand’s movement towards the floor right into the down position.
  • To teach your dog the hand signal to stay, hold your arm straight out towards your dog  with your palm facing up-the same hand position a policeman uses to stop traffic. Hold your hand out like this at the same moment you command your dog to stay.

If your aren’t already training your dog with hand signals, you should start now. It is a good feeling to be able to signal  your dog over a long distance and still have him respond appropriately.

Find the best dog obedience training program for you-click here to read my full review of the very best of the on line dog training programs.

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How to Stop a Dog From Digging

So it seems as though that when your dog is inside he’s great, but when he is outside the destructive habit of digging just takes over.  Some dogs are just attempting to tunnel there way under the fence, while others leave the yard scattered with potholes, all the results from the fruits of their labor.  As to why your dog is digging, it could be that he saw something run into the ground, he is trying to bury a toy or as mentioned above, he is trying to get out.  Some dogs dig because they think that it is a hole lot of fun.  Even though this behavior is part of his instinct, there are ways to stop dog from digging.

Stop the Digging Now

Punishment?

When you set out to stop this bad behavior, it really should not involve any punishment.  The tool of punishment to correct any dog behavioral problems is usually not the most effective tool.  You need to know that your dog is not doing this because he is trying to misbehave, he has no idea that it is wrong, he is just following his instincts.  Instead of punishing your dog,(he won’t no why you’re punishing him anyway) try to figure out WHY he is digging and then begin looking for a way to address it.

Get Your Dog Some Exercise

When some pups start the digging thing it could just be because of boredom.  Digging is a form of activity, so one way to stop dog from digging would be by giving him some more chances at some exercise.  If possible, go out into the yard and throw the ball around with him for 20-minutes or so and if this isn’t possible, go for a walk around the block or check and see if there is a doggie park in your area.  Just try to find something that will relieve his boredom.

Small Animals

If your dog is digging because he is after a small rodent, a prairie dog or a snake then the best way to stop dog from digging in this scenario would be to eliminate the small animal.  Cunsult an expert if you don’t think that you can get rid of the small animal problem but at least try to eliminate this temptatiom.

Stop Dog Digging

It Is Too Hot Outside

When it begins to heat up outside and there is no cool place to go they will just dig themselves a cooler spot.  The best advice I can give you  on how to stop dog from digging in this situation would be to get him a dog house or find him some shade.

Digging is just bad, not only does it make youryard look like a mine field, if your pup should dig himself out he will be putting himself in harms way.  Do your best to find the cause of your dogs digging and then apply some of the above tips to eliminate it.

Good Luck

Stop Dog Digging

  

  

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Socializing Your Shih Tzu With The World Outside

 

Every shih tzu owner will naturally want their pet to be an amiable companion that can handle a variety of social situations. But in any case, the least reason any shih tzu owner can have for getting their shih tzu well-socialized as a puppy ought to be to prevent the fostering of a fear biting response. Some animals simply mature into mistrustful adults due to many experiences of being afraid. Being dogs, they come to deal with all situations with hackles raised and teeth bared since they are too tense to understand.

With the goal of a gentleman and sociable shih tzu in mind, there are countless Shih Tzu training ways and means to helping your dog socialize. To begin with, bring your dog somewhere new or even someplace that is not that new, each day for the first three months since the dog arrived at home. The priority in these adventures are the new smells and new people that the dog gets to meet, and this way the dog gets to accept that new things occur or get encountered daily.

Obviously, your shih tzu will meet dogs that present a reason for anxiety, more than curiosity and positive learning. But the last thing you need to do is to go to your dog’s rescue each time a more imposing dog walks by. Otherwise, your dog learns that it’s alright to be scared at the presence of any larger dog, and that it’s you in charge of protecting it.

In order to have a better control of what may happen, greet the owner of the large dog to have a hint of how friendly they are. If not, you can walk on the other side of the street. Otherwise, allow the dogs to meet and greet as they should.

Moreover, if your dog is coming into contact with other dogs, the best thing is to allow the excitement to pass on its own; there is no need to get overly worried about the noise they create. To dogs, size is not the only determinant of superiority. Shih tzus don’t tend toward dominance, but males will want to throw their weight around. So noise is to be expected, but it is really part and parcel of how they establish order. But for a dog with shitzu training, it’s basically a question of good manners.

But when your shih tzu is meeting rough-and-tumble kids, take even more care than you would! Compared to dogs, children don’t know how much is too much hitting or pulling. Unsupervised visits with children are definitely prohibited. Not that kids and shih tzus can’t hit it off, but children will need thorough explaining.

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