I have said before the art of training a dog is repetition. There is no need to hit a dog. Evaluate yourself first before you punish the dog. Were you consistent? Were you giving the wrong signals?
Quite often you will find that it is you that is at fault and not the dog.
What do I mean? You see I am misleading you right now by not being forthright in my explanation.
If your dog jumps up when you get home, you may think, Wow what a wonderful and loving reaction to missing me. This happens every time you come home and you think nothing of it until one day your dog jumps up on a child or senior and due to it's size it knocks the person over.
That simple show of affection now becomes an embarrassment to you and could even end up in a legal turmoil if the senior is injured.
Now that cute, "love me tender", response is now a liability that you have to undo.
The best response to jumping up, biting, chewing up shoes and furniture is to nip it in the bud the minute it first rears it's ugly head.
Puppies will naturally bite for example. In their environment the litter mates would yelp and eventually they would teach one another that biting hard is not acceptable.
You are now the other litter mate and lead dog of your pack. If you want good manners it starts with you and ends with you. A dog is a reflection of the signals you convey.
When a dog bites, say "OW!" "That hurts!" and stop the play. When you feed the pup a treat and he grabs the food over zealously, say the same thing and also say be gentle.
The dogs understand. Some need constant reminding. I stated before that 2 of my five get excited at the treat and I have to show the back of my hand first so that my hand is between the food and his mouth. I say be gentle and place the treat into the mouth. I have only been bitten once, accidentally by our female, Dakota because I forgot to remind her to be gentle.
I believe, like humans, dogs have 2 spirits. Some are born with an old soul and others are born with a young soul.
I know call be silly, however,. Dakota, Chevy and Shadow have young souls and Gizmo and Ciara have old souls.
An old soul dog is one who learns quickly but does not display irratic behavior. He/she is cautious and level headed.
A young soul is the type that would jump into the water first and then test the depth.
This explains why Dakota will forget herself, ignore her world and place herself in peril at every turn.
She loves kids and if I take her out to the car without a leash, I have to scan the neighborhood for children because in a flash she will take off to be with a kid.
This means she will cross a street placing herself at risk of being hit by a car. She will run into an open door to the surprise of the owner, just to pay a visit.
Gizmo on the other hand is laid back, will listen to your commands, and does not need a leash. He sniffs the food first and then gently takes the treat and lays down. If he is not hungry he leaves the treat and the ravenous trio await for him to abandon it so they can have it. He has the old soul.
Knowing what kind of soul your dog has is crucial to how you will train him. If he is a puppy at heart, chances he will be that way forever.
If he has the old soul he will be laid back forever.
The young souls are the ones that will challenge you at every turn. It is their personalty, and like humans we have those who party hard and never start from high school to middle age and the old soul group that leave that behind as soon as the children arrive.
If you get to know your dog you will know the level of effort required to keep your dog in line. the high energy dog or young souls will require copious amounts of exercise, constant discipline, and a person who is on the ball reminding and rewarding the pup for the right reasons and not re-enforcing the wrong behavior.
Next will tackle the leash.
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