Make The Lessons Enjoyable

Dogs have extremely short attention spans. The younger the pup, the quicker he'll get bored and inattentive. I never train any dog intensively for more than 20 minutes - 10 minutes is the limit with young puppies - and I rarely give a dog more than one session a day. It's an iron-clad rule that as soon as I find myself getting impatient with a dog, I stop the lesson. I quickly give the dog a command that I know he'll obey, praise him for it, and then call it quits. It's important that the lesson end on this note of praise.

You can start intensive training as early as six months - as long as you don't expect the puppy to be as quick to learn or as precise in his performance as an older dog. At the other end of the age scale, he says you definitely can teach an old dog new tricks - for example, five basic commands. But generally impossible to break old dogs of long-time, deeply ingrained habits like barking, sleeping on couches, or chasing cars. You may get them to stop it in your presence, but they'll be doing it again as soon as your back is turned.

The Importance of Consistency

While keeping the intensive training periods short and sweet, its just the background for the continuing but more casual training that goes on all day long. Throughout the day, in all contact with the dogs, I take advantage of every opportunity that arises, big and little, to remind the dog of his lessons. Whenever I see a dog about to sit down, I tell him 'Sit' and then praise him for doing it. With a dog that I know likes to ride in a car, I never just open the car door and let him jump in; I first go to the car, open the door - and then when he sees me, and I know he's going to rush at the car, I call “Come”. In all of the off-leash training, I`m constantly working with, never against, the grain of the dog's normal reactions.

When a dog is off the leash, never give him a command you know he won't obey because you have no way of enforcing it, and you'll only teach him that you don't really mean what you say. For instance, if an untrained dog is running happily around a field, it's worse than useless to tell him 'Come'. The thing to do is turn and start walking away, then very often he'll run after you - and that's the time to turn around, call, 'Come', and then praise him for obeying. In fact, without this kind of follow-up the intensive lessons are largely wasted.

For whenever you relax and let a dog ignore the rules he has been taught, you're simply bewildering the animal. In fact, if your dog does something in your presence that violates his training rules and you're not in a position to correct him, by far the best thing is to pretend you didn't see it. For dogs are constantly observing their masters, trying to figure out what they want.

Teach Respect, Not Love

Many people spend a large portion of their time actually courting their dog feeding him at the table, or rewarding him with a cookie for every little thing he does, or letting him curl up on a couch. In fact, a lot households have completely adapted themselves to the desires of the dog, rather than vice versa. A dog has to be trained to respect, not to love, his master. They automatically loves me simply because I am his master.

When dealing with half-dozen dogs, there is no question of the respect they held for me. It was not a matter of fear-their tails were wagging, and they bark happily when I approach. But it is unmistakable that they know that I am in charge. The manner toward me is the key to it; it is friendly but commanding, warm but not effusive. I told them, I like you, but I expect obedience.

The reward I bestow for proper performance is just a gentle pat on the head and a quiet, "Good dog." There is no bribes. And that attitude is the key to the whole business of training a dog: being in command of the situation. Once the trainer establishes the fact that he is the leader, half the battle is won. Thereafter, the dog will happily fall into the role of follower. Then it's just a matter of knowing the communication techniques that will get across to him, as a loyal follower, he's expected to do.