Dog Training Videos
Dog training is the oldest and probably the most common solution to bridge the understanding gap between people and dogs as their best friends. There are plenty of solutions to help dog owners train their animals, and one of the most popular is the dog training video. Sold online or in special pet stores, dog training videos provide comprehensive techniques and tricks that can turn the most disobedient of animals into an obedience example. People often prefer dog training videos to individual trainers for a variety of reasons.
First of all, there is the money issue; dog training videos are a lot cheaper than special training classes. Furthermore, many dog owners want to be actively involved in the training process; thus, with the help of a dog training video they can exploit the two sides of the experience: the fun part and the practical one. When you’ve got a puppy, it is all the more rewarding for you to be the one to train it how to target focus or fetch and retrieve. Dog training videos come with very professional solutions that can be put to practice by people who don’t have a clue on the subject.
The lessons presented by dog training videos are gradual and take you step by step to achieve the behavior patterns you want for your pet. It is a good idea that you watch every training stage on the dog training video, several times. Then you have to put into practice with your dog. Of course results appear in time, but make sure you are persistent in exercises; skills must be used, otherwise they’re wasted. Some other member of the family may get involved too, watch the dog training video together and exchange opinions. However, only one trainer should work with the dog at a time, in order not to create confusion.
Keep in mind that all the tips presented on a dog training video need to be integrated in the special context of your house. Avoid giving your pet conflicting orders and don’t use too complex linguistic structure. As you’ll learn from any dog training video, short words like ‘sit’ or ‘down’ are most effective, not to mention that the dog is receptive first and foremost to the voice pitch. Therefore, you don’t need a dog training video to tell you that animals are susceptible to raised voice for instance and they become defensive. Good luck!
Check out these training tools:
Dog Training At Home
When we talk about dog training at home we think of the rewarding feeling of being able to develop an animal’s skills, but there is a lot of work and effort involved in the process too. Dog training at home begins with potty training and continues with complex tasks and commands. However, before you start dog training at home you’ll have to find some professional information on dog health and care. The very basic “sit” and “hello” are among the first tricks of dog training at home, followed by the leash walk as an essential part of the process of dog socializing.
Many pet owners choose to turn to professional videos that teach them dog training at home. There are usually two types of approaches to dog training at home and in general: the collar treatment and the reward-based program. Studies conducted in recent years have shown that dog training at home by using very positive methods is likely to create social and highly reliable animals, that not only will listen to your commands but will always been on guard when it comes to the safety of your family. Dog training at home may not have the professional background but it surely has an emotional touch.
Once you start dog training at home don’t limit to teaching the dog how to raise the paw or sit when ordered. You can take dog training at home a little further and show the animal how to play “fetch”. It begins by using one of the pet’s favorite toys, but it has to result in the animal’s ability to bring any object. No matter the purpose of dog training at home, keep in mind that reward is the magic key to get to your dog’s mind. Every time it performs an action, the dog will need encouragement to continue; therefore an affectionate moment is welcome and appreciated as much as some goodie treat.
Dog training at home takes a lot of time and energy, and many people find it a true challenge. However, time should not be a problem as long as you can turn to your animal and lavish a little attention on it. You can even practice fetch during a commercial just like any other commands learned during dog training at home. If you don’t want to have your dog on the sofa with you, you can always order it to move, and the animal would respond. This is the very practical side of dog training at home. By all means avoid bullying the dog or raising your voice, as such manifestations develop aggression or fear.
Check out these great training tools:
Dog Health Food
How many dog owners know something about dog health food when they buy their pets? If they don’t get informed about dog’s nutritional needs, they are very likely to be confronted to all sorts of health problems that result from the improper food they feed their animals on. There are special dog health food tips that a vet can tell you about, since you may not know very much about the digestive needs of your pet. First of all, in order to meet the requirements for dog health food, you have to be sure there are minerals, calcium in particular and quality protein in the diet.
As it is very comfortable, we usually feed our four-legged friends on special dog meals, but this is not always dog health food. It is usually prepared by blending hemoglobin powder, with bones and meat, all processed at very high temperatures. Then, there are flavors and vitamins added, and this is the dog health food we find in the supermarket. For all dog owners I need to say that this is not great at all for your pet. Try to combine processed meals with dog health food you prepare at home.
What should real dog health food be like? First of all, have fresh meat and boil it for around ten minutes. Thus, you destroy the unfriendly bacteria while also preserving all the nutrients intact. Then, cut it into small pieces, it may seem natural that your dog should tear it alone, but you don’t want any mess around the house. For the calcium in dog health food, you may use a natural supplement such as ground egg shells or calcium powder available in drug stores. Try to mix the pieces of meat with a little water for a better hydration of your pet.
As for bones, I know all dogs like them, but research shows they don’t make the best dog health food at all; on the contrary there may be side effects and even ailments. Thus, never feed your dog chicken or pig bones. The only ones that are fully digested and make real dog health food are the leftovers from your cooking veal for instance. Another tip many people don’t know is that for dog health food, not only proteins are necessary, vitamins are also important. A little grated carrot added together will pass unnoticed but it’ll be of great help for the pet’s well-being.
Beyond Basic Dog Training
Obedience instruction has become more accessible to common people with the publication of the Diane Bauman’s guide Beyond Basic Dog Training. This book is a door open towards the secrets of an entire training philosophy, and it has been successfully used even for the preparation for canine competitions. Beyond Basic Dog Training helps you understand the principles and patterns on which dogs learn, which is in fact a dual system of trial and error. With Beyond Basic Dog Training you will learn to apply corrections in a positive way, teaching your canine friend not to fear failure.
As Diane Bauman proves in Beyond Basic Dog Training, for a successful program you have to understand that from the two elements involved in the equation, both are thinking. There is the “thinking handler” in charge of the “thinking dog”, so don’t ignore you’re pet’s “feelings”, on the contrary stick to an effective development of the communication level. With Beyond Basic Dog Training you will come to achieve more than obedient behavioral patterns, you will understand your dog and learn to respect and listen to its needs. We’re talking about security, trust and confidence and lots of fun too.
With a guide such as Beyond Basic Dog Training you can have fun entertaining classes with your dog in the comfort of your backyard. At least you’re 100% sure of the methods used, since you are in perfect trust. With Beyond Basic Dog Training you’ll turn your dog into a great companion; therefore it is very good for puppies to benefit from a fast and very humane way of teaching. It is perhaps the time now to answer a simple question: why would anyone go beyond basic dog training? Simple methods will only leave the training process at a minimal level exploiting the specific animal drives as much as possible.
Going beyond basic dog training, means getting to understand the more complex structures that make your dog what it really is; you come to appreciate a wagging tail more than you would have done before. Books such as Beyond Basic Dog Training may prove to be the right choice and the best source of information for strengthening man-animal friendship. Being able to see your dog succeed in performing complex tasks is the reward of every owner and amateur trainer. May all your efforts be fruitful!
General History of Dogs
There is no incongruity in the idea that in the very earliest period of man’s habitation of this world he made a friend and companion of some sort of aboriginal representative of our modern dog, and that in return for its aid in protecting him from wilder animals, and in guarding his sheep and goats, he gave it a share of his food, a corner in his dwelling, and grew to trust it and care for it. Probably the animal was originally little else than an unusually gentle jackal, or an ailing wolf driven by its companions from the wild marauding pack to seek shelter in alien surroundings. One can well conceive the possibility of the partnership beginning in the circumstance of some helpless whelps being brought home by the early hunters to be tended and reared by the women and children. Dogs introduced into the home as playthings for the children would grow to regard themselves, and be regarded, as members of the family
In nearly all parts of the world traces of an indigenous dog family are found, the only exceptions being the West Indian Islands, Madagascar, the eastern islands of the Malayan Archipelago, New Zealand, and the Polynesian Islands, where there is no sign that any dog, wolf, or fox has existed as a true aboriginal animal. In the ancient Oriental lands, and generally among the early Mongolians, the dog remained savage and neglected for centuries, prowling in packs, gaunt and wolf-like, as it prowls today through the streets and under the walls of every Eastern city. No attempt was made to allure it into human companionship or to improve it into docility. It is not until we come to examine the records of the higher civilisations of Assyria and Egypt that we discover any distinct varieties of canine form.
The dog was not greatly appreciated in Palestine, and in both the Old and New Testaments it is commonly spoken of with scorn and contempt as an “unclean beast.” Even the familiar reference to the Sheepdog in the Book of Job “But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock” is not without a suggestion of contempt, and it is significant that the only biblical allusion to the dog as a recognised companion of man occurs in the apocryphal Book of Tobit (v. 16), “So they went forth both, and the young man’s dog with them.”
The great multitude of different breeds of the dog and the vast differences in their size, points, and general appearance are facts which make it difficult to believe that they could have had a common ancestry. One thinks of the difference between the Mastiff and the Japanese Spaniel, the Deerhound and the fashionable Pomeranian, the St. Bernard and the Miniature Black and Tan Terrier, and is perplexed in contemplating the possibility of their having descended from a common progenitor. Yet the disparity is no greater than that between the Shire horse and the Shetland pony, the Shorthorn and the Kerry cattle, or the Patagonian and the Pygmy; and all dog breeders know how easy it is to produce a variety in type and size by studied selection.
In order properly to understand this question it is necessary first to consider the identity of structure in the wolf and the dog. This identity of structure may best be studied in a comparison of the osseous system, or skeletons, of the two animals, which so closely resemble each other that their transposition would not easily be detected.
The spine of the dog consists of seven vertebrae in the neck, thirteen in the back, seven in the loins, three sacral vertebrae, and twenty to twenty-two in the tail. In both the dog and the wolf there are thirteen pairs of ribs, nine true and four false. Each has forty-two teeth. They both have five front and four hind toes, while outwardly the common wolf has so much the appearance of a large, bare-boned dog, that a popular description of the one would serve for the other.
Nor are their habits different. The wolf’s natural voice is a loud howl, but when confined with dogs he will learn to bark. Although he is carnivorous, he will also eat vegetables, and when sickly he will nibble grass. In the chase, a pack of wolves will divide into parties, one following the trail of the quarry, the other endeavouring to intercept its retreat, exercising a considerable amount of strategy, a trait which is exhibited by many of our sporting dogs and terriers when hunting in teams.
A further important point of resemblance between the Canis lupus and the Canis familiaris lies in the fact that the period of gestation in both species is sixty-three days. There are from three to nine cubs in a wolf’s litter, and these are blind for twenty-one days. They are suckled for two months, but at the end of that time they are able to eat half-digested flesh disgorged for them by their dam or even their sire.
The native dogs of all regions approximate closely in size, coloration, form, and habit to the native wolf of those regions. Of this most important circumstance there are far too many instances to allow of its being looked upon as a mere coincidence. Sir John Richardson, writing in 1829, observed that “the resemblance between the North American wolves and the domestic dog of the Indians is so great that the size and strength of the wolf seems to be the only difference.
It has been suggested that the one incontrovertible argument against the lupine relationship of the dog is the fact that all domestic dogs bark, while all wild Canidae express their feelings only by howls. But the difficulty here is not so great as it seems, since we know that jackals, wild dogs, and wolf pups reared by bitches readily acquire the habit. On the other hand, domestic dogs allowed to run wild forget how to bark, while there are some which have not yet learned so to express themselves.
The presence or absence of the habit of barking cannot, then, be regarded as an argument in deciding the question concerning the origin of the dog. This stumbling block consequently disappears, leaving us in the position of agreeing with Darwin, whose final hypothesis was that “it is highly probable that the domestic dogs of the world have descended from two good species of wolf (C. lupus and C. latrans), and from two or three other doubtful species of wolves namely, the European, Indian, and North African forms; from at least one or two South American canine species; from several races or species of jackal; and perhaps from one or more extinct species”; and that the blood of these, in some cases mingled together, flows in the veins of our domestic breeds.
Recent Comments