How Do I Train a New Dog?

Finally something I have a little knowledge about!  To train your dog you only need a few things.  A few basic training aids (clickers, treats, leads, dog crate, etc...), a plan (watch many videos, read books, websites and talk to people who have trained dogs before) and most importantly, you need TIME and PATIENCE.  When you (or your dog) get frustrated, it is time to stop for a while.

When I was younger, in 8th grade to be exact, I got a Border Collie/Lab Mix.  Actually the farmer I got him from said that he was a Collie/Lab (Mom) mixed with "Sneaky Neighbor dogs".  It was pretty obvious that the sneaky neighbors dog had to be a Border Collie or at least part Border Collie (Mom was a Smooth Collie/Lab mix).

Tyler 1990-2002

I really got into training Tyler and spent lots of time reading books and watching tapes (this was pre-DVD and pre-internet!).  Tyler was an outside dog for many years until I grew up, graduated high school and college and bought my own house.  Then for the last 4 years of his life, Tyler was an inside dog...so you can teach an old dog new tricks, including house breaking.

There are many different types of training philosophies when it comes to dog training.  I do subscribe to any one as the right approach for every dog.  I don't like stereotyping dogs (which is wrong, every breed can produce a bad dog if given the wrong owner), but there are some differences in breeds that need to be considered when it comes to training.  Some breeds are driven to please, some have higher intelligence (Border Collies are incredibly smart), so are not so smart and some just have a sort of stubborn streak.

Positive reinforcement (making a big deal when they do something right) seems to work best.  Zak George, a dog trainer with a wealth of dog training videos on Youtube subscribes to this philosophy.  Here is a great video about how to make you outside dog an inside dog.  This is probably most valuable to new rescue owners because many of the dogs at shelters were strays and may or may not have been in a home before.

Dog Training:  How to Make Your Dog an Indoor Dog

zakgeorge21 - YouTube

Another philosophy, and the one I used with Tyler, is focused on exerting your dominance over the dog.  Physically moving the dog into positions, negative reinforcement (NO!, Naughty, etc..).  While this method does work, I feel Zak's style is better at building a relationship with the dog.  Still, I have meet dogs that saw themselves as the Alpha Dog, even above their owner.  Ceasar Milan, the Dog Whisperer, uses this method with "bad dogs".

Fortunately, Rogue has shown that she is receptive to me and doesn't exert any dominance.  We will continue to focus on positive reinforcement training with her.

My experiences working with Tyler, Ike and now Rogue have been that using negative reinforcement encourages the dog to perform so they don't disappoint you.  Ike is like this.  While he is a very good dog and has good obedience skills, you can tell sometimes that he is doing something because he is being told and not because he WANTS to.  My goal with Rogue is to make her not only perform on command, but want to perform.

I'll have several more posts talking about the experiences we have had using this method with Rogue.

For now, we are starting with basic house breaking and transition to being an inside dog.