I want to make sure my puppies can become gentle, obedient indoor pets.

[BamaTanya]

Where do I go for training?

When I did a search, PetSmart came up. Are they good?

Can two puppies be trained at once? Or should I take one and come home and practice with the other one?

tia

[Mrs. Readsalot]

What type of dogs are they? Personally I think you will need to work with one dog at a time. If you have a crate you could take that with you to the class and switch the dogs at times. I have never taken a dog to obedience classes at pet smart so I cannot say if they are good or not. I would go and watch a class a Pet Smart before I signed up. If you have a local AKC organization you could call them and ask about classes. Also some Parks and Rec departments hold classes. Call you vets office they usually know about obedience classes. Also there is a great show on the Animal Planet with a British lady that goes to people's houses to help them train the dogs to be good housepets. I will try to find out what it is called. Do you have any other goals for the classes?

[BamaTanya]

I think the male will be the easy one to train. He LOVES attention and is quick to please.

The female is more reserved, so I think we need to work on relationship skills with her. She's happier roaming around the yard than playing with us.

I'm not interested in teaching them any tricks. I just want them to come and heel and not jump up on (and knock over) anyone. And, of course, not destroy things.

Eventually I'd like to be able to take them to the park or beach to play with our family.

I want them to be well-trained before they get bigger and stronger!

[Peela]

I read a great book something along the lines of The Dog Whisperer and it made so much sense to me, but my husband had already intuitively trained our dog that way, anyway. The gist of it is that the dog needs to be at the bottom of the pecking order in the family- it will be happiest there. So you don't let it up on the couches, because it also needs to be physically lower than everyone else, including the kids. You never let it put its teeth on skin while playing. And basically, you be pretty strict with it. Our dog is amazingly obedient, and subservient to us all. It took a couple of years of consistent training but she has never been to school.

It annoys me when i see people treating their dogs like children. Dogs are happier and behave better when they are treated like dogs, and every human in the family is above the dog in the family pack.

That was the gist of it, but there were probably many techniques for training that i didnt need because our dog was already well trained because my husband has no problem being the pack leader, and regularly makes sure our dog knows it! And because she is so sweet and well behaved, and tuned in to us, too, we just adore her and she gets lots of attention.

[momee]

We finally have the dog I've always wanted, obedient, calm, etc. Our first two tries failed miserably, and I think it was all due to my lack of time training them.

 

My thing was from as soon as we Keeper - 6 weeks or so - I worked with her each and every day for roughly 30 mins or so. TREATS were huge in training - I'll try to find the book I used and list the title but it really wasn't the book.

 

I worked on things like following me back and forth on our short little front sidewalk - like 15 feet or so, sitting, listening for her name, not in that order. Sitting and staying was really hard but once she got that she was pretty much trained in everything else.

 

I also did something I'd never done with dogs before. I had her on a leash, sat her down beside me after we were done training and told her to lay - pushed her down if need be to that position - and read a book while she laid beside me. If she so much as moved! I repositioned her. I think this was so big in getting her to behave with us when she's inside. We say, lay down Keeper - even if ~~~people ~~ come to the door - you know how hectic that can be with dogs. Not Keep.

 

We now have another dog who is "great" but nowhere near as obedient as our first one - got her at 8 yrs old. The "lack" of training like I trained Keeper is so obvious - she doesn't stay still, stares and whines when we're eating, has a hard time keeping under my voice control when the door bell rings, won't sit sometimes...etc.

 

One last thing that has made a huge difference - in my opinion, DON"T go for those silly retractable leashes. Keeper has always walked on a short leash RIGHT beside me. She doesn't chase squirrels, go gaga when another dog comes by, or pull me on a leash - ever. I kept the leash so close that she sometimes knocked into my feet but she's never gotten the idea that a walk is my time to stupidly follow her whims - it's my time for exercise and she gets to come along :) Our other dog though, forget it now. I can't even take her on a walk now that I'm so big and pregnant, I don't trust that she won't jerk to get an animal.

 

HTH - it sounds harsh now that I'm reading it - I never have been rough with her (except the time she jumped to the table to see what was up there - that's one more thing, NO human food, ever!). My kids know they're in big trouble if they smack or swat at the dogs, that helps the dogs trust them too. My voice is completely what can please or condemn Keeper and I think that's really a main goal in training. The one downside of that is that I'm the only one, really, who can call her back in if she's gone out front with no fencing and decides she wants to run crazy. But even then, it's one stern - Keep! and back she comes.

[Just a Jen in Mississippi]

When we bought our boxer pup, I bought a training magazine on boxers to give me ideas and how-to's. I started immediately and worked with him in small increments throughout the day. The important thing is to reward, reward, reward! The small liver treats are a great treat that can be chewed quickly during training. Any negative discipline will make him leery and often they will start doing the opposite of what you want them to do.

 

Also, when you want them to come, call your puppy and when he is running toward you, say "come". Then he is associating the right action with the word instead of him running off and you yelling to "come". NEVER discipline him for dong something wrong when he comes to you. He will learn to go the other direction!

 

I also highly recommend the crate training! It gives your pup a safe place to be when you can't be with them or at night, and it helps with house breaking. We don't even have to use ours anymore, but it was a life saver the first year. No chewed shoes or furniture!

 

I spent so much time training my pup because I can not stand to be around an undisciplined dog. I didn't want to regret getting him, so I worked hard with him. It's really paid off. He is now a year old and I swear, he seems to understand English!:lol:

[Just a Jen in Mississippi]

Oh, another thing I taught my dog is the "leave it" command. I started out with a dog treat in the palm of my hand held up towards his nose and I would tell him to leave it. If he started to bite at it, I told him again to leave it and moved it away from him. After he had left it for a minute, I then said, "take it" and gave him the treat. We did that over and over and that too has come in handy when he has been caught with something he shouldn't have. It's great to say "Cooper, leave it!" and he drops it immediately!! With kids shoes and toys lying around all the time, the "leave it" command has been much used!

 

HTH