How to train a dog Lesson 9

No matter what your dog does to annoy you, it is unacceptable to physically hurt your dog and against the law! Although some people still think that it is still alright to hit their dog with a rolled up newspaper, this is still cruel and your dog may end up being frightened of you.

Dogs live in a world where everything is a lot bigger than they are. One of the only ways that they can make contact is by jumping up on people. Many people find this frightening, especially when the dog is big. I have heard many stories in which young children or pregnant women have been knocked down by large dogs such as Rotweilers or Labradors. These dogs should have been trained earlier to stop dangerous situations like this occurring.  This is when it becomes the owner’s problem rather than the dog’s problem.

If you like your dog jumping up at you to greet you, you can train them just to jump up at you when commanded. To begin with however, your dog should be trained not to jump up at people at all, especially young children. Just as a rattle could be used to keep your dog from jumping up on the sofa, it can also be used to prevent your dog from jumping up at people. You can easily make a rattle by putting 20 beans or coins in a tin and closing the lid firmly.

The idea of the rattle is to startle your dog whilst telling him ‘no’ in a firm voice. This will usually be enough to stop him, his attention being diverted from jumping up at someone to the noise that the tin is making. Make sure that you leave a prepared can at the each of the doors in your house and as you see that your dog is about to jump, shake the can to make the noise and tell him ‘no’. In order to encourage your dog to respond to your verbal command, when telling your dog ‘no’, only use the rattle on some occasions. Eventually your dog will respond to your verbal command alone and the rattle will no longer be required.