Dog Training Tips, Basic Manners, Important Things, and Tricks

all dogs should be trained to some standard. All dogs should know basic manners. Most dogs should know important things. Some dogs know tricks. I take pride in the fact that my dog is trained to the best of my ability and is always learning. All this is important if your dog is to be around other dogs, and taken out in public. Here I've included training tips and how to teach your dog important things.

Step 1: Heirarchy - a Puppies Place

Dogs should be at the bottom of the heirarchy, you should be at the top. You need to show your dog who's boss! To show your dog that you are "top dog" theres a few simple things that you can do:
Eat before your dog and dont ever feed the dog while you are eating.
When out walking do NOT let the dog walk in front of you. A dog walking in front is a leader. The leader should be you.
Do not let your dog get their food until you say so. Teach your dog "wait" (i will expplain how in this instructable)
If your dog watches you eat, growl at the dog. Yes growl. You might look stupid, but the dog will soon learn to stay away from you while you eat, like they would in the wild.

Credit to mrmath for this v
Best way to become alpha dog, and I've used this on huskies with serious alpha dog issues: make eye contact, and make them look away. Eye contact is big for dogs. Stare at them. Right in the eyes. Don't look away until they do, and only after they do.

Step 2: Basic Manners

1. Furniture.
If you dont want your dog climbing on your sofas, never allow them on there. From a young age, NEVER let the dog on the furniture. If its too late for that, when a dog jumps on the furniture. As soon as they jump up say "NO!" and take the dogs collar and guide them to the floor. Then go back to whatever you were doing.
2. People.
If your dog jumps up at people, Then it is important to break this habbit. To do this, tell any visitors or members of your household then if the dog jupt up at them, to turn their back to the dog and fold their arms whilst telling the dog "no"
3. Other dogs.
If your dog plain doesnt like other dogs, dont put it in a situation where it will be near them. To avoid this, socialise puppies from a young age, on a lead, and in a calm manner. The only way to do this is exposure to other dogs as much as possible from a young age.
4. Walking on the lead.
A dog should walk on the lead in a calm controlled fashion, and shouldnt pull on the lead. When the dog is a puppy teach it this by pulling it back whenever it goes ahead and saying no. Remember LOTS of praise when the dog is walking well! For adult dogs, this behaviour CAN be corrected. Again with the growling, when the dog pulls growl and say no. Also when the dog pulls stop and turn and walk the other way. Continue to do this until the dog gets the idea.
*BE CONSISTANT*
Also, a note for the owners, Always clean up after your dog!
5. Chewing.
This behaviour is hard to correct, however I'll do my best to explain. Firstly, If you dont want something chewed, keep it out of the dogs way. If they do get anything, show it to the dog, and say "whats this?! bad dog!" and roll up a newspaper and hit THE FLOOR OR YOUR LEG * NEVER HIT THE DOG*

Step 3: Name, Come, Sit and Stay

Teaching a dog its name:
Once you have chosed a suitable name for your dog, you can start to teach the dog its name. Teaching the dog its name is pretty simple, say it to the dog continually, not like "rex, rex, rex, rex" but i imagine that would probably work... But i prefur to use the more personal version, "rex, hello rex come here rex, whos a good rex? your a good rex!" yes, sounds stupid, but it works

Teaching a dog to come.
Start with a short distance, on a lead. Call the dog, then shorten the lead, when the dog gets to you, Treat / favourite toy + lots of praise. Gradually increase the space and loose the lead. It differs for every dog, some learn fast, others take more time. but all will learn eventually/

Sit.
This is pretty easy. Most dogs pick this up. Treats / favourite toy - Highly reccomended.
You can teach a dog sit, by gently tapping the dogs err rump (not too good wording i know)
and saying sit. Also when the dog sits, of their own accord, say "sit, good boy/girl"

I learned a great way to get my puppy to sit, without pushing his rump down. Hold a treat slightly over and behind the snout; the dog automatically sits. Once the dog sits, say SIT and then the treat. Repeat 100 times.. :-)
^{credit to get_going for this}
Stay.
Stay usually goes hand in hand with sit. Hand signals are usually good for stay. hold your hand out flat and say stay firmly. If the dog moves, take them back to the position you told them to stay in and try again. Repeat until the dog stays there for 30 seconds call to you and praise, give treat or favourite toy. Gradually increase the time for 30 seconds to 45, and then a minute, 2 minutes and work up to 5 + minutes

Step 4: Lie Down, Wait, Drop It

Lie down -
Sit is needed for this. So get the dog to adopt the sit position, and hold your hand palm down, and lower your hand slowly and say "lie down", Then lift the dogs front paws and then put them down but, in the lay down position. Once the dog is in the lay down position, LOTS of praise, and treat/favourite toy. Repeat until the dog will lie down of their own accord. Then MORE praise and treat/favourite toy.

Wait -
This includes a treat. The treat needs to go on the floor, when the dog goes to get it, stop the dog and say wait. after 1 minute let the dog get the treat after you say "go on then" . Gradually increase the time.

Drop It -
Drop is VERY important. Imagine if your dog had a cat, or another animal or something important? It is important to teach a dog drop. You will need a teddy or ball or toy of some kind.
give it to the dog. Let the dog play with it for a minute, then call the dog back, take the toy out of the dogs mouth and say "drop it" then throw the toy again and repeat. Throwing the toy again is important so the dog learns that giving it to you is ok, because the dog gets it back again. Although this is not always the case... I recently used this in an "emergency" cassie caught a bird... luckily she didnt hurt it, it was just a bit stunned. But drop is very important for games such as fetch.