Dog Training

The easist type of dog to train is a puppy, but with patience and persistence can be used to train nearly any adult dog as well. The principle you should work on is,he/she will be attracted to the appropriate treat, and repelled by a threat.

What Not To Do  

Never, ever punish your dog for returning to you. "Punishment" includes yelling, hitting, talking in an angry voice, standing with an angry stance. Anything negative in this situation will be viewed as "punishment" to a dog who is currently being rewarded with fun and freedom. Why ever would he want to return when that means he/she will get punished?

 

Assess your dog. What makes him/her buzz with excitement? What grabs his/her attention and holds it to the exclusion of all else? It may be a ball or a squeaking toy, but all dogs will have a certain 'thing' e.g. toy, that will get their undevided attention.

Use An Object

Once you have found his/her favorite thing. Call his/her name from across a room, and as soon as he/she reaches your side, give him/her a treat. Do this three or four times per day to get him/her into a routine although it may not feel like training, this is the best possible method. Now the next step is wallkies!

Attach a long leed to him or her. Make sure your "long lead" is around twenty feet long, long enough to give him/her plenty of space to explore and feel freedom, but easy enough for you to pull him/her when you need to (such as training). And you will need to at some point.