Raising Cockapoo Dogs The Right Way

Sir Simon on the cover of 
Raising Cockapoo Dogs The Right Way

Thinking about getting a Cockapoo pup or dog?

Let this newly published ebook help guide you through your pup's first two years. It covers preparing for a new pup, housetraining, obedience training and deciding the best way to groom your Poo through common Cockapo medical issues.

Best of all it spotlights Prince Alvin and Sir Simon in all their Cockapooness (or is it Cockerpooness?). Whatever! Be prepared and avoid common mistakes with your pup!
Click http://booklocker.com/books/6015.html for your copy.

COME Command Not Working? Solution: The Recall Game!

Does your dog look the other way when you say Come?
(This is Alvin's modus operandi)

RECALL This! I Ain't Moving.

Or does he run happily to you EVERY time you use the Come command?
(This is Simon's modus operandi)

So what happened so that one dog ignores the command and the other enthusiastically bounds to you every time you issue the command?

DRUM ROLL please!

Training of course! And taking advantage of puppy shadowing. And playing The Recall Game!

How can you find out about The Recall Game? On a dog forum! Many dog forum threads are fluff, or drippy, or spam. But on occasion, a thread will communicate a workable idea.

The Recall Game is such a post. It's a step-by-step explanation of how to get your dog to come every time, no exceptions. Best of all - your dog will love playing this game!

valmillsy

P.S. Always remember (and never forget) to check out the "Bible" of Dog Training, the best-selling Kingdom of Pets Secrets To Dog Training:

More Obedience Tips From the Certified Dog Trainer

Simon Sez: "But I AM Down"

Yesterday was the third puppy social Simon and I attended. We both gain from these events. He socializes and I learn from the trainer-in-charge who held an informal mini-class for the owners.

Here's the tips I picked up from the social:

Instant Down Command
You want your pup to lie down without a hand signal. Say the word Down BEFORE you lure the dog into a down. Saying Down as you lure doesn't work. The action requires a lot of repetition.

Training Food
I'm using hotdogs as training treats. Problem is - Alvin and Simon are refusing their normal meals of kibbles - they expect hotdogs at meal time.

The trainer's comment was a simple "They won't starve themselves. They'll learn that meal time doesn't include hotdogs." In other words, don't worry about it!

Train Stay and Come As Separate Commands
I got into the habit as requesting a Stay followed by a Come. I noticed the dogs' anticipation of Come after a Stay. They both start moving to the expected reward.

These two commands should NOT be coupled to avoid the reaction I noticed.

These training tweaks are incorporated into the do-it-yourself DVD and Dog Training Guide I've been referencing (see Time To Check With The Experts), but I've been ignoring my own advice! Duh!

valmillsy

The Most Important Dog Training Secret for New Puppy Owners

Recently, I wrote an answer to a puppy training question on yahoo answers. People say that some of those questions are really dumb. And they may be right, but really dumb questions can raise excellent issues that impact all of us dog lovers.

For example, the questioner wrote: "But we went to puppy training class so he remembers SOME commands." My response: Why doesn't he respond to ALL the commands taught in the puppy training class?
Puppy Learning (your dog) and Puppy Training (you)
Clearly, the commands learned in the class were not reinforced in the case of the yahoo answers questioner.

Let's take a look at this issue from the standpoint of the way a dog learns. Do you show a puppy how to sit 10 times and then expected him to know the verbal command and the hand signal? And then you stop training him?

Puppy learning (your dog) and puppy training (you) are ongoing processes. For example, I was gone for a week when we brought Simon home from PA. When I came back, Alvin (6 months at the time) wasn't responding to simple obedience commands. No one had bothered to reinforce "Sit," "Down," "Stay," and "Come" while I was gone. He hadn't forgotten them; he just wasn't used to doing them.

The Puppy Training Secret

Okay, it's not really a secret, but I needed to get your attention. It's more like common sense. I had to jog Alvin's memory - every day. I remembered the dog trainer mantra from the It's PAWSible! Dog Training and Puppy Training DVD - incorporate the commands into daily living and make the dog work for his rewards.

Of course you need to reinforce basic obedience training with short fun sessions on a daily basis, especially when you're teaching a new command. But the real secret to teaching dog obedience is to make it part of everyday activities.

But how to you make basic obedience part of your daily routine? Think about the times you interact with your dog(s) during the day and see what commands you can incorporate into your interactions.

Examples

1. You're bringing your dog in from outdoors. Ask him to Sit and Stay, and once you've walked through the door into your home, ask him to Come. Same activity going out the door, unless the dog really has to go!
2. Before you put his full food disk on the floor, ask for a Sit or a Down.
3. Your new puppy is shadowing you all over the house. As he's following you, stop, say Come, and lavish a lot of praise.
4. Alvin gets an occasional ice cube to supplement his drinking water. I get him to lie down, put the ice cube a foot in front of him, and say "Leave It." Once he looks at me, I say "Okay," and he gets the ice cube.
5. Simon (14 weeks) is leased in the house sometimes because he's not fully housetrained. So we practice the Stay and Come commands a lot.

I'm sure you can think of other situations where you can use the obedience commands. Once you've done these reinforcing activities for a few weeks, they become part of the routine. You will find that it'll make life easier for you and you will have a well-trained dog in no time. As a new puppy owner myself, anything that makes life easier is a gift!
valmillsy

FREE Dog/Puppy Training Ebook

I consolidated the six blogs about dog training (Are You Training Your Dog Or Is He Training You) into an ebook. It contains resources as well as my experiences with Alvin and Simon.

Here are the sections of the ebook:

Introduction

• Dog Training as an Ongoing Process
• Why Dog Training Is So Critical
• Types of Training Covered in This Book

Training Foundation: 8 Concepts to Understand Before You Begin Dog Training

• Are You Committed to Training Your Dog?
• Establish Yourself as the Leader of the Pack
• Your Dog is a Family Member
• Communicate with Your Dog
• Patience and Consistency are Mandatory
• Rewards Work, Punishment Does NOT Work
• Show Respect for Your Pup
• Dogs Deserve EXCELLENT Treatment

HouseTraining

• Internet Search
• Housetraining Alvin
• Housetraining Simon
• References

Obedience Commands

• Basic Commands
• Lesson Learned

Overcoming Aggressive Behavior

• An Example -Whining
• When Your Training is Not Working
• Dog Forums
• Your Vet
• A Certified Dog Trainer

Advanced Commands

valmillsy

Are YOU Training Your Dog or Is HE Training You (4 of 6)?

This is the fourth in a series of blogs about dog training:

Introduction
Training Foundation
HouseTraining
Obedience Commands (you are here)
Overcoming Aggressive Behavior
Advanced Commands/Tricks

Obedience Commands

I refused to take Alvin to one of those puppy obedience classes. Not only did it cost too much, but I wanted something I could use over and over again. So I checked out the dog training DVDs on Amazon and came up with It's PAWSible! Dog Training and Puppy Training DVD
This DVD is the best substitute for formal training you will find for both basic commands and some of the more advanced commands.

Here’s why:

• It’s truly well thought out train-the-trainer approach so that owner can correctly train their animals as long as you are consistent and patient with your dog.
• It’s a highly organized five-week training program you can easily follow.
• The instructor demonstrates commands using puppies and dogs who have had no previous training as well as the instructor’s trained dogs.

These are the basic commands I taught Alvin using this DVD (which I played so many times I started sounding like the instructor):

• Sit


• Down


• Stay - The pup needs to know Sit and Down first. Then teach “Stay” gradually from both the Sit and Stay. Stay is a gradual training from small steps to larger ones.


• Come - This is the most important command and of course, it’s also the command that’s the most difficult to teach to get the highest percentage of recall. Alvin is rarely let off leash because we have not perfected the Come command.


• No (not in the DVD, but essential to arrest negative behavior) - You need to say this word with conviction and every human family member has to practice the same degree of conviction (words of wisdom from Alvin’s vet). Alvin tends to backback when reprimanded but we ignore his belligerence.


• Leave It


• Drop It


• Leash Training - This is another training process that tends to take a lot of time for some dogs. Alvin pulls constantly so the walks are short to modify his pulling habit.

There are other basic commands, but the ones mentioned above are the most critical.

The most important lesson I learned from It's PAWSible! Dog Training and Puppy Training DVD (and Alvin) is as follows:

These commands must be repeated in short training sessions on a daily basis and reinforced whenever possible.

For example, Alvin is required to sit and stay before he goes outside and before he comes inside. He comes in and goes out after I do. This did not happen overnight, but after a lot of repetition.

And Alvin is by no means the perfectly trained dog (yet) as you will see in the next blog about overcoming aggressive behavior (this blog and the next will publish on approximately 8/10/2009).

valmillsy