Blog — dogtraining

What is the "leave it" command?    A "leave it" command tells the dog that something is off limits at that moment/to walk away from it. For some dogs maybe a person or a dog will be a "leave it", we don't have to say hi to every single person or dog we see. Or maybe your dog might be reactive to other dogs so you could use a "leave it" command before the situation escalates when your dog sees another dog. It could be that squirrel, bird or bunny you don't want your dog chasing. Or that tempting garbage on the sidewalk your dog...

Why teach the drop it command?  It is a great way to get your dog to drop whatever is in their mouth when you need them to. Dogs will pick up things they shouldn't, it's not just puppies many dogs of all ages do it. (a rock, mulch, a piece of garbage on a walk etc).  If they don't know a drop it command you have to physically pry these things out of their mouth but really what that says to your dog is.... you are taking their things!! Most of the things they pick up they view as items of high value,...

Why do dogs jump on people? Dogs get excited and want to greet people face to face as they would when meeting other dogs which can be frowned upon by humans especially when a larger dog is jumping. How do we stop it? One of the most common goals my clients have in class is to stop their dogs from jumping on people during greetings. So if we don't want them jumping on people we need to teach them an alternative, appropriate behavior to replace the jumping.  Where do we start? It starts at home, if your dog is used to jumping...

People are great!   This is just one of the exercises you can do to help your dog make positive associations with people. Over the years as a dog trainer I have seen a lot of success with this simple exercise. This is of course just one piece of the puzzle but a good one to start working on if your dog isn't sure about new people or is a bit scared. The goal of this exercise is for your dog to make positive associations with people, whether it's seeing people, people approaching, people coming into your home etc. We are...

Why teach recall?  The recall command will be one of the most important things you can teach your dog. It can literally be a life saving command if your dog ever gets out. You want to be able to call them, have them come and also check in by sitting at your feet. Many commands take a couple of weeks for dogs to learn like the sit or down commands so you might expect the same with recall but this one can take a few months of work to perfect.  Work on recall every single day just like you would...