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.
**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.
