FAQ - Training

Do you have a dog-related question that you cannot find an answer to? Please feel free to email me with your questions, using the "Bug me by E-mail" link on the top right of my blog. Make sure that you include as much information about the problem as possible.


last updated on August 13, 2008


QUESTION
Is it appropriate to swat my dog on the nose? My dog is very active. I've been sick and can't take him on his usual walk, which is escalating his bad behavior. What should I do?

ANSWER
NO. Hitting is never an appropriate way of disciplining a dog.

One, it will confuse him because it does not communicate to him what it is he's doing wrong and what is asked of him. And two, it hurts your relationship. Dog training needs to be based on trust and firm, but fair corrections. Hitting is neither fair nor does it help your dog trust you.

What it sounds like to me is that you have a young dog who has a lot of energy but who isn't getting the appropriate amount of exercise to burn it off. When you are not sick, how often and how long do you walk? Two 45 minute walks should be a daily minimum, in addition to play time (running around off leash, fetching a ball, etc.) and brain time (basic obedience - sit, down, stay for 10 minutes at a time). If he isn't getting that, he's not getting enough exercise.

While you're sick, try thinking of indoor games you can play where he can use his brain and body - toss a ball down the hallway, hide treats around the room, etc.



QUESTION
I just adopted a German Shepherd / Sheltie mix puppy. He is very energentic and just doesn't care if he stomps on my 10 months old son, jumps on him, or pushes him over. Most of the time he just isn't watching where he's going. How can I make him stop?

ANSWER
You have a young dog who is a mix between two very energetic herding breeds, so he is going to have energy to spare - especially at a puppy.

How much exercise is your puppy getting everyday? He should get a fair amount of walking time (45 minutes + twice a day), and, of course, some fun playtime in the yard chasing balls or frisbees to wear him out. Besides that, he needs training to learn when it's time to be calm and behave. A puppy class or basic obedience would be ideal if you are new to dog training, to help get you started with how to train and work with the pups.

What I would do at this point is to keep the energetic pup on a leash so that you can control him around your young son. He has to learn that jumping on your son or walking across him is not acceptable behavior. And, of course, supervise, supervise, supervise. If puppy is getting too hyper and energetic, give him a time out in his crate until he calms down a little.



QUESTION
I have a young puppy and she's whined since the day we brought her home. We figured that once she gets used to her new pack, she'll calm down. Instead, she's getting worse. She whines all the time: when she's eating, playing, going for a walk, even when she's asleep! She's always whining, whimpering, and making other noises. I've tried correcting her but that got tiring because I had to say "Quiet" every couple of minutes. I'm at a loss. Please help!

ANSWER
There are some breeds and some individual dogs that are simply very vocal. I have a German Shepherd and the whining and other sounds GSDs make are a common subject of discussion on our breed forum because GSDs really do make a lot of noises. My dog whines, whimpers, groans, moans, and even makes a kind of purring noise (gurr gurr gurr) when she's getting petted. If your puppy is being noise with herself when she's just doing her thing, playing with her toys, then she may just be the vocal type.

The only real way you can fix this is to make her understand that her vocalizations are not wanted by being very consistent with the quiet command. Give her the command and if she's quiet, even for a few seconds, PRAISE her like nuts and reward her with a treat. Once she understands that the command means for her to be silent and that it will be followed up with a reward, go for longer time periods and then start phasing out the reward. This may take QUITE a bit of doing.



QUESTION
I want to know if those training collars with the spokes are acceptable as an everyday collar?

ANSWER
I'm assuming that you are referring to prong collars? Prong collars are a training/handling tool. They give you the ability to control a large, powerful dog more easily and to issue better corrections to a hard dog who needs harder corrections. Prongs are a great training tool if used by someone who has been shown how to fit and use them correctly. Used by someone who does not know how, they can be dangerous for the dog and useless for your training.

Just like all other kinds of training collars: e-collars, choke chains, head halters, and training harnesses (like the Easy Walk harness), they are designed as a tool that is used when needed for training and for control. They are NOT a substitute for your dog's everyday collar. They are not safe to leave on a dog that is playing with other dogs (like at the dog park), tied out, crated, or left without supervision.

Your everyday collar should be a simple nylon or leather slip or buckle collar.



QUESTION
Should I crate train my new puppy even though my adult dog is sleeping in bed with me? I have an older dog, Abby, who is a year and a half old. She was difficult to crate train but now can be crated just fine. I don't crate her at night, she sleeps with me. I am getting another Labrador in three weeks. I've made sure that the breeder is crate training the pup I'm getting, but should I crate the new puppy at night?

ANSWER
I would definitely crate train the new puppy, and I think it's wonderful that your (responsible!) breeder is starting this with your pup before you even get him. As you've found out with Abby, crate training at a later age can be difficult. You will also find that crate training is very helpful - it protects your belongings and your puppy when you are not around to supervise, such as when you're at work or when you're sleeping. It also makes potty training a whole lot easier.

There's nothing wrong requiring one dog to sleep in a crate while the other is allowed loose, especially when you're bringing a new dog into the home. Crate training helps your puppy learn how your pack works, and it also gives him a "safe place" to go, now and for years to come - when you travel, for example. Just note that he will not be able to hold it the whole night when you bring him home at only 2 months. He cannot hold it more than 3 hours at a time.



QUESTION
How do I stop my dog's fear aggression toward other dogs? She is 1 year old now and the exposure to other friendly dogs at the local dog park isn't working. I've taken her there since getting her, three times a week, but she is still afraid of other dogs.

ANSWER
First, and I cannot say this loudly enough, stop taking your dog to the dog park immediately. There are two reasons for this: Reason number one, your dog is fear aggressive and you know she is fear aggressive. An aggressive dog has absolutely no business at the dog park, regardless of the reason for the aggression. Reason number two, you're forcing her into a very uncomfortable situation to which you know she will react aggressively. You're making the problem worse because she has no way of getting you to understand she does not want to be around them except to act aggressively.

What you should do is enroll yourself and your dog into a positive training class to learn how to handle her and so that she can learn to be relaxed around other dogs - dogs who are leashed and won't threaten or mob her, causing her to act aggressively. You absolutely need to work with a competent trainer on this. Start by going to the APDT website and looking for a trainer in your area.



QUESTION
I have a German Shepherd who is now 4 months old and I have several small children. How can I make my dog be protective of my children?

ANSWER
At only 4 months old, your German Shepherd is just a little baby himself. You cannot expect any kind of protective behavior from him at this age, and most likely you will not start to see his proper adult, mature personality in terms of protection and temperament until he is past his teenage stage, about 2 years old.

What you can do now in order to ensure that your puppy will be your protector when he is grown up is to involve the dog in many of your family's activities. The main thing that makes a dog protective is making the dog care about his "pack" (his family) and making them worth protecting. For example, if a dog is always kept outside and without human contact, he cannot be expected to protect his pack. He doesn't have a pack. He has only himself and a yard. A good family dog will usually be a good protector if there is a need.

It is also important that if you truly want this dog to be a protection dog, he must be trained to do this, not just expected to do it naturally because he is a German Shepherd. All breeds, even dogs that are naturally protective, have to be trained to actually be protective if you want them to act as protection dogs.



QUESTION
What is the best age to start training a new puppy? I got my dog a week ago. She's nine months old and she's my first dog.

ANSWER
As soon as you bring her home. Even though the old saying goes, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks", in reality you can start training a dog at any age - if the dog is nine weeks, nine months, or nine years old.

Even if you bring home a very young puppy, training and working on wanted behaviors starts immediately after the dog comes home with you. You would start teaching the dog to recognize her name and get her used to a set schedule of when you go outside, when she's fed, when it's time for walks and when it's time for bed time. Even playtime can be training - you're teaching her what she can and cannot play with, not to bite your hands, and rules for your games (such as, when you bite me, the game ends).

Formal training, such as sit, down, and come, can be started at a very young age as well. It's never too early to "shape" behaviors using positive rewards. Many puppy classes now start at relatively young ages, such as 10 weeks or older. I recommend against those. You will want to make sure your pup has had all her puppy shots and had some time for the immunities to develop before putting her in an environment with a lot of other dogs. You can start puppy socialization classes (which are more about pups interacting than training) around 5 months.



QUESTION
When everyone's asleep at night, our dog likes to get up onto the ottoman and sleep there. He's too big and he's damaging the ottoman. How do we get him to keep off?

ANSWER
Dogs are very smart creatures and they certainly know that when we're not looking - whether it's because we're asleep or not home - they can get away with doing things they're not ordinarily allowed.

There are a couple of different things that you could try to discourage him from laying on the ottoman. Try placing sheets of tin foil across the top of the ottoman before you go to bed. Most dogs don't like the sound or feel of it and it'll keep him off. Putting other items on it may work as well. Something that will startle him (giving him a negative association with the ottoman) is a solution, too - like a can filled with pennies, which will make a loud noise when he knocks it over.

Personally, I would prefer to give the dog a proper place to spend the night, such as a crate or a nice dog bed in a room sectioned off by a gate so that he doesn't have run of the house.



QUESTION
How do I correct my dog's nervous peeing habit? My dog is a Pit Bull and Boxer mix. When I adopted her, the rescue said that she was afraid of big men and that she would pee around them. My future husband is only 130lbs and he's the only male she is around. Yet she pees everywhere, especially when I try to correct her. I love her a lot but if I can't fix this, she'll have to go.

ANSWER
You have to understand the mechanics behind submissive urination in order to fix the problem. This is not something that can be fixed by correcting her - as a matter of fact, correcting or punishing her for peeing is just going to make the behavior worse, not better.

When a dog submissively urinates, it's the dog's way of saying, "You are the supreme master and look, I'm being good and submissive. There's no reason to threaten me or be mean. I'm submissive already." Never correct a dog for peeing submissively. Make no fuss at all, just quietly clean it up.

With a dog like that, it's absolutely important that you and your fiance are very aware of your body posture and tone of voice. Do not lean over her, stare into her eyes, pet on top of the head. All of those are very threatening to a submissive dog. To interact, speak with a happy voice, squat down leaning away from her, eyes half closed. That is a very non-threatening position. Yawn as a calming signal, gently lick your lips. Let her approach on her terms and praise and reward her for good behavior.



QUESTION
We have a large property which borders onto public land on one side. There's a trail there that leads to a forest and there's a couple who walk their (leashed) dog along the trail and to the woods about four times a day. We don't have a fenced in yard and our dog goes ballistic every time he sees their dog.

The dogs met one day because our dog was outside when they were walking by. Our dog is friendly so he trotted over to the other dog. Then their dog got mad and tried to bite ours. It turned into an all-out fight. The dogs are now vicious toward each other and we always have to keep a lookout for the other dog. It's a pain having to do that. It's also very annoying because of Jake's barking.

ANSWER
As long as the couple's dog is leashed, the answer is very simple: the problem is on your end, not theirs. They are walking their dog on a leash while your dog is off-leash. Even on your own property, it is your responsibility to have your dog under control, either by means of a fence, a leash, or good voice control (an absolutely solid "come" or "down").

Letting Jake trot up to the other dog who was leashed was inappropriate. Many owners see nothing wrong with this, but it places the leashed dog in a defensive posture, and not all dogs are friendly. Not all owners like strange dogs to run up to their dog, either, even if they are supposedly friendly with other dogs.

You only really have two options of fixing this problem: one, fence your property - either with a physical fence or an e-fence. Two, keep Jake on a leash or long line when he is outside. And you should teach a reliable "quiet" to stop the barking.



QUESTION
My dog Lily barks every time she goes out in the yard and my other dog, Bear, is now starting to pick up on the habit. Do Citronella no-bark collars work? I am considering getting one to fix the problem.

ANSWER
Your first choice to controlling barking should always be training, not devices. In most dogs, you can find a reason for the barking and then a way of changing the behavior. Since Lily barks when she is out in the yard, ask yourself why she is barking and what she is barking at. Are there people within sight? Other dogs? Small animals? Is she outside alone? Could she be bored?

The first thing to do to correct this is always be outside when Lily is. If she barks, say loudly - "No Barking" or "Quiet". As soon as she looks at you (and stops), praise her and reward her.

In my opinion, the Citronella collars are a waste of time and money in terms of solving a barking problem. Most dogs are not deterred by the smell and some dogs actually like it. If you have to go to a device, purchase a quality-made electronic no-bark collar and make sure to read the instructions thoroughly. The ones they sell at the pet store are mostly ineffective. Instead, go to a working K9 supplier like Ray Allen or Elite K9 for a quality one.



QUESTION
I have a Dalmatian and Labrador Mix. He's an 11 months old puppy and loves to play tug-of-war with my daughter. How can I stop this behavior?

ANSWER
There is nothing wrong with playing tug-of-war with your dog as long as the human is in charge of the game. That means, the human decides when the game starts and when the game ends, as well as which behaviors during the game are and aren't acceptable. If growling during the game is unacceptable to you, stop the game.

As long as you play tug with "rules" and remain in charge of the game, it's fun for both you and your dog. You can also use it to teach reliable commands for "take it" and "out" or make the tug a motivational reward in training.



QUESTION
How do I train my 10 months old Pit Bull not to chew on everything? I have a crate and that works, but will he grow out of this behavior or is there anything I can do to train him not to chew?

ANSWER
Teaching a puppy not to chew and teaching a puppy not to chew when you're not home are essentially two different things. The first is easier. If you catch him, tell him no and offer him something appropriate to chew on, such as a toy or treat.

The second is harder because of the way dogs "work". Dogs are pack animals. When you're home, you make the decisions and control what he gets to play with and what he gets to chew on. When you're not home, he's in the position where he has to make his own choices. There's no leader there to take over and tell him what he can and cannot do, so he might make bad decisions, such as chewing on things he isn't allowed.

If crating works for you, please stick with it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with crating a dog when you're out, as long as your dog gets enough exercise and attention normally. It's also much safer for a dog that chews to be crated than to be loose in the house, for obvious reasons.



QUESTION
My puppy is 4 months old. He is so intelligent at all kinds of tricks, but when we take him outside or if he gets a hold of something we can't get him to come when we call. He thinks it's play, but it scares us because we are worried he will run out the door into the road. We have tried being stern, using treats, everything. He will not listen. Any suggestions?

ANSWER
A long line (also known as a tracking leash) is an indispensable tool when it comes to training a reliable recall. Long lines are available in various lengths, such as 30' and 50', and various materials such as cotton, leather, and synthetics. I prefer them to be very light so that puppy can drag it around without being hindered by it - gives him more of a feeling that he's running loose.

The long line needs to be used together with some really good training rewards. Whenever you train a new command, start with a high value reward, something your dog really really loves. It doesn't have to be food, it can also be a toy or tug.

Take your puppy outside on the long line and let him run, then call him while showing him the reward. You can squat down and clap your hands to get him interested. As soon as he comes, praise and reward. If he does not, reel him in, then praise and reward in the same manner as if he'd just come on his own. That way he learns that coming is a positive thing and he will be rewarded for it. Never punish him after reeling him in if he did not come by himself.

Practice this at home and in distracting environments like the park to really get a reliable recall.



QUESTION
My dog likes to chase deer. Unfortunately, it's getting very close to deer season. There have been a lot of people hunting on our property even though it is marked "no trespassing". My dog does not have a good recall and will take off after the deer if she sees them. I'm worried she might get shot by a hunter. How can I keep her from chasing the deer?

ANSWER
There are some dogs that have an extremely high prey drive and will chase deer, squirrels, and any other kind of critter that will run from them. A dog with enough prey drive will go straight through an electronic fence. Most dogs even with moderate prey drive will not recall once they go into drive, no matter how good their recall is ordinarily.

The safest thing to do with Angel would be to keep her leashed at all times unless she is in an area enclosed by fencing where she can safely be off-lead without taking off into the woods. Keeping your dog leashed does not necessarily have to mean using a 6ft standard leash. You can order long lines, also known as tracking lines, in lengths of 30' to 50', sometimes even longer, which will allow you to give your dog room to stretch her legs but will keep her under control.



QUESTION
How do I stop my dog from digging in the yard?

ANSWER
That really depends on why your dog is digging. There are some dogs who really just like to dig and will take any opportunity to do so. And then there are dogs that dig because they are bored or because they are not getting enough exercise.

If your dog spends a lot of time outside unsupervised, such as in a fenced yard or dog run, then boredom and lack of exercise may be your premier cause. In that case, I would seriously rethink your daily schedule to fit in more organized exercise (leashed walks!), and also leave him things to do when he's outside - toys, hidden treats, puzzle balls (a kind of toy he has to move around to get treats out of).

If your dog digs when you're with him because he just likes to dig, keep him on a leash or long line and correct him immediately every time he starts by giving a leash correction and telling him "No digging!", then offering something else to do (do an obedience command, start a game of fetch, etc.)



QUESTION
How do you teach a dog to walk on a leash?

ANSWER
Cut up a whole bunch of treats into teeny little pieces, grab your leash, and work on heeling in 10 to 15 min sessions. Start with your pup next to you, holding the leash pretty short. Tell her "HEEL". Praise her for being in the "heel" position. Say "heel" and start walking. Reward her if she looks at you when you say "heel" or say her name.

If she starts to forge ahead, begins to sniff, or tries to go a different way, gently tug the lead back and say, "Princess - Heel!" As soon as she looks at you or slows, praise and treat. If she continues to do what she's doing, YOU become a POST. Meaning, you don't move at all. From the post position, as soon as she looks at you, praise her for looking, then tell her "heel" and gently reel her back on the lead and put her in the heel position. Praise her. Tell her "heel" as you start off. Praise and reward her for heeling.



QUESTION
Is there any way to keep my Fox Hound, Bentley, from barking at the FedEx truck when they come to our house for deliveries?

ANSWER
I'm absolutely for dogs alerting us to things that are going on outside - if someone comes up to my house, I want to know about it. But consistent barking is both inappropriate and annoying (to the driver, your neighbors, etc.) I think the best way to train him to stop barking is to let him know that one bark is enough.

What I would do is, place some treats near your front door. When the FedEx truck comes by and Bentley barks, cut him off after the first bark by saying firmly, "Thank you! Quiet." As soon as he is quiet (usually using a "commanding" voice will startle a dog and get his attention), praise him for being a good boy and reward him with a treat. Always cut him off after the first bark and then reward him for being quiet. He'll learn that his barking is appreciated but he doesn't need to continue once you have things "under control".



QUESTION
How old does a Husky need to be before you can start training?

ANSWER
You can start training your puppy right away - there's no such thing as a "minimum" (or maximum!) age to train a dog.

What you need to know when working with puppies is that they have the attention span of a gnat. So any training sessions need to be really short, really positive, and really rewarding for the pup to build behaviors you want to teach and excitement about learning in your pup.

Sit, down, and come are the first three you should teach, along with your puppy's name. Sit is the easiest of the bunch. Look for really brief sits (where the bum comes right back up after a few seconds) at first. Don't expect stays that last more than a few seconds until puppy gets older, either.

Check out this YouTube video of a 9 week old puppy training some basics - heeling, sits, and downs. Every time the pup does the behavior, there's a click and treat - even if it's just super short.