Behavioral Training

Aggressive Barking Behavior Crate Training Excessive Aggressiveness Herding Housebreaking Housing Howling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder OCD Playtime Separation Anxiety Socialization Sparring Travel

Excessive Aggressiveness: A Dog Owner's Greatest Fear

Aggression in dogs is a very concerning problem for both dog owners and the general public. A dog that is aggressive can still be an excellent guard dog, family pet, or protection dog provided that he or she is obedient, well behaved, and controllable and is not dangerous to others. A dog that has problems with excessive aggression will behave in a way that makes the dog a problem to either people, including the owner and family, or towards other pets or animals.There are four basic types of aggression that most dog breeds will exhibit to some degree. These include prey instinct, or the instinct to chase and hunt, territoriality, protection of owner, and self defense. [...]

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Canine Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: How to Become an Understanding Owner

Much like with humans, obsessive compulsive disorder in dogs is characterized by the uncontrollable repetition of bizarre, out of context behavior. This behavior can be literally anything and is directed either at other animals or humans or even at inanimate objects such as food dishes or a piece of furniture. In the least severe cases, your dog's disorder might manifest through something simple like pacing back and forth, or hiding in a particular spot for seemingly no reason. At other times, it can become more problematic such as when they begin to bark at "nothing" for hours at a time, or destroy your or other's property with no provocation. In the worst cases, your dog might cause serious problems by turning its frustration against itself. In many cases, this might manifest as destructive behavior such as the dog compulsively chewing on its own foot, resulting in infections and problematic lesions. [...]

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Clicker Training

Clicker training is a way for trainers to quickly, really virtually instantaneously, provide your puppy or dog with the sound needed for them to understand that they are doing the correct thing. Clickers are small plastic and metal devices that are carried in the trainer's hand and, when pressed, make a "clicking" sound that the dog sees as a positive reinforcement cue.The use of the clicker is based on what is known as "operant conditioning". This means that the puppy learns to complete a behavior that they would not normally do without positive reinforcement. In other words the repetition of the act paired with the reinforcement of the clicker and other rewards encourages the puppy to learn that to get the reward they must keep repeating the behavior when given the command. This is very similar to training a toddler when Mom or Dad gives a treat for putting away their toys or listening to instructions. With the infant Mom and Dad give verbal reminders and cues, the clicker simply replaces those verbal cues with an easy to recognize sound. The clicker is used to immediately let the dog know that they are on the right track, then the reinforcement of a treat or lots of praise and attention follows when they have completed the task. Puppies learn that by hearing the clicker and continuing on with the behavior a reward of praise, attention or a small treat will follow. [...]

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NILF Training

For puppies that are somewhat stubborn, headstrong or have picked up some lazy or bad habits, NILF training is just the technique to get them back on track. For most dominant puppies or breeds that are dominant by nature NILF is also an ideal way to start training and work through training without having to deal with many of the dominance and non-compliance issues you may see in other less task oriented type training methods.NILF, which stands for "Nothing In Life Is Free" is a method of training that requires the dog to perform as per the owner's requests in order to get what the dog wants. This is not a punishment based training method and as a matter of fact NILF training requires no punishment at all, simply a willingness for the trainer to never give in or accept poor or difficult behavior on the part of the puppy. [...]

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Boerboels and Training

African Boerboels are well loved for their abilities to be excellent family dogs and guard dogs at the same time, but they don't come pre-programmed with these traits. All Boerboels need to have effective training in order to grow up to be the best dogs they can be. Good training needs to start when the Boerboel is just a puppy, and if it is put off until the dog is eighteen to two years of age, the dog has finished developing its personality and it will be very difficult to change most of the bad habits it has learned in its life. Even unintentionally bad training will be difficult to reverse if left off too long. [...]

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Living with the Dominant Boerboel

One of the concerns that some people have with the African Boerboel is whether or not it is considered to be a dominant dog. The truth is that most Boerboels are indeed dominant to some degree, but that doesn't mean that they can't learn their place and become an important part of the family. In order to train your Boerboel to accept his place in the family, it is important to understand why dogs need the ever important obedience training from an early age. Dogs that have been overindulged or never disciplined correctly are often said to "walk all over" their owners, but they are really only displaying their natural tendency to try to be the "leader of the pack." [...]

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Boerboels and Aggression

Those that are thinking about adopting an African Boerboel may be concerned about aggression. Like other members of the mastiff family, this large dog does have aggressive tendencies, but these are usually manifested through poor breeding and training. Over the years, the Boerboel's purpose in life has been that of a protector rather than a fighter, but this breed also happens to be among the most dominant of dogs. Here we'll take a look at what factors can cause a Boerboel to be aggressive and what you can do to make sure your Boerboel grows up without aggression.For centuries, the Boerboel was the traditional working dog for Afrikaners in South Africa. Their duties primarily consisted of guarding the women and children while the men worked in the fields, as well as hunting small game from time to time. While the guarding instinct has always been very natural in the dogs, often appearing as early as eight weeks, they have never in their history been bred solely for fighting. [...]

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Training Essentials For Giant Breeds

Giant breeds of dogs, while often the calmest and most friendly of pets, are often seen by the general population as scary and aggressive dogs. In many cases this is because of poorly trained and socialized giant breed dogs that have been in the headlines, but also because their very size, rather stern and thoughtful facial expressions and even their loud, deep barking just frightens people. [...]

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Training The Boxer

While Boxers are known for their happy go lucky, playful and very energetic behavior they are also known to be rather independent, headstrong and very intense both in training and in exercise requirements. They are a dominant type of dog by nature, and will require an owner that can be positive, firm and consistent or else this very intelligent dog will soon be running the household and will see his or herself as the leader. This can happen very easily as the Boxer actually learns which people he or she has to listen too and which people can be ignored within the family. In addition their energy levels can sometimes make training a challenge, especially if the Boxer is confined during the day to a kennel or inside of the house. [...]

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