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Teaching Your Dog to Deal with Distractions in Public

Posted on by WebDev2021

Woodland sdog training expertsLet’s be honest, your dog is going to be exposed to a lot of things in their lifetime.  This includes distractions like other people, animals, and things that might scare or ‘trigger” your dog like sirens, loud voices, and even thunder (a lot of dogs are terrified of storms).  Good training can help your dog ignore a lot of these distractions and consistently behave well.  Our Woodlands dog training experts  incorporate this as part of our training for dogs of all ages.  Our “no approach fits all” training style helps us to understand what distracts one dog instead of another and why so we can provide individualized training for great results.  To learn more please visit us online at Pup Town Houston.

Dog obedience classes are a must to ensure you have a well-mannered, socialized dog that is a great companion and faithful friend.  You want to make sure that your dog doesn’t “walk you” or find its way into a harmful situation.  This is why training, including ignoring or avoiding distractions, is so important for your dog.  Not to mention you don’t want your dog to hurt another animal or even worse, a person.  If you aren’t ready to enroll your pup in classes just yet, here are some tips on teaching your dog to overcome distractions and be a good canine citizen.

Understand Triggers

As simple as this sounds, it is important to know what your dog finds particularly fascinating.  Some dogs can’t resist the urge to run up to another pup while others love to chase squirrels or other small animals.  If your dog has a penchant for sniffing holes in the ground, this could be a potentially dangerous behavior as this could be an insect nest or home to a poisonous snake.  And if you think a high-pitched siren makes humans wince, imagine what it does to Fido’s senses!  Once you know what your dog’s triggers are, you can figure out the best way to help your pup not give them a second thought.

Set up Success

When helping your dog overcome distractions, develop a series of steps like levels 1-5 to help your dog reach its goal.  If you are teaching your dog to sit, begin in a quiet environment until your dog has the command down pat.  Then gradually introduce a series of distractions while you are giving the command to help your dog ignore the outside factors and focus solely on you.  Start off with a very mild distraction like having the TV on in the background and as your dog completes each step, move your pooch to the final step, like being outside next to a whole family of squirrels while successfully sitting on command.

Positive Reinforcement

Woodlands Puppy TrainerAs you have a level of 1-5 for your dog’s distraction factors, find a level 1-5 of treats for your dog with 1 being something they love and 5 being a treat your pooch will dance and do backflips for.  As your dog completes each level of overcoming distractions, increase the level of treat to increase positive reinforcement and a greater reward for a greater level of difficulty.  Increasing the positive reinforcement is an effective way of holding your dog’s attention no matter what distraction may arise and you want to make sure you and your dog are prepared for any situation.

Create Distance

While you are teaching your dog to ignore distractions, an effective tactic is to create distance from the distraction.  Let’s say your dog loves to chase squirrels and you realize you need to help your dog overcome this behavior.  While you are in the first steps of helping your dog ignore this distraction, put as much distance between your dog and the squirrels as possible.  When you are in the final steps of training, move your dog closer to the squirrels.  By desensitizing your pup to the distraction, the goal is to reach the point of said object no longer being a distraction.

The same principle can be applied to dogs who are very eager to make new friends as you should be cautious of a new dog until you are familiar with its personality.  By shrinking the stimulus area, you are not only teaching but also protecting yourself and your dog during this important learning experience.

 

Why You Need to Seek Puppy Training From the Start

Posted on by WebDev2021

professional puppy trainers in Woodlands, TXThere are few things more precious and delightful in this world than a new puppy.  That little face with its big eyes can make you want to melt, as can those little paws and tail.  Puppy kisses with that tiny tongue are equally adorable, as are the yawns and first attempts at barks.  All you want to do is just snuggle with this little furball, and not worry about anything else.  Let’s certainly hope that before getting your precious pup you took into consideration the commitment you have just made.

A puppy will require time, attention, and considerable expense to make sure it is happy, healthy, and well-behaved.  Potty training aside, there are a lot of other things a pet parent needs to be prepared for to make sure they give their dog the best care possible.  After all, do you want to come home to “presents” on your floor, garbage everywhere, and your sofa closely resembling a chewing toy?  Even worse, do you want you pup getting into something that could make it sick, or worse?  Never fear, because the best professional puppy trainers in Woodlands, TX are standing by to help you turn your puppy into well-mannered little lady or gentleman.

Here at Puptown we believe that each dog is unique and should be trained to their individual needs.  We don’t have a “cookie cutter” approach, which is why each dog receives the time and attention it needs to learn a healthy and happy lifestyle.  Not only do we take each dog’s needs into consideration, we do the same with the pet parents to make sure they can provide optimal training at home.

Our program is built around three core principles:  timing, consistency, and motivation.  Timing has to do with the way a dog’s brain processes cause and effect.  This is very important because any dog’s behavior must have a consequence within 1.3 seconds for the dog to associate a behavior with a consequence.  People usually praise or reprimand a dog too long after an event has taken place thus it is important for your dog to understand what behavior you are reacting to.  Consistency is clear communication between a dog and its owner.  You must promptly react the same way to any behavior your dog exhibits.  Once more correction or praise must occur within the 1.3 second window.  Finally, motivation influences a dog’s decision making.  Positive and negative motivation can help praise or correct a dog’s behavior, as long as it is within the associated window of time.

These are the three things that training at Puptown is centered around.  Our most popular program, Lodge and Learn, consists of your dog staying with our trainers at “doggy day camp” to learn and explore while learning manners and simple commands.  Our professional trainers will take your dogs out on errands and to parks in order to learn real-world skills in different environments instead of being confined to a training ring.  This also means that trainers won’t be working with your dog for a short period of time, but for several days to maximize your pup’s training experience.

professional puppy trainers in Woodlands, TXOur dog training experts don’t just teach basic obedience but an array of skills to dogs of all ages.  Dogs need to be on their best behavior not just for their owners, but to all members of society.  The last thing a person wants is for the dog to frighten or even worse, bite someone.  No owner wants to get a complaint about their dog or see it be taken away by the police or animal control.  Here at Puptown we understand that dogs must also be good members of society, which is why our training includes controlling excessive barking, chasing people, and even redirecting bad potty habits.  Our goal is to correct not only a dog’s bad behavior, but also an owner’s bad behavior.  We want to see people and pets have mutual bonds that will bring more joy and a happier relationship.

When it comes to dog training patience is key, and our trainers want to help owners develop patience with their dogs in order to continue training and further foster improved behaviors.  While training is imperative for young puppies to learn these behaviors as early as possible, here at Puptown we believe that all dogs are able to learn new things and can break bad habits.  If a dog is having trouble learning, then the communication and motivation need to be altered so the dog can effectively learn a command or behavior.  This goes back to understanding what a dog needs, and more specifically, the individual needs one dog will have instead of another.  As every dog is unique, so is the Puptown approach to training.  It is this approach that delivers great results and well-behaved dogs.