Training Your Puppy.

[Dunc]

The best method of beginning to train your puppy is to use treats. Be sure to only use treats made specifically for dogs and never give your puppy or dog human chocolate as it is poisonous to dogs and can kill them!

To encourage your puppy to sit, hold the chosen treat in front of her nose and slowly raise it up and back, this will encourage the puppy to raise her head and lower her bottom. As soon as her bottom touches the floor, say Sit and give the treat along with praise. It is also a good idea to make her sit for her dinner, this way she will learn to wait and not jump up at the bowl.

Down can be taught two ways.

First, take a treat and hold it in front of your puppys nose, move it slowly down between her front legs and out along the floor, encouraging her to lay down, as soon as she is in the down position say Down and give the treat.

Second, sit on the floor with your knees bent to form a tunnel. Have the puppy one side of the upside-down V made by your knees, take the treat slowly through the tunnel, again as soon as she is in the down position say Down and give the treat followed by Good girl.

This type of training is called positive reinforcement, reinforcing good behaviour by giving a reward. As you progress in your training, you can cut down on the treats and simply use praise as a reward, most adult dogs will work just fine only getting praise as a reward.

As well as learning from your voice, your puppy should also learn from the hand signals you give. For example, when you raise the treat to achieve Sit you are raising your hand. Continuing to raise your hand as you ask for Sit even without a treat will help your puppy to associate the signal with the command. Eventually, your puppy should obey just the hand signal without any voice command. This may be all you have to command your dog with in her senior years when her hearing may not be so good.

It is good practise to always use clear, consistent hand signals for the various commands that you will be teaching your dog throughout her life.

[Jeff]

Dunc,

Very interesting training tips,have you any more.

Jeff

[Sarah]

1. Go through doors and passage ways before your dog.

Rite of passage is important to dogs, and the alpha has the right first.

2. Eat first--then feed your dog.

3. If your dog is blocking your path, make him move out of your way--do not go around or step over him. Sub-ordinate animals move for the alpha.

4. Call your dog to you for petting and attention. Don't go to him. Use Call Name only when good. When bad just say" Bad Dog Bad Puppy" And reward him. Motivation and Reward.We all need a good reason to do things well. Praise Praise and LOVE

5. When coming home,if your dog does not come to greet you, ignore him. If you go running to your dog then,

you are treating him as the ALPHA.

6.When you play with your dog, be sure that you end up with possession of the toy, and then put it up.

7. Don't allow your dog to sleep on the bed with you. At best you are making him equal with you. (Of course, we all let up on this one after our alphaness is firmly established.)

8. Practice trust/dominance exercises. Gently put your dog down on his side or back and touch his ears, paws, etc. and give him a massage to make it all pleasant for him. Offer treats if he doesn't want his paws touched while you are touching his paws. (This helps later when you have to trim the toe nails.)

9. Be your dogs leader. Prove to him that he can trust you in all situations, and that you will provide for his every need. Be consistent in enforcing all rules of the house. Establish regular routines that he can depend on.

10. Practice "doggy" discipline, that is when your dog engages in undesirable behavior, discipline him in a way that he understands. Give him a scruff shake and a grunt or growl. You must catch him in the act for discipline to be effective, however, or he won't understand for what he is being corrected. With huskies it is best to make direct EYE contact. Huskies like wolves talk with their eyes And Talk to your Husky.

11. Practice taking objects from him, toys, food, etc. Start by trading the object for a yummy treat. Then give back the object back to him. Get him used to your hands around his food bowl. Start by adding yummy treats while he is eating. Work up to removing his food bowl while eating to add the treats, then replacing the bowl for him to resume eating. You can eventually work up to actually slipping your hand in to remove food while he is eating.

12. Chewing - Puppies cannot help chewing, they teeth just like all babies. This can be most annoying and become a habit that is hard to break. When puppy is small and starts to nip and bit ( take his open mouth and hold it gently shut with your hand , like an alligator mouth, and say NO in a firm regular voice. Every time puppy does this. Then from the beginning puppy will know, OPEN MOUTH BITING AND CHEWING IS NO. It also helps to get baby teething rings and old socks etc, put them in the freezer, when frozen give them to puppy to chew to sooth the gums.

13.It helps to keep huskies on a Harness plus collar for Tags and identification. Animals attack at the throat and jugular vein. So to tug or try to train a husky by yanking on his neck,sends an ALARM signal of DANGER to him. Thus he balks. By keeping a standard harness from pet shop, it hooks to his back and feels comfortable

and he is much easier to control and teach. But Try leash training first.

14: Most important when beginning training. Teach the puppy his NAME: use the CALL name FIRST. Example

Sunny : Come! -Sunny: Sit! =treat Never use the command first and the call name after the command. Eg: Come here Sunny. -Sit Sunny. We all pay attention when we hear our name called but not necessarily when people are just talking. So put emphases the puppy name you have chosen. Now you have the beginning foundation for your training

and the walls that will hold your training together.

15: Do not expect too much from your puppy.Remember we all learn at our own pace and in a step by step lesson.

Just like teaching your child or a friend. Slow and patience.

There are many more things that you can do, but these are good starting points for becoming your dog's friend. Remember that security and trust are important to a dog, and a good training provides security and can always be trusted.

Remember another point The Key to success is love and commitment.