Teaching your puppy the “leave it” and “drop it”commands can keep your youngster from doing something dangerous, such as eating mouse poison, rotten food and other yucky stuff, or running into the path of a speeding car.

“Leave It”

With your puppy on a leash, walk by a tempting item, such as food or a toy (you can pre-place items for this exercise). When your puppy tries to pick up the item, give a short quick tug on the leash and say, “Leave it.”

Enthusiastically praise your puppy for obeying (“Good Sparky!”). You can offer a treat reward at this time if you prefer, but praise and a pat on the head work just as well. Repeat this routine at home.

Here’s another method you can use to teach your puppy the leave it command: Hold a food treat in your closed fist. When your puppy noses your hand, say “Leave it,” and keep your fist closed. When your pup stops nosing your hand, reward with praise, then give a verbal release command (such as “okay”) and let your puppy have the treat. Continue working like this until your puppy will sit quietly without touching a nearby treat until you give the release command.

“Drop It”

When your puppy picks up a forbidden object, say, “Drop it!” and walk over to your puppy. If your pup won’t release the item, offer it a tempting treat as a trade for the item. When your puppy drops it, offer praise and a safe substitute – preferably one that’s more enticing than the forbidden item.

If your puppy runs away from you, don’t chase it – it’ll think you’re playing a game. Instead, ignore your little one and get yourself a treat from the kitchen (something you know your puppy likes). Take the treat to a puppy-accessible area and start to eat it (or pretend to eat it, if it’s a dog goodie).

Be dramatic about how yummy it is. Call your puppy over, then give the drop it command and trade the treat for the forbidden item. (Be sure to praise your youngster for obeying.) After your puppy finishes the treat, offer an acceptable toy.

Keep Your Adult Dog Entertained And Avoid Punishing Him For Sudden Mistakes

Dogs feel sadness when their family tends to ignore them or do not spend enough quality time with them. And when dogs get sad, they act up by displaying negative behaviors. This includes chewing, digging, barking incessantly, and they may even run away. These adult dogs are not acting bad on purpose. They are just reverting back to their natural canine behaviors in order to entertain themselves. And since they cannot communicate with words, they communicate with action.

Don’t Just Love Your Dog When He’s Good

Learn to love your pet unconditionally and when he misbehaves, try to seek out the reason for the behavioral problem instead of scolding or punishing the dog.  Remember that he is an adult now and is probably very well behaved most, if not all the time. This means that when he lashes out and does something wrong, it is typically related to an underlying cause which you can treat with success. Something may be lacking or out of balance with your dog. Find the cause and then provide the solution.

Keep Your Adult Dog Socialized

Sometimes as our dogs get older and become more mature, we tend to not take them out as much as we did when they were puppies. This is quite understandable since adult dogs seem to enjoy just lounging around the house in their adult years and watching TV with you. However, to keep your dogs’ mind stimulated and his social skills intact, do your best to take him out as often as possible to greet other people and other dogs.

This is the period where you can really appreciate his companionship, his friendship, and even his help around the house (depending on his level of training). The point is, is you don’t have to babysit him anymore. It is the stage in your dog’s life where he can walk alongside you off leash, sit and watch you wash your car, maybe even hold the hose for you, or just sit quietly with you in in the backyard while you read a book.

However, training should not stop just because your dog has reached adulthood. A good formula for keeping your dog’s body healthy and his mind sharp throughout his adult years is to have 3 training sessions a week. The training does not have to be laborious, nor does it have to take long.  All it takes is about 10 to 15 minutes per session, and training can be about practicing and/or improving skills that he has already learned.

There are several benefits to continue training your adult dog on a regular basis.

1. Regular training keeps his mind alert and active.
2. It keeps his body strong and in shape.
3. It serves as refresher courses to different commands and tricks that he had already acquired.
4. It keeps him aware of the rules that you have enforced for him.
5. It prevents boredom.
6. It develops great team work between you and him.
7. And best of all, it will deepen the bond that the two of you have together. If he remains active throughout the whole aspect of his life (physical, mental, social), then he will continue to play an active role in your life, be a team player, and be able to share wonderful times together.

Physical Needs Of An Adult Dog

The physical needs of your dog peaks during his developmental adolescent stage. But once he passes the adolescent stage and reaches adulthood, his physical needs will arrive at a period where there will be no significant change to the amount of exercise that his body needs to stay healthy.

As an adult dog, the amount of exercise that his body requires will depend on his size, breed, and personality type. Continue with the regular walks and occasional runs. A game of ball should also be on your list, as well as swimming if your dog likes being in the water. If you have a large and/or energetic dog, you may have to do more than those listed above. If you have a small and/or less active dog, you will still need to give him exercise. You just have to tame it down, depending on his level of endurance.

Mental Needs Of Your Adult Dog

The more you teach your dog, regardless of his age, breed, and personality, the better he will become at all levels of his life. Training your dog to perform certain tasks gives him purpose, which in turn greatly improves the quality of his life. Once your dog learns certain skills, he is no longer just your pet.  He becomes more of a friend, a companion, a helper, someone to enjoy more wonderful times with.

Providing your dog with knowledge gives him freedom to do more things.  Having the skills to listen, to respond properly to your commands, and the ability to be trained gives him the advantage to explore more and learn more.  Instead of staying inside the home all day by himself, you can take him to different places and share more activities with you.

Teach your pal something new each week. This will keep him confident and keep his mind  stimulated and alert. Being able to think clearly in his adult life will benefit him when he reaches old age.

If your dog’s intelligence is above average or if is an energetic working breed, you will have to train him more, even in his adult years. Highly intelligent dogs need to have a job to do to keep  them entertained, prevent them from becoming bored, and also prevent them from developing destructive behaviors.

Extra training and mental activity is required if you have a working breed. Working breeds need to be worked more to keep them busy and  problem-free. A few examples of working breeds are Border Collies, Great Danes, Australian Cattle Dogs, German Shepherds, Australian Shepherds, Rottweilers, and Old English Sheepdogs. These dogs need to think more and do more to stay happy.

Giving your adult dog his regular mental exercise will keep his mind clear, keep him occupied, and prevent boredom. Boredom leads to dissatisfaction, which in turn leads to negative behavior. Regardless of the amount of training and skills he acquired during puppyhood and his adolescent stage, he is likely to develop destructive behaviors again unless you give him a job to do.

The old adage “use it or lose it” not only applies to humans, but to our canine friends as well. Your dog needs to brush up on his skills and talents on a regular basis, otherwise he will forget them. It is that simple!

A child does not start school in the sixth grade; she has to start in pre-school or kindergarten. There, she is taught how to get along with others her own age, how to play, how to fit in, how to share, and perhaps most importantly, how to learn. For dogs, basic obedience training accomplishes very much the same as pre-school or kindergarten does for the child.

Most families are very happy when their dog learns to eat indoors and use the bathroom outdoors, while other dog owners are not content until their dog can really “fit in” with the family.

In order to fit in, however, the dog must respond to commands so that he can be well controlled. The five commands necessary for control are “Come”, “Stay”, “Sit”, “Heel”, and “Down”. For the dog to be considered obedient, he must respond to each of those commands each time they are given by his family.

When a dog receives training in basic obedience, he becomes more of a joy to live with. The owner has the ability to communicate with his dog while the dog attains the ability to comprehend some words of the English language. Basic training, therefore, is considered the training essential for good behavior.

However, the dog is capable of learning more than just basic obedience commands, just as the graduate from elementary school has the ability to learn more than just simple writing, reading, and basic arithmetic. The similarity between a child and a dog doesn’t stop there, either. When a child goes to high school, he finds the going just a bit tougher than it was in grade school. He must work a little harder, and so does the canine that goes on into advanced obedience training.

To better understand the various levels of obedience training that a dog can achieve, you can find out more from the different obedience titles that a canine can win as a result of competition in American Kennel Club obedience trials. These trials are divided into classes, or grades, of competition, as compared to grade school, high school, and college.

What encourages a dog to display such aggressiveness?

As we stated earlier, it is natural for your dog to want to defend his home and make it known that the area is his territory. However, the following scenarios may cause your dog’s aggression over his territory to escalate:

1. Aggression is reinforced in a dog whenever, for example, a delivery person approaches the house and then after dropping off a package he leaves the territory.  Your dog actually thinks that he drove the stranger away and this in itself creates more aggression.

2. When riding in a car, a dog with extreme territorial aggression tends to bark incessantly at every person he sees and every moving thing outside the window.  He is saying to them “stay away, this is my territory!”  And of course nobody is going to approach the car so your dog actually thinks he is “winning”. Therefore, the dog will bark even lower to celebrate his victory.

3. Another very common reason why a dog may increase his levels of barking and aggression is whenever he is acting up and barking at the door (for whatever reason) and the owner starts to yell at him in order to shut him up.  Most dog owners do not realize that yelling at their dog is doing nothing but creating more aggression. A dog will think that you are “supporting” his aggression towards the approaching stranger or delivery person.

4. A fourth reason why a dog may have heightened levels of territorial aggression is whenever he is isolated or locked up when there are guests and strangers inside the house.  When you first think about it, it seems very reasonable to take your barking dog and lock him up in a room or crate whenever you have guests. However, during this time, your dog can smell the “intruders” and since he can do nothing about it, is aggression levels can rise dramatically, causing stress and anxiety, which of course leads to more behavioral problems.

“Just before my neighbor’s 100-pound, 9-month-old chocolate Labrador Retriever was about the be thrown away to the nearest animal shelter for doing what comes natural – jumping up on everyone, running away every chance he could, and barking non-stop at anyone or anything – I was able to save the dog by taking him in myself,” Jim says.

“He’s had no training; he chews everything in sight and isn’t housetrained. His owners had no idea how to train or control the dog, so they gave up on him.”

This big puppy is the perfect example of why puppy classes are so important. Give your dog a head start in life by enrolling in puppy kindergarten classes. You don’t want him growing up and getting bigger, only to cause too much trouble for the family that he will need to be given up. Finding a new home for those types of untrained adult dogs is extremely difficult.

The Importance Of Puppy School

Early training for puppies can be compared to preschool or kindergarten for young children. The information being taught is vitally important for their future, yet the teaching process is designed for young minds with short attention spans.

In addition, in these classes young puppies and young children learn how to get along with each other. They learn to hold still when the teacher is talking, and how to play without hurting each other – all very important lessons.

Puppy class has so many benefits – so much so that many breeders require their new puppy buyers to attend these classes; some actually put that requirement into the sales contract. I’ve personally seen the success that puppy schools have; owners are happier because they learn how to communicate with their puppies and how to use their training.

Mario Lopez, a breeder from San Antonio, Texas, says this about his customers: “When I’m screening potential puppy buyers, I ask up front if they have the time to train and can promise to take the puppy through kindergarten (and adult) classes.”

Mario goes on to say, “Taking a puppy to class helps establish a rapport between puppy and owner. Going to a class gives you a special time to focus on your puppy without distractions at home.”

The education provided in a puppy class isn’t just for the puppies, though. It’s important that puppy owners learn what to do and how to do it with their puppies. They need to learn how to turn their puppies into good companions at home.

Ideally, the puppy-class instructor will demonstrate each command, showing you how to teach your puppy. Most instructors will demonstrate with one of their own dogs first, then with an untrained puppy in the class. By demonstrating with one of the puppies enrolled in the class you can see the technique in action. After all, the instructor’s dog is already trained and will make it look so easy!

After demonstrating a command, the instructor will then have everyone try it with their own puppies. He or she will help those that are having trouble understanding or performing the training techniques, and will show alternative techniques for the puppies that are having trouble. When everyone (owners and puppies) understand, the instructor will move on to the next exercise.

The techniques and methods used by dog trainers and instructors vary, depending upon the individual’s likes, dislikes and background. No one technique is right or wrong, as long as it is humane, fair to the puppy, and easy for puppy owners to learn.

There are a few bad training methods – those that aren’t humane or are too difficult for pet owners to learn, but most trainers keep puppy training positive, with lots of positive reinforcements (such as praise, petting and treats), while also teaching you how to set rules and guidelines for your puppy.

The puppy-class instructor will also give examples of how to use these commands in daily life, and that’s one of the most important lessons you can learn from these classes. After all, training is not just for those few minutes when you and your puppy are in class – it’s for your dog’s lifetime. When you know how to use these commands, and how to make them work for you, training is much more effective.

Important Tip: Use The Basic Commands Daily

The basic obedience commands you and your dog learn in puppy school are for much more than simply having your puppy perform them on command. Instead, they should be used throughout your puppy’s daily routine. By using the basic commands, you can teach your puppy acceptable behavior at home, as well as out in public, to prevent bad behavior from occurring.

Puppies that are exposed to a variety of people learn that people come in all shapes, sizes, colors and ages, and that people are fun to be around. Puppies that are exposed to friendly puppies and dogs learn that dogs, too, come in all sizes, shapes, colors and ages, and that other dogs are fun as well.

Puppy play sessions should be held in a secure location (a fenced-in training yard, for example), and on a surface that’s safe for the puppies. Concrete isn’t good; nor is a slick floor – both for obvious reasons.

If the puppies are all about the same age, large and small puppies can play together. However, if there are some very large puppies and some toy or small breed puppies, two play groups should be set up, with puppies matched for size. The puppies should be allowed to play by themselves with as little interference from owners as possible; this is the puppies’ time to play – not the owners!

On the other hand, puppies that are being bullied (overly rough play or biting) can be picked up by the instructor and given a time out. They can go back to the playtime when they’ve calmed down. It may take two or three play sessions for some puppies to figure out they’re not allowed to be bullies.

“Interacting with other people and dogs at a young age builds the puppy’s confidence and gives it the impression that the world is a friendly place and nothing to be afraid of,” says Samantha Morrison, a local staff member of the San Diego Dog Training Center in California. “Once you remove the doubt from a puppy’s world, learning the house rules and building new skills is quite simple.”

Dog’s that aren’t socialized when they’re young are often afraid, even to the point of biting, when meeting new people or dogs; or can react in a more aggressive manner, trying to attack the unknown person or dog. Others simply don’t know how to behave around other dogs because they haven’t had any practice.

Although you can and should socialize your new puppy on your own, a puppy class provides a safe place for socialization under an instructor’s guidance and supervision. In addition, most puppy classes require participants to show proof of immunization (at least the first set of vaccines), so you can be sure your puppy won’t contract any communicable diseases such as parvovirus, which can be fatal to young puppies.

A significant part of puppy class also teaches you how to prevent future problem behaviors. For example, by teaching your puppy to sit and stay at an open door or gate, you can prevent your puppy from learning to dash through that opening to the outside world, and perhaps running away or getting hit by a car. When your puppy learns to sit for petting, jumping on people is no longer a problem.

A puppy class should set up practical solutions because often, it’s everyday routines that cause the biggest problems for the pet dog owner. The class should also address problems within the family over the pup, including inconsistent training.

Finding The Perfect Puppy Class

There are many ways to find a great puppy training class. Like any business, reputation and referrals are the best. Look at dogs you admire and ask the owners where they went to class. If you and your puppy go for a walk and you see a wonderfully behaved, friendly dog, do just that. People love to talk about their dogs, and will gladly share dog training stories with you.

You can also call around to local veterinarians and ask where they recommend their clients take their puppies for training. Veterinarians and their staff see all kinds of dogs, including those that are well-trained and easy to handle, as well as dogs that have no training at all and are difficult to treat.

When you have the names and phone numbers of a few different trainers, give them a call and talk for a few minutes. Ask where they train. Is it in a public place that might be a hazard to a puppy or do they have a private, enclosed training yard? What steps have they taken for the participants’ safety, particularly for small dogs? When do they recommend puppies begin training? What vaccinations do they require?

Then ask if you can come back and watch a class. Leave your puppy at home and watch how the instructor teaches the class. How does the instructor teach the students? Are the students attentive? Are they having fun? Does the instructor relate well to the dogs in class? Is the instructor’s dog well-behaved? After watching the class, would you be comfortable in this class?

As you watch the class, keep in mind that every trainer and instructor has his or her own training style and techniques. Some trainers use clickers; others use positive methods, such as food treats but no clickers; and some trainers use other techniques. Choose something that you would feel comfortable with and that works best for you and your dog.