Training your Newly Adopted Puppy or Dog

Here at the White Oak Animal Safe Haven, we are always trying to research new ways on training your new pet.  Before you adopt, you must realize that taking care of pet is a lot of work and that it requires a lot of time.  Training is really important to ensure that your dog behaves well in any situation. 

There are a lot of easy ways to train your dog.  Since we are a No-Kill Shelter, most of our animals come from abused homes, or were strays before.  They have never had a stable home environment to be trained in.  Here are some safe trips on how to train:

·         Stay & Stop are very important commands to teach.  Make sure these are the first few lessons to learn.  If it is an older and more hyper dog.  You will need to take extra time on these to ensure that they understand you. 

·         Be consistent. Make sure the signals and commands that you use are the same each time.  You should spend at least 15-20 minutes per day with your new dog.

• When using voice commands, use a firm voice.  You want the dog to know that you are the one in charge.  Do not plead, ask or whisper, the dog will think you are too timid to speak up and he will think HE is the dominant one, not you. Also, don't scream, the dog will think you are angry.  Their past owners may have yelled, therefore they could become aggressive or frightened. 
• When your dog understands your voice commands, then you can add hand signals to the command in your training as well. That way if they cannot hear you but they can see you, you can always keep control of your dog.
• Realize that your puppy will have accidents. Don't overreact *Do not allow your dog to bite you, even playfully. This sets a bad precedent and it will be difficult for you to break them of this habit.
• If you dog should whine or bark when you don't want them to, use your hand over their muzzle and close their mouth. Then say a stern  "No" very close to their face, long and low so it sound almost like a growl.
• If your dog is disobedient, another good way to reprimand them is to isolate them from the you, your family, or the rest of the animals (if you have more than one).  Put them in their crate or kennel and ignore them. Isolation from the pack is dog language for "you've been bad and we don't like it". Your dog will understand it. They may even whine and howl but you have to ignore it. Think of it as a "time out" for your dog.

Make sure you are consistent with everything that you do, and your dog should listen to what you do and say.  Remember that you are the dominant one, and not the other way around. 

Reference

**Special Thanks **

To all of the wonderful people that attended our pool party this past weekend!  We all had such a fun time at the Youghiogheny Country Club dancing, hula hooping, and relaxing for a good cause.  To see pictures from the event, click here.