Training Articles
Dog Training made easy!
Let me start off by saying that I am not a professional trainer! I do, however, research every OB command and theory I can. The resources I refer to are linked on the left hand navigation.
Are You A Pack Leader?
The first – and most important – aspect of dog training, whether it be a pet, or working dog, is “pack leadership” on your part! Being a confident, firm-yet-fair leader of your dog pack is so important because, believe it or not, your dog has instincts that drive his life. And those instincts are 1,000s of years old. Watch a few National Geographic shows on wolf packs, and you’ll see so many similarities between those wild animals and your cute little fluffy!
Understanding Pack Leadership in a dog pack will enable you to communicate and understand your canine companion effectively!
Let’s break down the dog training articles by category. Please select a category below to view the dog training articles for that specific training area.
- Basic Obedience Training Articles
- Advanced Obedience Training Articles
- Schutzhund – Personal Protection Training Articles
- Teaching The Gib Laut (Speak!)
- Building “Toy” or “Ball” Drive
- Dog Parks
- Outdoor Obedience Training
But before you venture off into those article pages, please read this “prerequisite” on becoming a pack leader:
Pack Leadership 101
photo credit: German Shepherd CentralYou see, while teaching your German Shepherd basic commands will allow you to have a well behaved animal, it goes much further than that. You see, dogs view us us as part of their pack. And in our homes – just as in the wild – there is one leader in the pack, called the Alpha Leader. And if you ever want to maintain leadership, you will set yourself up as the Pack Leader.
Love And Respect Are Two Different Things
You see, dogs love their owners. That’s a given, right? But did you know that your dog can love you and not respect you? And therein lies the problem. You can get your dog to go pretty far in basic training, but you’ll never get to that area where you have 101% control all the time, if you are not respected by your canine pal.
Yes, a dog will (for the most part) show unconditional love to his owner, but how far will that love take the relationship? If we’re taking about a Mini Pinscher as your lapdog, then you’ll get a small animal running your home. And that’s not good, but what about a 90 to 100lbs German Shepherd that you rely on for companionship (probably too big to fit on your lap?) and protection? Will your K9 defend your life – when it comes down to him or you?
Of course, a GSD respecting you will not automatically make it a trained protection dog, but that respect for his “pack leader” will carry his natural drive to that point, and the rest is up to your diligence in your protection / schutzhund / ring sport training.
So, since I’ve carried you all to the brink of being off-topic, let me ask you all this question: “How does one become the alpha dog?”
Becoming The Pack Leader
Becoming the pack leader in your home is a very straight forward process. Basically, it entails you overseeing your dogs daily schedule, and making sure your pooch lives by the NILIF rule. NILIF stands for “Nothing In Life Is Free”, and that means you make your dog work for praise, food, play, everything. If you feed your dog (of course you do!), then when you place his food bowl down, you make sure he sits and waits until released to eat. Same for play, affection, etc. And don’t worry if you haven’t taught the sitz (sit in German) command yet, that’ll come very easily.
Another area to promote yourself as alpha dog is at doorways and gates, and on walks. Let’s talk about doorways first. Make sure you are the one going through doors and gates first. You see, the pack leader leads the pack, while subordinates follow. So when your dog rushes past you out the door, what’s happening is the reinforcing of him being the leader. You are now the follower. See how that works?
What I did to train this technique is pretty simple. (Ah – I bet you thought we’d never get to real training, huh?) When at the door or gate, I make my dogs sit, and I go through first. Then I release them with, “OK!” and they follow. Don’t worry if you’ve not trained the sitz (sit) yet. You see, before my dogs could sit on command, I used the following technique, then followed up with sitz. What I did (and you can do) is to have the dog with me at the door, then slowly open it – and once the dog heads out, I swiftly close the door, saying at the exact instant, “Nein!” (Nein means no in German). Repeat the oversize until you are able to open the door wide. You’ll find your pooch anticipating you walking out first. Positive training techniques can be applied as well, such as giving a food reward for the dog waiting.
Anyway, if you just keep the mind frame always set in the forefront of, “I’m the one in charge, and my dog will do as I say, when I say it, and will follow me, not the other way around.”, you’re going to be a great pack leader.
Be A Fair And Confident Leader
Just remember to always be fair and consistent with your dog. They will respect you for it.
So now that we have the fundamentals, let’s look at our article choices once again:
A Few Simple Steps
Most dogs, no matter their eventual advanced training or intended purpose, live with people and therefore must behave in a way that makes them pleasant to be around, keeps them safe, and provides for the safety of other people and pets. Dogs do not figure out basic obedience on their own; they must be trained.
The hardest part of training is communicating with the dog in a humane way that he understands. However, the underlying principle of all communication is simple: reward positive behavior while ignoring or correcting negative behavior.
Basic pet obedience training usually consists of 5 behaviors:
- Sit
- Down
- Stay
- Recall (“come” or “here”)
- Close (or loose-leash walking)
The recall command is arguably the most important of all training commands. It is critical to never punish a dog if they respond to a recall. Punishing a dog upon recall quickly teaches the dog that if he returns he will be punished. If the dog requires a correction, the handler should go to the dog – the dog should not be asked to come and then punished. The dog will attribute the punishment to whatever behavior he was doing directly before receiving it, and if that behavior was responding (correctly) to a recall, then the handler has just inadvertently taught the dog to run away from the recall command.
Corrections should never include harmful physical force or violence. Using force while training is controversial and should not be taken lightly, because even if it ends the behavior, it will also teach the dog to fear the handler to a certain degree. It is up to the handler to decide what amount of force (if any) is appropriate. However, the standard used by most trainers is the minimum amount necessary to inhibit the unwanted behavior. A common technique is to quickly jerk an attached collar and “lead” (fancy term for a leash, usually short, 4′ is good) as a consequence for ignoring a command. (i.e., Sparky is jumping up on a guest, say “off” if he’s already jumped up, or if you see he’s thinking about it say, “down” and if the command is ignored then “correct” Sparky by “snapping” the lead to make his collar rattle.)
Taken from URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_training#Basic_training
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August 12th, 2008 at 12:25 am
my gsd is kept outdoors and he always tries to get inside the house when we leave the door open what are some ways to train him so that he wont come inside the house?
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:49 am
Hello Erwin,
Let me say first, that I’m a firm believer in allowing our dogs to live with us. House training a dog is very easy, and since dogs are pack animals, they would prefer to live with us anyway.
As far as training to keep your dog out of your house…hum…maybe set up training with him at your door. Treat him for sitting there, and correct him for moving towards the door.
I must admit again, that if you house train your GSD, you will actually learn to love him even more! Why? Because you’ll see another side to him. One that you don’t see because he’s separated from his pack…
December 4th, 2008 at 1:15 am
[...] Training Articles [...]
February 5th, 2009 at 9:00 am
hello martin
I keep my german shepherd in the house he is house trained
obediences: good sit he sit down he laydown
come he come back to me.
ok the problem is fighting with dogs (male and female)
can you help?? give him to a dog trainer and had no
luck still the same if he a dog all hell beak out
it has become a big problem do you know
anyway of fixing it??
February 12th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Hello Eugene,
It sounds like your boy has not had much socialization with other dogs as he was a pup? You can train this behavior out of him, but it’ll take persistence and PROPER corrections. I would suggest purchasing a prong collar (follow that link) and begin to socialize him.
I’ll detail the steps in an article, and will link to it once I create it. Stay tuned!
August 13th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
This whole alpha leader thing is out of date and based on floored research. There has been so much better and more comprehensive research since. Evedence points that dogs do not form packs. Certainly not in a house and they don’t try and dominate their owner and become pack leader. Even wolves don’t have one pack leader and anyway, wolves are very far removed from the dog. Many top trainers are re-thinking as z result.
August 13th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Interesting Tc… I can’t agree with you here (not just me, but dog trainers who’ve been at it for many years, and KNOW what they’ve observed in dog behavior) – but I respect your point of view!
It’s good to see people looking for “better ways” to interact with our dogs, and so cheers to you!
August 13th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
I would suggest you research the latest evidence. It’s all in a book by Ray and Lorna Coppinger or the cut down version, called ‘Dominance Fact or Fiction by Bary Eaton.
What dog trainers still use the ‘pack leader’ theory? I can think of only one who is being unravelled as we speak, lol.
If you choose to ignore the latest evidence and research you must be ready as you will get more and more people challenging this ‘pack leadership’ approach.
Also using a ‘prong collar’ is a bad idea imo. I cant believe you are recommending that! Try it around your neck…it hurts. Eugene’s dog need to be diagnosed as to WHY it’s fighting. And then Counter Conditioned using positive rewards! Corrections like prog collars make the situation worse. You are making an aggressive dog bottle up his aggression by bullying it. What happens when the prong collar isnt on?!
Please read one of those books?
August 14th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Hello Tc,
There has been a surge of the “Purely Positive” training method in recent years, and I do NOT disagree with that theory. Positive motivation works great – but training needs to be “proofed” for constancy. And just for the record, with “Little Timmy’s beagle” or “Auntie Mona’s Chihuahua” – I wouldn’t recommend a prong.
“Try it around your neck…it hurts” – ANY training tool can be misused. A pull on a flat collar can “hurt” a “soft dog”. A correction on my large Shepherd, while on the Schutzhund training field, to keep focus on me (Positive motivation can work here, dog dependant…) while the training helper is doing agitation work on him – that is a great use for a prong. And of course, I do understand that a “pop of the prong” can direct your dog into different “drives” – ie: from “prey drive” to “fight drive”.
Do you admit the existence of these different “drives”? Do you see that in your training? Of course in standard Obedience or Agility training, you would NOT see anything but prey drive. Different drives can be seen (I’ve seen this, but more importantly, my Schutzhund trainers – my mentors – have time and time again dealt with these drives in their PPT and other protection sport training such as Schutzhund, Mondio Ring, American Street Ring, Dutch KNPV, etc…) much easier in these “sport dogs” as they are first tested to see if they have the drives necessary. My point in this is simple: Dogs – all breeds – have drives in common. Some dogs (not only for size of the dog) have these drives more prominent, dependant on the breed – such as the Belgium Malinois and German Shepherd/DDR dogs.
Again, my point about drives is this…they are inherent in our dogs, and that is the same with their need to be a leader or a follower – that is also inherent!!! My male could easily be the “leader” when I’m not home. My family knows this. I know this. My male German knows this. So we all live with the “pack mentality” in regards to our dogs. AND IT WORKS, AND IT’S REAL
IMHO – YMMV…
And Eugene’s dog…you see, some dogs I know – and my own large male Shepherd – are NOT aggressive, but do act “aggressively” towards other dogs. And that action can/does translate to a dog fight. I recommended socialisation, which will help dramatically, but also the prong as a corrective tool.
“What makes the dog act that way?” Great question!!!! Let’s find out the root cause!!!! But in the meantime, let’s have Eugene become his dogs “Leader”, and not just his “littermate”. LOL
I know very well about the thee camps of training: #1: Purely Positive (no physical corrections, ignore the disobedience in training, and reward only when dog performs correctly ), #2: Forced Training (hard physical corrections to get desired result), and #3: Positive Rewards/Corrections to proof (reward your dog immensely for obedience, physical (or verbal, depending on your dog being “soft” or medium/hard) corrections for disobedience in “proofing your training”).
Lastly, here’s a great article be Ed Frawley:
Theory of Corrections.
And if you disagree with Ed Frawley, then you and I will NOT see this topic eye to eye, as I totally am sold out on his training theories on corrections, protection training, and obedience training. BUT WITH THAT SAID…
BUT WITH THAT SAID…I totally respect your opinion on dog training. All theories have their wholes!!!
August 17th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
POST BELOW IS FROM Tc (Tony, I’ll check to see why you couldn’t post this yourself…)
“Hi Martin
I cant answer your questions on the site for some reason so.. I have done training obedience, agility, helped behavior issues such as aggression, and dealt with problem dogs in rescue kennels. Dogs like Rottweilers, Neapolitan Mastiffs and GSD’s. Not once did I need a prong collar. The dogs were bright enough to realize what they were being taught and they were much happier getting a reward such as a toy or a food treat.
Regarding a dog fighting another dog. The cause is vital to the cure. A dog may have a health problem and hence be in pain. This transfers to aggression. The dog maybe on an inappropriate diet. Two vital factors before one slaps a prong collar around it’s soft neck. And I’ve no idea how a dog is supposed to see a human being as a ‘litter mate’! To think that is insulting to dogs. They really aren’t stupid.
I’m afraid I do disagree with Ed Frawley. I found the article interesting until it got into Pack Behavior. For example.. This is what he perceives as pack behavior. “1 – When a dog jumps up and/or humps your leg, that’s a pack behavior. 2 – When a dog charges past you to get out the door, that’s a pack behavior. Pack leader go through doors and gates first. 3 – When a dog barks like crazy at another dog that’s a pack behavior. 4 – When a dog drags his owner down the street on a walk – that’s pack behavior. Pack leaders always go first. ”
Simple answers are… 1 A dog humps a leg as it’s over-exited (not necessarily sexually). May also hump cushions! Is it dominating the cushion? 2 A dog wants to get outside for the new stimuli such as exiting smells. It’s rewarding for the dog to get outside. Same for me! lol 3 When a dog barks at another dog it is communicating. 4 When a dog pulls on a walk, it is exited, possibly rushing to the park. Again it is rewarding for the dog.
These things need to be addressed but have nothing to do with the distant cousin called the Wolf or with any notion that it wants to dominate it’s handler. There is a whole list of them in that article and all can be easily answered. Im not a pushover with dogs, you still need to be firm and confident but stuff like growling at puppies is ridiculous imo.
Ed Frawley’s article is something which I would expect fifteen years ago, but I repeat, things have moved on. New and thorough evidence has become widely available. I can present you an article by a eight stone woman who deals with all sizes of dogs (some aggressive) who never uses harsh corrective methods. Just simple counter conditioning. It works.
Fascinating debate though and I thank you for discussing it in a responsible manor. Tony”
October 2nd, 2009 at 1:57 pm
hello martin,
my gsd is 7 weeks old when would be the best age for him to be trained?
how long does he need to stay with untill i can train him?
ice had him for 2 days now and i want to start his traing a.s.a.p.
thanks
October 2nd, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Hello Kb,
You can begin simple commands at 7 weeks. The sit command is a great one to start with! And YOU need to do the training, so I quite don’t understand what you mean by, “how long does he need to stay with untill i can train him?”.
Start your training today
October 4th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Hi, I am the owner of an 9 wk old gsd. I can already see how smart she is, on the second day she already understood “sit”, and “paw”. What i’m wondering is, how much should i expect of a puppy? Are there any goals she should be reaching trainingwise. I’ve heard two things “oh she’s just a puppy” – which, she is, but she’s already very strong and pretty big, and the second “she’ll grow out of it”- which i totally dont believe. I think anything she learns and does as a puppy will continue into adulthood. Anyway to shorten the ?, how soon is too soon to start training,and what are some realistic expectations?
October 8th, 2009 at 9:57 am
Hey Martin!
I’m adopting a 2 and a half year old female GSD. She is very very sweet, and timid. I understand she might go through some seperation anxeity.
I’ve read that giving dogs a kenel in their own room gives them a space to relax and calm down over teh transition period. I will also be keep her on a leash while we are out, and during all of our time inside together for the first month or so…
What else can you suggest to help with this beautiful girl, Maggie, who i’m worried will miss her previous owners.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:09 pm
@Kurt (ID 222): Your kennel training and “tethering” her with a leash are the perfect ways to adjust her to her new home. All I can suggest otherwise is to give her all the time and patience she needs. Also, I would use positive training techniques until a well-firmed relationship is established between her and you. Sounds like you already love her, and that’s the BEST way to incorporate her into your family!