What's worse than an untrained savaged dog? a dog who doesn't know jack!! what you are talking about? a dog who only comes to you when he sees you holding that "thing" that smells like food? It can be so annoying and definitely dangerous.

I shall be highlighting just a few tips for beginners and new dog owners regarding training your dog. Let's begin.

Important things to note:
- Dog training has no limits. It all begins when the puppy/dog comes into the home and ends when he/she dies! YES!
- Training shouldn't be based on force but authority! Authority Vs Force is a topic for another.
- Training a dog is different from training a beast!
- TRAIN WITH LOVE BECAUSE YOU WANT TO! NOT BECAUSE YOU ARE BORED!!!!

Having noted the above, Know the following too before training begins:

OBEDIENCE VS BRIBERY
Lots of dog owners have been misunderstanding the concept of "treats" when training. Yes, give your dog treats to reward him but hey, do not turn it into bribery at which your dog shall only respond when he/she smells a treat! Now that is bad! When training your dog, or teaching him a new trick, his reward could be a praise or a hug! If your dog can tell you are scared, he can tell that you are happy!

RESPECT
Your dog should respect you. You may wonder how you can tell your dog respects you, i'll tell you.. note these points:
- Stare: If your dog has respect for you, he would look at you in the eye for a maximum of 3 - 5 seconds then he looks away. If your dog is giving you the daring stare for so long until you look away, that is a problem.

- Sitting and Looking at you before food: If your dog looks down at the plate or floor waiting to collect your food is really bad move! You can get bitten! Your dog should sit and look at you before you drop the food bowl.

- Pulling the leash: If you are walking your dog and he is pulling the leash going ahead, that is a bad attitude! He should walk by your side and at intervals, look up at you! However, pulling the leash ahead isn't really a disrespectful sign but a bad attitude, if you pull him back and scold him, he should calm down. It may be due to anxiousness or excitement.

- Demand Barking: If your dog barks at you, take note of the pitch! If its a thick bark, he is demanding something. Your dog should REQUEST NOT DEMAND! If your dog howls slowly, or yawns, he is bored or politely requesting your attention. If he barks once per minute pacing about the room, he is alerting you of something. Take note!

There are many more points but the above, are noticeable in most dogs.

DEALING WITH FEAR
Please do not make the mistake, your dog sits when you say "Sit" is cool but not cool if he sits out of fear!!! One day, he will challenge you! I was discussing with a friend of mine last week and we were arguing that 75% dogs in Nigeria are scared of their owners! I am not sure, my friend talks too much but she may be right and its not good. Your dog should love you! not fear you. A scared dog would not always tuck the tail in between the legs, oh no! Its more than that.. See more signs of fear:

- Raised Hackles whenever you are around. The hackles is the fur line on the dog's back!. Though it may be raised out of excitement, but in most cases, a full raised hackles, is fear and can escalate to a groan or a moan then a growl.

- Staying at a corner: If your dog stays at a corner of the room, not by your side or below your legs(when you are sited), the dog is scared of you. And the dog is well-prepared for you shall you pull a stunt.

- Smelling your hand before coming to you and looking down. If the dog while coming to you is smelling your body especially your hand and facing down, it is a sign of fear. A confident dog would circle you and may even jump to hug you.

WHAT IS MY DOG SAYING?
Dogs communicate with their owners, especially with their tails. To many, they believe a tail wag = Happy and a Tucked Tail = Scared. WRONG!!!!!!!!

- Tail Wagging to the Right: The Dog is okay and happy. Give him a hug.
- Tail Wagging to the Left: The Dog is okay but not 100% happy. He is quite offended.
- Tucked Tail: Scared and is willing to run
- Tail Curved by left side: Scared but willing to defend itself
- Tail Curved by right side: Worried and Alert.. expecting the worst
- Tail Rigid and stiff straight: Ready to attack
- Tail down: Cool and neutral. Minding his business..
- Tail up high: Dominant! High-Ranked Perhaps alpha.

When our dogs barks or howl, do we know what they are even saying? We think all bark is about problem or fight no!

- Thick bark looking at you in the eye: Demand Barking.. he wants something by force.
- Flat bark looking away: He wants something, just asking politely
- Barking Loud but Once per minute pacing around: Something is up and he is alerting you!
- Barking rapidly with a loud voice: Challenging a stranger
- Growling: Angry and telling you to go away!
- Licking your face: Saying sorry!
- Lip Licking: Bored!
- Yawning: Bored!
- Scratching: Bored! Jobless!
- Biting Himself: Bored! Jobless! Vexing!


Now, with the above notes, i believe you should understand and be able to communicate with your dog and build a fantastic relationship then training can begin..

Now, lets work on the "Commands". Always call his name before a command. Dont just say "sit". Say "Bingo, Sit". And be consistent. dont say "Sit" today and "Sit Down" tomorrow. It will confuse him.

Training To Come:
This is the most common and the first and foremost of training. To teach your dog to come to you on command, squat to his level, snap your fingers and call his name followed by the word "Come" for example, "Bingo, Come!" or "Bingo, come here!". Be consistent and overtime, you won't need to squat. You can stand and call him/her. Squatting only reassures your dog that all is well and its safe to "come".

Training To Stay:
The Stay should be the next line of action after the come. The Stay training tells your dog to "stay" in one position until released. This is good if you want to turn on your generator or you have a visitor or you are busy with homework. To teach, call your dog, (Your dog should have mastered the come), then stretch your hand towards him like stop. And say "Stay" followed by his name or after his name. Keep your hand in his sight. Your hand does the job of keeping him in a loop. He keeps looking at the hand as you walk away but cannot move. After a while, your dog would move so the stay is for emergencies mostly.

Training To Sit:
Sit is very common. Stand very close to him and place your hand above him like you want to cover him, it will force him to sit so he can observe your hand well. As he sits, say "Sit" followed by his name or after calling his name. You can also use food. When you are bringing food and your dog sits, either before he sits on his own or after he does, say sit. Do it often and always, he will master it and would sit on command.

Training To Lay Down:
Many dogs today, confuse "Sit" with "Lay Down" especially my German Shepherd Dog. When i say "Sit" this boy sits then lies down immediately. I had to train him to lay down separately and separate the two actions before he corrected it. When your dog sit, after saying Sit then lies down after 2 seconds, say "NO!" and lure him up again. He will know that "Sit" is sit! not "Sit and Lay Down". After mastering the "Correct Sit", simply say "Down" followed by his name or after his name, with your hand pointing towards the floor(You should be squatting), he will lay down. ALWAYS FOLLOW A DOWN WITH A STAY! It makes sense!

Training To Stand Up:
Forgive me, but this is quite hard, i do not use food to train my dogs that's why my article doesn't make much reference to food to avoid bribery and corruption. Normally, with food, he will stand up fast. But without food, it can be difficult. DO NOT USE COME TO MAKE HIM STAND! IT MAKES NO SENSE! Instead attach a leash to his neck and say "Stand Up" after his name then pull the leash slightly. He will get up.

Training To Jump:
This is also hard without food. Only food would make him "Fly". But your dog should have something he likes besides food. In my case, my 10 months old Siberian Husky likes my golf ball. (I don't know why). So your dog should have something he likes. Maybe a toy. Raise the toy above his head and run. He will chase you and jump towards the toy. When he jumps, ALLOW HIM GRAB IT TO ENCOURAGE HIM. Do it again, let him jump again, DON'T SAY "JUMP" YET! Let him Jump about 5 times. The 6th time, as he is running, say "Jump" he will Jump. That will register the "Jump" in his head. Then, you don't run again. No need for a chase anymore. Stand and say Jump raising the toy above, he will jump. Be consistent. Remember!

Training To Bark:
It took me 2 months to perfect this one on my German Shepherd. It needs FOOD and FOOD ONLY! FOOD YOUR DOG LIKES! not just any food. In my case, it required Sardine and Sauced Chicken. So you should know what your dog loves. Now, chain him down! YES! Make it very short. Short leash. Put the food in front of him and stay back. Wait and see the barking flow. It will start as a peaceful cry! Then it graduates slowly into a demand barking. Once it graduates, start saying "Speak" or "Bark" and he will continue. He will realize that his barking isn't going to make you bring the food thus killing the demand in the barking, but that you want him to bark. When he barks about 2 or 3 times, release him, praise him and offer him the food. PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS EVERY DAY! AT MOST, ONCE A WEEK! To prevent demand barking and nuisance. Overtime, without food, if you say "Speak", your dog barks.

Training To Go Back
This is very important. Let's say your wife or husband brings in a guest and the dog is with you in the bedroom, when you want to go out to meet the guest, you wouldn't want the dog to follow you would you? So it's important your dog learns a "Go Back". This is very easy, when you approach a door, simply stay in front of him, blocking his way and saying "Go Back" after his name 2 or 3 times. Overtime, he will learn.

Training To Bite or Attack
WARNING! BE VERY CAREFUL! I WAS BITTEN 3 TIMES BY MY OWN GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG WHEN I SAID BITE. .
To achieve this, it requires patience and "your common sense". You need to teach your dog to bite what you point at, not your hand doing the pointing. I made this mistake and it was costly but overtime, my little boy learned.

Your dog should be hungry to achieve this. Hungry and angry! Then pick his favorite food and toss it at someone or something(a living thing) while pointing at the thing then say "Bite" or "Attack", he will run towards the food and if there is anything in his way, he will bite whatever it is even a person to get to the food. Now, the mistake i made was to hold the food in my hand. DON'T HOLD THE FOOD! Toss it away! He will violently run for it. And while you are preparing to say "Bite" or "Attack", instigate him by pushing up his hackles by his neck. Trust me, dogs hate this. I've tested it. Once his breathing rate is increasing, and his body is getting stiff, toss the food then say "Bite".

It is dangerous! It worked for me and it may not work for you! You may/can be bitten.


Training To Sleep
It is possible but let's forget about it for now.. lol.

Training To Look down before eating(Praying)
It is also possible but achieve the ones above first, then we talk about this.

Training To Shut Up
Shout at him. its simple!

Training To Growl
This is very very hard and you may be bitten! I was bitten once! So please be careful. it worked only on 1 of my dogs it did not work on the rest so it may work for you and may not work for you!. It is about frustrating the dog, for example using your shoe on the muzzle(Mouth). The dog may growl softly at you. Say "Growl" as he raise his lips to growl. He may growl and snap at you which include biting but if you are smart, avoid close contact. Don't do this everyday otherwise, the dog may run away or take it as fun and won't growl or produce a fake growl. My female is good at this fake growl thing with me. Make the dog growl for real. It takes time to be perfected but it works.

Any tips on confidence training?

hope u seeing a doc with all em dog bites

NicoBaba:
hope u seeing a doc with all em dog bites

Sure. The bites aren't recent though. So I've healed and gone past them. But I took some medications.

Strahovski1:
Any tips on confidence training?

Timid dog? What breed?

This is really educating! Have tried majority of them n it all work if consistently done. Within one week my Rott.puppy learn the sit, down, leave it, come here, heel, get back n wait commands. She's so intelligent. I love her. The adult mongrel I have was also fast to learn sit n stay commands.

This is exactly where I need help from....
My GSD, pride, is very stubborn ehn I get frustrated at times I've taught her the basics sit,down,jump,stay I even taught her how to play dead...
She knows what to do at times but just frustrates me then the next thing is she'll start jumping on me and biting my heels and fingers....
I need a method of training....

Wow nice article, I am surprised a lot of people did not comment on this, is it pride or just lack of taste for knowledge?

Thanks o you my 11 week old puppy Ralph can sit, come, stay and we are currently practicing down

Nice piece, hope for tips

caspervenice:
This is exactly where I need help from....
My GSD, pride, is very stubborn ehn I get frustrated at times I've taught her the basics sit,down,jump,stay I even taught her how to play dead...
She knows what to do at times but just frustrates me then the next thing is she'll start jumping on me and biting my heels and fingers....
I need a method of training....

Any update on your dog?

Greene66:


Any update on your dog?

Well she's doing good now,tho still naughty...
She kind of understand what I say when I say them...
I'm still trying to get her to speak on command without taking her to where we keep our goat...


Buh its all good...
She'll be 4months on 30th

Stubborn creature...

who else is watching zak george dog training revolution on youtube

How about training to use the bathroom? Not peeing or pooing just anywhere, For a dog that lives inside the house.

hothead:
How about training to use the bathroom? Not peeing or pooing just anywhere, For a dog that lives inside the house.

You have to take note of when the dog wishes to pee. They sniff the ground first. When you see the dog sniffing, take him to the bathroom. Always leave the bathroom open. Do this everyday, over time, you wouldn't have to as the dog would know already so it won't sniff.

pls OP at wat age can I start training my puppies...they don't seem to be ready at 8wks now