Teaching with food

The basis of positive “heeling” —as with other obedience exercises—is finding an enticing reward—such as food—and using it as a lure. Holding your dog's leash in your right hand, while taking up its slack in your left, start with your dog on your left and tell him to “Sit!” While holding a food tidbit in your left hand, bring it to his nose and say, “Spot, HEEL!” in a bright voice. Next, walk briskly for about ten paces, keeping the food slightly elevated at your side. When you stop (not too abruptly!), lift the treat slightly or pull up on the lead so that your dog sits. Now you can reward him.

It is important to start training your new puppy as soon as you bring it home. Training can be done yourself or a professional can be hired. Local dog training classes are often available. Ask your veterinarian to recommend a trainer or look in your local newspaper for a trainer in your area.

teaching your dog to stay

Once your dog knows its name and the sit command, another key thing for it to learn is the "stay" command. The stay command is used to make your dog stay put. It is extremely useful in circumstances where the dog might approach something it's not supposed to. Classic examples are when someone rings the doorbell and people are being let in, or outdoors when your dog might want to chase something it is interested in, something like a skunk perhaps.

Dog training - sit - The procedure

The goal is for the dog to put its bum on the floor with its head up looking at you whenever you say 'sit'. The dog should already know and respond to its name. Start the exercise in a quiet room and use a calm voice. Call your dog by its name and show your dog a treat that it loves and have plenty of other treats in your pocket. While the dog is standing show and hold the treat close to the dog's nose and then move it just above its head while moving the treat slowly backwards. The dog should naturally get into the sit position by bending its legs. As its legs are bending say 'sit'. The very second the dog sits, give it the reward and enthusiastically say 'Good dog!' and give the dog a petting. If the dog does the wrong thing don't give any reward and don't fret, just try again. Keep this up over time until the dog has mastered the exercise. Then continue the training varying the levels of distraction. Slowly decrease the food rewards and substitute them with enthusiastic 'Good dog!' praisings and/or pettings.

Additional teaching your dog to sit tips:
- Try this technique before the dog's mealtime so it is hungry and eager to work for the reward.
- In order to avoid confusion, always use the EXACT same command AFTER the dog's name

I want to feed my puppy the best dog food that is available. After some research I've found that food that contains a lot of corn, wheat, soy, beet pulp by products, chemical preservatives or dyes in it is NOT a good one.

What to excpect when you ARE home

Unless you can see your puppy 24/7, don't expect the house training to be completed until your puppy is at least 6 months old. It's normal for a small puppy to be a little 'pee/poop' machine. Since puppies are growing and making progress fast at this stage, they eat more food, burn up more energy, and seem to need to pee and poop constantly! They also have not yet developed bowel and bladder control, so they can't 'hold it' as long as adult dogs.

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OMG!!! THIS IS MY NEW DOG. HER NAME IS Bucksy, SHE IS A BLACK LAB MIX. ONLY ABOUT 2 MONTHS OLD. WE ADOPTED HER TODAY FROM PETCO IN VIRGINIA. UNFORTUNATLY, WE COULDN'T TAKE HER HOME TODAY JUST BECAUSE THE "AFOREVERHOME" TEAM HAD TO INSPECT OUR HOUSE AND MAKE SURE IT WAS SAFE FOR THE PUPPY. SO I AM TAKING HER HOME..BEFORE FRIDAY. ANYWAY, TODAY WHEN I WAS HOLDING HER, I WAS THE VERY FIRST PERSON SHE BARFED ON. SO I FEEL KINDA SPECIAL...LOL! AND I, OF COURSE, AM GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF HER FO' A LONG LONG LONG TIME....AND I WISH I DIDN'T HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL.

One day my mom said that Sparky (my guinea pig) feels a little wet on the bottom so we thought of calling a vet.

My brother called and the Vet said to come at 11:00. And our time was like 10:45.

Well on Thursday the 20 I and my mom washed sparky. He was quite calm actually. I mean the first time we washed him he was like crying. Or as to say squeaking on the top of his tiny lungs! His eyes were even super wet so he was also crying.

Today 4/6/06 we bathed Sparky! Of course we bathed him before but today he acted sooooo differently! He is usallly really affraid of the water but today he somehow enjoyed it!
I and my mom were first cleaning his cage and then we thought that maybe Sparky was a little bit too dirty.

One time my guinea pig was crazy or as to say hyper. Ok. So when he was running in my room at night (cause they need good exctersize). he was really fast. I mean if I entered him in a race he would surely win.  So first I started putting on my clothes and brushed my teeth and he was still running.

The first night with Sparky was SOOOO hard. First I thought he was like making croaking sounds. Then I somehow heard him say dad or something. I was like super scared. Then I kept trying to sleep. HE MADE MORE CROAKING SOUNDS! Ok.

Sparky (My guinea pig) is really funny. Last night he was playing Superman again . He was playing that by jumping on his plastic igloo(house) and then jumping off it really far off. I could hardly sleep. And I was having a good dream. He ruined it . . I kinda got a little mad so I was yelling but my brother couldnt hear me because my yell wasnt really loud. So after he saw me yell....................... He started biting his cage. I GOT SUPER MAD.So I just went down my bed and then I opend his cage and I gave him some grass. (He loves it) Then he stoped biting his cage and started to eat the grass. He was non-stop. Really. So then after he ate all the grass he finally went to bed. But too bad I didnt get my good dream again. I really liked it. For some reason it had to do with the movie (Harry Potter GOF). Task 2 When I had to get my friends. But also the weird thing about that was that I was friends with the Merpeople..... Well....... BYE!

One time I was just playing on my computer. I was playing maplestory and it was like 7:00. So then I heard my guinea pig was making weird sounds so I looked at him. You wanna guess what happend next?

On January first it was my guinea pigs birthday! He was only turning one. We had a party for him. We invited some of our friends although they were grown ups. In the party we drank apple cider and we went for a walk.

I have a guinea pig and his name is Sparky. He bites alot on my shirt for some reason. He also bites his cage alot to run in my room and he asks for hay and treats.To keep him quiet, I give him alot of hay exspecialy at night. Speaking of running in my room... If I would be able to enter him in a race I bet he would run very fast. He even sometimes runs around his plastic igloo in his house very house. And right now he is sitting on his house right now at 5: 22 and at December 30, 2005.
Usually I feed him with pellets and hay. I change his water 2-4 days. I always fill it up fully because it said so and it will last longer.I wash him 2 times a week.

I have a guinea pig. His name is Sparky. He IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE. . HE IS MINE I TELL YOU! OK glad thats over. *crack my fingers* He sometimes really scares me because he hides in my room and I can't fine him. He is only 7 or 8 months old. I got him over Summer vacation.