Tag - canine life skills

potty on command

Teach Your Puppy to Potty on Command

Why teach your puppy to potty on command? Because sometimes you need your dog to do their business right away and not be distracted by by smells or more interesting things.

To do this we give them a command to communicate that it’s time to pee or poop. First, your dog needs to learn Word + Action.

Choose your potty commands. You will want two separate potty commands. One for pee and one for poop. I use words like “go pee” or “potty” and “do your business” or “go poo”. You can be creative if you wish but simple is better.

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Training a German Shepherd

Training a German Shepherd Dog

We train a German Shepherd the same way we train any dog. Using the basic commands: heel, sit, down, come, wait, place, off and out to give us the foundation to expand on in different situations and around more difficult distractions.

Exercise is important for this breed and the more structured the better. (more…)

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Dogs and intestinal worms

Canine Intestinal Worms: How to Treat Them

Canine Intestinal Worms

There are four primary types of canine intestinal worms that can infect your dog. They are Hookworms, Roundworms, Tapeworms, and Whipworms.

Hookworms

Hookworms attach themselves to the wall of the intestine and feed on the dog’s blood. Adult worms lay eggs that are passed with the dog’s feces. In 1-3 weeks the eggs hatch and the larvae are released. Dogs can be infected by ingesting the larvae from contaminated soil or water, eating infected wildlife, through the skin, from nursing, or by being passed from a pregnant bitch to her puppies.

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House Training a New Puppy

House Training a New Puppy

 House Training a New Puppy: Puppy Training Tips

When house training a new puppy, supervision is the key to success. Until your puppy is reliable you must keep a close eye on him at all times. The easiest method is the tether. Attach a six foot leash to your puppy’s collar and attach to your pocket or belt loop. This way the puppy is never six feet out of reach and you can use the leash to escort him quickly outside.

Tether your puppy to you until the he becomes reliable so you always have him under 100% supervision. Continue keeping a watchful eye on him for signs he needs to go out such as lots of sniffing, squatting or circling. When it is not possible to have his tether on put him in his crate.

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Avoid mistakes when bringing home your new dog

Avoid Mistakes When Bringing Home Your New Dog

Set up for success.

Bringing home your new dog is an exciting experience! A common mistake adopters make is giving the new dog too much freedom too soon. Freedom should be earned slowly as the new dog becomes more reliable with housetraining and the new owners have some basic control of the dog.

Before bringing home your new dog, we suggest investing in a crate. Crate training is the fastest and safest way to housetrain the new dog/puppy. Even if the dog was reliable in the previous home, accidents happen.

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Teaching your dog the meaning of language

Teaching Your Dog: The Meaning of Language

My name is not a command!

Teaching your dog the meaning of language and commands is a major part of owner and dog communication. You can train your dog using his name before a command as in “Joe Come” or even use his name as encouragement after calling him but his name itself should never be used alone as the command.

Say for instance, you always call your dog’s name, “Joe”, to get him to come to you. The word “Joe” has now taken on the meaning of the command “Come”.

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