Posted by Deakster on December 28, 2009
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We have been in the process of moving our sites to a US based server, as opposed to the UK based servers they were being hosted on. While we have nothing against the UK servers, this was done primarily based on cost, convenience and overall performance.
In the past, this site was hosted on a largerly shared server. Now the site resides on better servers with considerably less sites.
This has given the site load times a considerable boost in performance. The change took place over the holiday weekend, as I hope you all spent time with your families instead of being online all weekend. 
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Posted by Deakster on October 5, 2009
If you have been reading the posts here at “How To A Train Puppy.com” then you may have noticed that the link urls were not entirely user friendly. Well, we changed that for you.
In the past the link structure look like this: http://how-to-train-a-puppy.net/?p=123
Not very easy to know what the post is about if you ahve the link, we agree. Now the posts will be much easier to read, like this:
http://how-to-train-a-puppy.net/pet-training-topics/training-your-dog-on-a-leash/
We hope this will make it easier for people to find the articles they need. If you have any requests, please let us know so we can do our best to answer your questions.
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Posted by Deakster on March 2, 2009
Any professional dog trainer will tell you that there is no such thing as an “un-trainable” dog. The real reason for this is because all dogs had to learn their behavior patterns from somewhere. No dog is born knowing exactly how to sit, stay, or come when called. Nor is any dog born with uncanny ability to ignore you and only you.
Because we know that all dog behavior is learned, we also know that if your dog is not well-behaved, then they simply have not learned the right stuff, yet.
Now, this does not mean anyone is a bad trainer, it just simply means your dog is not learning the stuff it needs to learn in order to be properly trained. Unfortunately many people do not realize that sometimes the deck is stacked against them when it comes to dog training.
So here are 7 common things that are working against you when you try to train your dog.
Lack of Pet Training Consistency
If your not being consistent with your training methods, then your pet will not be consistent with it’s learning. Even humans have confliction issues when we are told one thing and then told another way. Your dog needs to hear the same commands over and over again. Repetition alone is not enough, but Consistent Repetition is.
Lack of Pet Training Control
We can only directly control our pets when we are there with them. Once you leave the room you relinquish much of that control and your dog is left to depend on its training. Since the training has not taken yet, your dog does not know what it should or should not do. If there are other people in the room when you left then those people will often try to exert control over your dog in some manner. This adds additional levels of confusion for the dog be trained.
Lack of Pet Training Time
Many people feel they are too busy to train their dogs. This is a society of instant gratification. Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it does take time to train your pets. It does not need to take weeks or months if done properly, but it will not happen on the first try either. So get used to spending some amount of time to train your pet properly.
Lack of Pet Training Environment
Many people fail to consider how their environment will actually affect their pet’s ability to learn. Sure, we all remember that we like peace and quiet when we are trying to learn stuff. But what about the dog? Well the same goes for them. Find a place that is not quiet, free of distractions and away from the crowd. This will give your dogs’ full attention to you.
Lack of Pet Training Tools
There are many different training tools on the market. These could be leashes, collars, harnesses, or clickers. These tools can often make a big difference when training your pet. For instance, a clicker cannot yell at the dog. It can only click. since yelling at your dog would be bad, your dog may respond better the clicker. This will help to prevent you from yelling and your dog will hear more praise and respond better to you.
Lack of Pet Training Direction
Do you travel across the country without a map? Are you constantly getting lost? If so, then so will your dog. You need to have a well defined direction for your training. Do not simply flip a coin with your dog’s training. Make sure you know what commands you are working on during the training session and what results you expect to receive.
Lack of Pet Training Goals
If you are not sure of what results you wish to achieve, then how will you know if you have achieved results? Sounds confusing doesn’t it? You have to know and track the results of your training session. Use a notebook, pen, and maybe even a stop watch. TRack the time you spent training, the amount of times you issues a command, the distance away you got during a stay. Just track your results. When you have results to look back on then, and only then, can you make a determination of how well your training is progressing.
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Posted by Deakster on
Training your dog is a long and rewarding process. By teaching your dog to obey you, you are skyrocketing the standard of life for both dog and master.
As with any healthy relationship, both parties need to develop a knowledge of who is the boss, what their expectancies are, and so on.
Imagine having the ability to take your dog out for a stroll without being jerked around on a leash. Telling your dog to ‘stay’ and knowing that you will not have to keep your leash handy. Imagine letting your dog play with the children and knowing that no-one will need a band help or disinfectant later. When it comes to dog coaching, psychology is simple.
By rewarding good behavior, your dog will learn to enjoy obeying you, and to associate good feelings with good behavior. Likewise, your dog will learn how to dodge bad behavior, and all the headaches that would cause you, and, indirectly, your dog. That’s all there is to it.
Giving your pet rewards is a pretty pretty straightforward process – You either heap praise on the dog, give a radical petting, or give a treat, for doing good things. Care should be taken not to go overboard. If you find that you hate the idea of over-feeding your dog, you may use a strategy called ‘clicker coaching’ to accomplish the same goals.
Trained pets do not need to be able to jump through hoops, they simply need to listen when their told, and do what they are told. Through good praise, use of treats and toys, and a caring trainer, this can be accomplished with time, love and patience.
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Posted by Deakster on February 27, 2009
Many people do not understand how their voice affects what their dogs do. When you are commanding your pet to do stuff, a loud squeaky voice is not the right one to use. Dogs don’t reply well to hesitant, pleading voices, nor to screaming, which might sound to the dog like threatening barking or scolding. Best is a firm, but not yelling tone of voice.
It’s also vital the word being used for the command and the pitch of the voice be consistent everytime the command is delivered so the dog can less complicated learn what the owner means ( siiiiiiiiiiiit does not sound the same as sit, for instance ). Using the puppy’s name before a command guarantees the dog knows a command is coming, that it is for him ( instead of for other dogs, youngsters, or folk ), and he should listen.
To reinforce the command, the dog always gets some sort of reward or reinforcement ( praise and usually a treat or toy ) when it performs the action in the correct way. This helps the dog to understand that he has done a good thing. Many working breeds of dog are no longer trained to a voice command at all, they are taught to obey a mixture of whistles and hand signals.
Deaf dogs are completely capable of learning to obey visible signals alone. A lot of obedience classes teach hand signals for common commands as well as voice signals, these signals can be helpful in quiet eventualities, at a distance, and in complicated obedience competitions.
The particular command words are now not critical, though common words in English include sit, down, come, and stay. In reality, dogs can learn commands in any language or other communication medium, including whistles, mouth sounds, hand gestures, and so forth. This can become a blessing if your pet refuses or has problem with one word, you can actually replace them if needed.
Remember that both HOW and WHAT you say to your pet will make a considerable difference in your pet training.
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