DogBoy's Dog Blog

This is a commonly asked question by clients at DogBoy’s, and for good reason! Lingering misconceptions that come from the old days of training tell you to wait six months to a year before you begin.

While that was true then, the current approach to dog training is more flexible and allows you start right away. Force-free methods let puppy training begin at just a few days old, if needed.

Starting Puppy Classes as Soon as Possible is Vital

Puppy classes are some of the most important and effective means of early development. We recommend starting these basic courses as soon as you get your new puppy.

You and your puppy will learn vital skills. More importantly, you will learn how to communicate with each other and develop a bond that will carry into their adult life. Beyond personal growth for you and your puppy, classes expose them to new people, new places, new objects and new dogs, giving them invaluable socialization skills and experience.

Does your dog love to going to the vet? I would expect if you’re reading this, the answer is probably no. What if I told you there was a way to make your dog love going to the vet and voluntarily submit to shots, injections, and other medical procedures without any fuss?

So your dog knows how to sit, down, stay, come when called, leave it, and walk on a loose leash. That's great. Those are extremely important foundational behaviors that all dogs should know, especially when you ask them to. But, what about the behaviors that we'd love our dogs to perform on their own?

Generally, when we think about what a dog should know, we go to those usual basics. While knowing these skills is vital for your dog and you to have an enjoyable relationship, there are some skills that we tend to not think about, or overlook:

Self-Settling

This is something that I put a large amount of stock in. It is extremely important for dogs to be able to self-soothe and self-settle. This means that a dog who is not being directly interacted with can simply hang out without trying to do a million things at once. You would be surprised at how few dogs have this skill.

A general frequent question that we get from all of our clients is “How do I train my dog?”.

There are lots of aversive training tools out there, and pinch or prong collars are among my least favorite. Prong collars have

There are so many reasons to not use these terrible devices, so I decided to outline just a few of them. If you know anyone who still uses prong collars on their dogs, please send this article to them right away.

1. Prong collars are an OUTDATED and ineffective dog training tool.

There are still dog trainers out there using prong collars, but that doesn’t make it right! There are still several trainers that use a variety of aversive training techniques and tools. I just saw one recently. A local animal shelter had a video on their social media page of a trainer who was proudly showing off a shelter dog's leash walking skills. Here’s the problem, the dog had a prong collar on.

It shocked me, to say the least, especially because it was being used in a shelter environment, where dogs are supposed to be SAFE FROM HARM. And all I could think, besides feeling terrible for the poor dog, was: “Of course he’s going to walk nicely for you on a leash, you have a prong collar on! As soon as you take it off, he's going to run away from you!” If someone tells you that prong collars are perfectly safe for the animal, it’s not true. Even those with the best intentions get frustrated while dog training, and then that gentle tug they claim to use turns in to a rough jerk, which can really cause damage and serious behavioral consequences.

1. How Much Time Do You Have For A Dog?

Before getting a dog, make sure you have the time for one. You should have a clear idea of your family’s activity level, and how much time you have to dedicate to training and enrichment activities. Examples of enrichment activities with your dog include:

• Exploring a new park together.
• Hiding their food bowl for dinner time.
• Teaching them new tricks and games.

You will want to make sure your dog’s energy and needs will be compatible with what you can give. Dog’s age, breed, and upbringing can contribute to their overall behavior.

2. Go Get A Dog Crate Immediately

The dog crate is AMAZING! It’s a great tool to help with housetraining young puppies as well as adult dogs. Crates also help keep your house safe while your new dog is adjusting to their new environment and learning what types of behaviors are acceptable in their new home.  You should treat any new dog in your household as if they aren't house trained initially.

So, you love your dog, and your dog loves you. Actually, your dog thinks you’re the bee’s-knees. Here’s the problem: Your day to day sometimes gets too busy to always connect with your dog.

We get this question a lot from our customers:

“What are some ways to connect with my dog on a deeper level and on a daily basis?”

I want to give you ten tips for how to connect with your dog daily. Dogs need regular interaction. They don't have an autopilot setting. You don’t have to go to great lengths to connect daily, but dogs are very social animals and will definitely benefit from extra interaction with you.

#1 Have them do work or tricks for their food

Dogs love to please and food is a great reward. So rather than just letting them eat out of the bowl whenever they want, you can get some playtime in and make them work for it. You'll both be excited, doing something fun together, and connecting with each other.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a human anxiety disorder that causes those affected by it to disrupt their daily life by getting caught up in patterns. For example, the urge to turn the light on and off 33 times before you leave any room. It is not a very well understood disorder, and can be very difficult to live with. Oftentimes, you will hear someone make a joke along the lines of “oh yeah, I’m so OCD about that”.

Fence fighting between dogs is one of the most common nuisance behaviors that I talk to dog owners about. A lot of owners will shrug it off, insisting that “they just want to play”. Sometimes, that is true. We see it out here sometimes:

Snakes are a big problem for dog owners in Texas. This isn't just a problem in rural areas. For people in urban areas there are also risks of dogs becoming victims to snake bites. Unfortunately, there are not many training options for snake avoidance without the use of aversive techniques like shock collars.