Dog Obedience Training

Ok, so you are in a dog relationship with an older dog and you not happy with how it's going. Or, you are just starting a dog relationship with a new puppy and you want it to go well, but you are worried about making it last into a long term relationship. Whoa! you aren't going to marry this dog, are you? Well, it's almost like marriage, but in this relationship you really can train your spouse.

Dog Obedience

That is why you are here - to see if there is some way to get your puppy obedience training on track or to improve your relationship with your adult dog, through a dog training book or program. This site can help you select among the dog training resources and pick what is best for you. The Obedience Training Book Review page gives a review of each of the major obedience training books available on the internet.

The Alpha Dog

Dogs are pack animals and you have to be the leader of the pack, the Alpha Dog. The Alpha dog issue is is at the beginning of each of the dog training books and you can't successfully train your dog without understanding and appreciating this part of dog behavior. Not only is being the Alpha Dog important for you to be successful, it is what your dog really wants. Pack animals want a leader. So you need to be the Alpha. I have a little fun with this issue on the Alpha Dog page, by "thinking like a dog."

Positive vs. Negative Training

This is one of those issues where you just have to decide on your own, what your philosophy is. No one can tell you what is right and what is wrong. Just to clarify, the Positive approach is that rewarding good behavior is all that is required in training a dog. The Negative approach is that rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior are both required for proper training of a dog.

The "positives" will claim that they can train any dog using only rewards for good behavior. So, if that can be done, why bother with any punishment? The "negatives" will claim that a reward and punishment approach will train the dog faster and it is normal since bad behavior will often get punished in nature anyway. An example used is that a mother dog will nip at a puppy with bad behavior and will pick them up by the scruff of the neck and remove them from an area. (Similar to a yank on a leash for the dog trainer.) Also, the Alpha dog of a pack will punish a pack dog that challenges the Alpha. The "negatives" will also clarify that punishment is not injuring your dog, it is just providing a negative response to wrong or bad behavior - scolding, a yank on the leash, smack on the butt, etc.

Rating & Reviewing the Books

For the reviews of the dog obedience training programs, I have purchased them and can give you some additional insight as to what to expect if you buy them. It can be hard to make a decision on a dog training book because you really just don't know what you will get until after you buy it. This site can help you decide, since I have already checked them all out.

You may need some time to think about this choice, so you can easily come back later to review the information again by adding this page to your favorites.

Housetraining a Dog - The Rules of the House

Some dog trainers separate the term "housetraining" from toilet or potty training. They feel that housetraining is training a dog about his do's and don'ts in the house - which room can be accessed, can chairs and sofas be climbed on or not, etc. Basically, the rules of the house. Several of the obedience training books cover this topic also, however, for this site I will stick to referring to potty training, toilet training, and house training as the same thing. Two of the best potty training books, use House Training in their titles. So I will stay consistent with that. I'll use "Rules of the House" for issues associated with training your dog about where she is allowed in the house.

Good luck to you in your transformation into the Alpha Dog of the house, you and your dog will each be happier!

Go to the Alpha Dog Page

Go to the Obedience Training Book Reviews page.

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