Contents

Motto:.....................................................................................3 Pack Behavior.........................................................................4 Puppies................................................................................5 Adult dog.............................................................................7 Petting or Praising the Dog..................................................9 Playing With My Dog............................................................9 The Family Petting and Playing with the New Dog.............10 Kids and Dogs....................................................................10 Who pet my dog?...............................................................11 Educating your dog...............................................................11 Rewards................................................................................12 Motivate................................................................................12 Correction.............................................................................13 Voice Corrections...............................................................15 Delayed Correction............................................................16 The basic commands............................................................16 SIT.....................................................................................17 DOWN................................................................................17 STAY..................................................................................17 COME.................................................................................18 HEEL..................................................................................18 TIPS.......................................................................................19 TIPS 1

Motto:

You can feed, water and love your dog and he will like you, but he very well may not respect you. Dogs know what you know and they know what you dont know. Dog training does not necessarily have to begin when you buy an 8 week old puppy (although it should) or when your 10 year old dog bites a child. In reality it begins on the day you make up your mind to learn how your dog thinks and relates to the world it lives in. It begins when you decide to relate to your dog in a manner that both you and your dog respect and understand. It begins when you make up your mind to develop a meaningful relationship based on trust, communication and control. Dogs are pack animals. The vast majority of pet owners, 99% of them, fail to understand that the driving force in a dogs life is its desire to maintain harmony in their pack structure. The majority of behavioral problems develop as results of poor pack structure in the dogs living environment. This is why I tell people that obedience training is only 25% of the solution to correct behavioral problems and 75% of the solution deals with establishing a sound family pack structure. Your dog can love you and not respect you. You will NEVER love your dog into respecting you. When referring to a canine relationship, love and respect are two unrelated emotions. Respect is gained through hard work, education and experience. When my dog shows disrespect I increase the pressure I put on the dog. This means I work the dog harder and control his free time until he shows me the respect that a pack leader must have. Pack leaders control the lives of pack members in fair, firm and consistent ways. When asked how to build a bond, gain respect and still maintain a leadership role with our dogs, the answer is that we must make sure the dog understands that we will always be fair with him. With that said he has a responsibility to follow known directions and if he refuses there will be consequences. Dogs see life in black and white terms. This means they see life in terms of things that are good for them and things that are not good for them. They dont understand English and for the most part they dont reason; they just react to the black parts of life and the white parts of life.
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Through experience gained in training we show the dog that we are only going to ask him to do things he knows how to do. When he does something correctly we always let him know he is doing the right thing and we are happy with him. Likewise, when he does something wrong we will ALWAYS let him know he has made a mistake. We never correct our dog in obedience training for things that he has not been trained to do.

Pack Behavior
Training a dog establishes the master and follower relationship. Dogs are basically pack animals. That is why they easily accept a master as their leader. In a pack, the one who gives the commands sets the rules, and makes the decisions is considered to be the leader. Their pack mentality is what enables dogs to carve a comfortable niche for themselves among humans. Isnt it nice to know that even if your family comprises of only you, your Dog will consider it as a pack to which he belongs. A dog loves to belong! So if your Dog is given the clear message that you are the boss and he is the subordinate, you will find it easier to train him! On the flip side, if you do not establish yourself as the leader, you will find yourself facing a very queer situation indeed! If you are not the leader your dog will consider it his duty to take on the role of leader himself. Dog just love being follower dogs. In the doggie world things are much simpler! When you are the leader whom your dog can implicitly trust, then things are just cool for him. He does not have to be concerned about anything at all. He knows that You have things under control. While he follows instructions, you take care of all the decision-making. You are the one who keeps things under absolute control. He needs to have no concern with the complicated happenings of the human world around him. Once your Dog learns to respect you as his pack leader, you will find it much easier to teach him anything. This is because dogs want to please the leaders whom they respect. They are happy being followers. Becoming a pack leader involves adopting the attitude of a pack leader. It does not involve being aggressive towards a dog, it doesnt involve rolling him on his back or giving hard leash corrections or even
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raising your voice to the dog. It involves adopting a leaders attitude. This is something that even new dog owners must learn how to do. Every dog knows a leader when he is in the presence of one. They can sense a leader. Unlike humans, dogs live in the present. Human psychologists almost all focus on the past to find answers to current problems. This is fine for a human but its a mistake to think that this is how to fix a pack animal. 1 - When a dog jumps up and/or humps your leg, thats a pack behavior. 2 - When a dog charges past you to get out the door, thats a pack behavior. Pack leader go through doors and gates first. 3 - When a dog barks like crazy at another dog thats a pack behavior. 4 - When a dog drags his owner down the street on a walk thats pack behavior. Pack leaders always go first. 5 - When a dog tries to fight with another dog, thats a pack behavior. Pack leaders say when and who to fight. 6 - When a dog growls for moving it aside when you get in your bed or on your furniture. Thats pack behavior and needs to be dealt with. 7 - When a dog growls at you for disturbing it as you walk by as it sleeps thats a problem with rank behavior in the pack. This is the short list of just a few of the most common forms of pack behavior. It provides an example of pack behavior issues that deserve corrections even though the owner has never trained them.
Puppies

When people bring an 8 week old puppy home their first concerns are what should I feed my puppy and how do I stop it from peeing on the floor. These are important credible concerns but equally important, and often ignored, is the concept of how to establish you as your new pups pack leader. When a puppy is raised with litter mates they begin to establish their family pack at about 4 weeks of age. They start by playing with one another. They bite and push each other around. Those pups that bite the hardest and push the most become the higher ranking pack members of the litter.
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With that said there is no question that the mother is the pack leader. A good mother will exert her leadership by warning puppies to stay away from her food bowl when she is eating. She protects her litter which demonstrates leadership and she also controls the litter in subtle ways that establish her as the pack leader. Pack leaders are aloof, they are calm and they are self confident. A pack leader is fair in how he lives with pack members and while he is a dictator, he is a fair dictator who enforces a well defined set of rules that members know, understand and are expected to live by. What a pack leader is not is a dictator who looses his temper, bullies pack members into compliance, and does not act in a fair manner in regard to the lives of pack members. For example, the leader always eats first. Lower ranking members dont get the choice food. But when the leader is finished and he turns the food over to other pack members, he does not come back and drive them away from the food. People who put food down and then take it away or push the dogs away from the food bowl are bullies. This is how their dogs view them too. This is not practicing fair leadership principles. The correct way is to make the dog do something (i.e. sit) before the food is put down. But once its down they leave it alone until its time to pick it up. We leave food down for 15 minutes and then pick it up, even if the dog has not eaten it all. I want my pack members to trust me, feel relaxed around me and be comfortable in my presence. The only way this can happen is if they know the rules and anticipate our expectations. When that happens they know they will be treated fairly. They also know that if they ignore the rules they will suffer the consequences. When a puppy comes to your home its only experience in life has been with its mother and litter mates. It sees that things have changed but it has no reason to believe that how it interacts with a family pack has changed. It has played with litter mates by biting and chasing, thats how it thinks it should continue to interact within a family pack. It takes a few days but once it accepts you and your family as its new pack it will try to interact with you the same way it did with litter mates, by biting and chewing.
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The fact is, in its own small way its trying to find its rank within the new pecking order of your family. Its your job to teach your puppy, without scaring it, that you are the new pack leader. Its your job to teach it that biting and chewing high ranking human pack members is unacceptable. There in lies the rub. Many people ignore these small challenges and others over react to them. You have to find the middle road. When we bring a pup home we always use a dog crate. Our first goal is to reduce the possibility of house training mistakes and to teach the pup that being wild in the house is not going to happen. So in the beginning most of our interaction with a new pup is done outside. We use a flat collar with a snap and one of the 20 foot cotton lines we have. When the pup runs around we let it drag the line. When we bring a pup in the house we never allow it to run around the house. We always have a line on it. What better way to establish our leadership than to control every aspect of the pups life. Trust me this does not fall on deaf ears. Those who allow puppies to run around untethered are only asking for the problems that will eventually come up. These pups are going to get into thing, they are going to pee on the floor or they are going to jump up and play bite. When we are tired of dealing with the pup it goes into its crate. In the beginning its going to scream like a banshee for a few days but such is life. We will put the pup in a crate in the garage and let it scream its head off. For those who dont have a garage you can leave a radio or TV on, or cover the crate with a sheet, or leave one of the toys with treats in the crate or leave a cows knuckle bone to chew on (although you need to be a little careful about loose stools here).
Adult dog

When I bring a new adult into our home, I socially isolate the dog for a period of time. With some dogs this may only be for 3 or 4 days. With dominant dog sit can be weeks. Social isolation means that I take care of the dogs basic needs: feeding, water, walking and a clean place to sleep, but nothing else. I dont pet the dog, I dont play with the dog, I dont talk sweet to the dog. I act like it is not there.
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During this social isolation period the only time the dog is out of the crate while in the house is when it is on its way outside. The instant I let the dog out of the crate I hook a leash to him so he is always under complete control. During this period I never have the dog off leash- not even to walk from the crate to the back door of the house. It becomes crystal clear to the dog that I am in total control of its life and its environment. I cant over emphasize how important that is to a pack animal. While formal training on an adult dog may not start for several weeks or even a month, there is a lot that the dog can learn while you wait. The dog needs to learn that this is now his new home and I am his new pack leader. I want to begin the bonding process before I take it out and expect it to do formal obedience work. Keeping the dog on leash and controlling every aspect of its life allows for the opportunity to show that I am fair and that I dont issue unwarranted corrections. Learning to be consistent and fair goes a long way towards forming a respectful 2 way relationship. During this initial period I never push myself on a new adult dog. In fact, I go out of my way to act aloof to the dog. I make the dog feel like I dont care about him. I act like taking him outside is a job and I would rather be in Florida or anywhere other than spending time with him. My goal is to teach him that he has to earn my affection and respect. So during these first few weeks I take care of the dog by feeding him, giving him water and exercise but I dont act all GUSSSSHY over them. When I take him for a walk I dont play with him, I simply walk him and put him away. The dog senses an aloof attitude. Dogs know that pack leaders are aloof. You dont see an alpha wolf run around acting like a happy puppy in front of his pack members. If your goal is to have a house dog, it needs to start its life in your home in a dog crate. In the beginning many dogs may not like the crate but they will learn to accept it. We keep a bowl of all-natural dog treats near our dog crate. Every time I ask the dog to go into the crate I toss a few treats in first. I also feel it should be fed its normal daily rations in the crate.

Petting or Praising the Dog

In the first weeks I pet the dog but I dont over do it. I am also very careful about when I pet him and what I pet him for. In other words, I dont just walk up to a dog and start to pet him. The dog has to do something to get a word of praise or a pat on the shoulder. He must sit, or he must wait for me when I tell him to wait at a door or gate and then I will praise him. What I dont do is pet the dog when he wants to get petted. If the dog comes to me and tries to push his head under my hand in an effort to get petted I verbally scold him and send him away. Demanding to be petted by an adult dog is a sign of dominance. The dog never decides when its time to get petted, the pack leader makes those decisions. This is a huge pack drive issue. The Alpha member of the pack goes to the other pack members and expects to be groomed.
Playing With My Dog

Following in the concept of being aloof for the first weeks, I dont initially play a lot with my dog. Playing is an earned exercise and when I with-hold it for a period of time it means more to the dog when I finally do start to play with him. I dont give new dogs toys. For one thing I want them to have eyes for me. I want them to look at going for walks with me as their enjoyment in life. Toys can be triggers for aggression. Since I dont want to fight a dog to take his toy away I simply dont give a new dog any. I have a philosophy of having to fight with my dog over a dominance issue. That is I never pick a fight with a dog that I will lose. If more people followed that line of thinking there would be a lot fewer dog bites in this country. When I eventually allow my dog to have a toy I teach him that ALL TOYS are MY TOYS and I allow him to play with MY TOYS. At the end of a play sessions I take MY TOYS away and put them up. The way I teach that is the subject of a different article. For now its just important to point out that you will never find a basket full of toys sitting around my home. We keep our toys in our training equipment bag, which is something I recommend all dog owners have.
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Any playing I eventually do with my new dog is always done on a long line. The dog is never at liberty to run off on his own. Being off leash would go against the concept of you having control 100% of the time.
The Family Petting and Playing with the New Dog

This may fly in the face of people who want a family dog but the fact is in the beginning I never allow family members to pet or play with a new dog. My primary goal is to establish a family pack. I do this by firmly inserting myself as PACK LEADER. Once that is accomplished I can easily step in to help establish the rank of other family members within our pack.
Kids and Dogs

My position on dogs and children is that kids as young as 9 can learn to handle (not train) a dog that is already trained but it should only be in the presence and under the supervision of the primary trainer (husband or wife). Children younger than 7 are not mature enough to assume the responsibility for handling any dog. They can play around a dog but only in the presence of an adult pack leader. Dogs must learn that babies and very young children are ALWAYS off limits. Dogs are not allowed near them and are certainly never allowed to play with them. Its too easy for accidents to happen and when accidents happen with adult dogs and small children they are usually traumatic. Children as young as 11 can learn to train a dog but the training should be in the presence of an experienced trainer. The question often comes up by new pet owners about how to teach the new dog that the small child is a higher rank in the family pack. My answer is that you dont try doing that. As pack leader you simply establish a rule that the dog is not allowed near the young child and if it breaks that rule it suffers serious consequences. I know its hard to tell children that they cannot have contact with a new dog, but with this said, the dog has to make its bond with you before it makes its bond with the rest of the family.

Who pet my dog?

To understand this you must first understand what I expect from a relationship with my dogs. I want a dog that sees me as the center of its universe. I want my dog to focus on me and I want it to ignore other humans (and animals). I seldom allow people from outside my immediate family to touch or pet my dog. These people are not pack members and, as such, my dog has no need to be petted by them. I also expect my dog to be aloof with strangers. If the dog is in any way aggressive to strangers they are immediately corrected with a firm correction that the dog remembers the next time it thinks about acting stupid. This also goes for dogs that are going to be trained for personal protection or police service work. The pack leader determines who and when to fight, not lower ranking pack members. It would do new trainers well to remember that very important concept. When we walk our puppies and people try and pet our dogs we politely but firmly ask them not to touch our dog. If questioned, we simply tell them the dog is being trained as a service dog.

Educating your dog

Once you have taught your dog to respect you, you have begun the process of educating him. You were sent to school to get an education and as a result you can live peacefully in society today! Similarly, an educated dog will find it easy to adjust well in the environs of human society. When you educate your dog, you teach him lots of words and their meanings too. While this process is happening, your dog is gradually building up his respect for you. He is learning to see you as a leader who is fair, worthy of respect, and a capable leader. This brings about a change in his attitude towards you; his behavior will become much better towards you. There are very simple remedies for this excessive barking in most cases: exercise, healthy food, plenty of love, tender care. Digging is another very common doggie trait. Your Dog will dig to bury bones, chase and retrieve prey, or just for the sake of entertaining himself. So one good idea would be to provide one area of your yard where your Dog can dig to his hearts content. This intelligent animal will soon recognize the area where he can freely dig.
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Before you give him a meal or take him out for a walk, ask him to perform a trick for you or obey a command such as sit, stay, shake hands, roll over, etc.

Rewards
Rewards are the secret to success in any training program, especially where dogs are concerned. Dogs only understand the language of love or the language of food. Food is a substantial and tangible treat so use it to your best advantage. When you have to correct him, instead of criticizing him use a firm NO to prevent him from indulging in incorrect mannerisms. The secret to getting your Dog to understand just what you mean when you say "No" is to catch him in the act that you are preventing him from doing. Then use a very firm tone and say, "No."

Motivate
While there are any number of methods to train a dog there is only 4 ways to motivate a dog: 1 - By using food as a reward 2 - By using toys or prey items as a reward 3 - By using praise from the handler as a reward 4 - By using force (corrections) to make a dog do what you want How you mix and match these methods will vary according to your dog, the circumstances you are in, your dogs level of training and your experience. They key to training dogs with food is to have a hungry dog. So if you are going to use food to train dont feed your dog just before you go out to work your dog. Feed him at the end of the day. Also keep your dog thin, you want to see a definition between the end of the rib cage and the loin of the dog. Bottom line is thin dogs live longer healthier lives. Training is composed of a learning phase, a distraction phase, a correction phase and a maintenance phase. Food can be used in the learning phase, it can be used as a distraction and it can be used in the maintenance phase throughout the life of the dog. Dogs with prey drive are good candidates for training with toys and prey rewards.

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In its simplest form prey drive is the drive to chase a ball or chase a stick or a rabbit or a squirrel. Some dogs have a ton of prey drive while others have none at all. Some dogs fall in between these two extremes. Prey drive is an inherited characteristic. It can be seen in puppies as young as 6 to 7 weeks of age and owners can start to develop or build prey drive as young as 8 weeks. It should be noted that even though your dog is born with prey drive it can dissipate and go away if its not developed. As surprising as it may seem less than 1% of all dogs work strictly for praise from the hander. For praise from the handler to be most effective the dog must have a solid relationship (bond) with his owner. A bond is built on trust and takes time to establish. When there is no bond the effectiveness of handle praise means little to nothing. There are dogs that have crazy prey drive that will play with any handler. These dogs are so crazy for a tennis ball they dont need to have a bond. Everything they do relate to their reaching goal satisfaction (getting the prey item a toy). Handler praise to these dogs means little to nothing but with this said the dogs lack a personality too.

Correction
You never correct a dog in formal obedience training unless you are 100% sure the dog knows the meaning of the command he is refusing to follow. So let there be no misunderstanding. Formal obedience means teaching the dog the meaning of sit, come, stay, lie down or go to your place and lie down. Dont correct a dog for not following these commands until you are 100% sure in your mind that your dog understands the meaning of what you are asking him to do. In my opinion there is a huge misunderstanding of training collars used on dogs today. As far as I am concerned there are only 4 kinds of training collars. 1 - A flat leather or nylon buckle collar 2 - A prong collar photo great for training 3 - A dominant dog collar 4 - A remote trainer (electric collar) If a voice correction followed by a level 5 leash correction doesnt produce the results you want then its time to train with a prong collar.
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The important thing for new trainers to keep in mind is they dont have to correct at the same level with a prong that they did with a flat collar. I tell people that prong collars are like power steering on dogs. If you had been correcting at level 5 or 6 with a flat collar you may only have to correct at level 2 or 3 with a prong. Thats one of the benefits to using a prong; you dont have to use as much force to accomplish the same task. Metal choke chain collars are never recommended for normal obedience training. The mechanics of how these collars are used in obedience training (constantly popping the leash and collar) does long term muscle damage to neck muscles of the dogs. I am not a fan of forced training which is why I am not a fan of sending dogs off to a professional trainer. My goal in training is to teach my dog to first trust me and then when thats done, to follow my voice command. In the trust phase of training the dog learns that I am fair but firm. My dog sees that I treat it with respect and expect respect in return. It learns that above all I am consistent and when I ask him to do something he must do it. You can get a better understanding of how I approach dog training if you read the article I wrote on my philosophy of dog training. Some people confuse the bond with a dog and what I want to call trust. Many interpret a bond as being a relationship of love and thats not what I look for in my dog. A dog can love you and not respect you. I cant have a relationship with a dog without having respect from that dog. Getting a dogs respect is not something that happens over night. The trust phase can take months. This is something that you simply must remember at all times. Dogs have no memory recall of what happened earlier. So if you want to correct your dog for any wrong action you must catch him in the act. Scolding him later is futile. You will leave him totally confused. If you find your dog sitting on your couch, do not scold him for doing so at that moment. When you catch him in the act of jumping up on the couch, then you can admonish him with a firm No. But there is really one small matter that you simply must remember. And that is the timing of your praise. You must praise your pet soon after he performs. So when you ask him to SIT and he does so, praise him immediately. So not delay the praise. If you praise him later, he will be kind of confused. This is
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because your dog does not really understand English or any other human language. What he responds to is the love and affection in the tone of your voice! As a general rule a correction needs to be firm enough that the next time the dog considers not following his leaders commands he remembers what happened the last time he refused a command.
Voice Corrections

In my opinion the verbal correction is one of the most powerful tools any trainer can develop in his training program. Its also one of the most poorly administered and misunderstood corrections used in dog training today. Using the word NO as a means of communicating with a dog can become a tool to shape behavior in the learning phase of training. In addition it can become a powerful correction that dogs respect and listen to. Let me first explain what I believe a voice correction should be. Without sounding mad simply say the word NO in a firm (not loud or mad) voice. Controlling the inflection in your voice is very important. Saying NO the exact same way every time means you are doing a good job. People who raise their voice, or sound mad, or repeat NO and raise the intensity in their voice by repeating NO are making a mistake. These people are teaching their dog to wait until you really sound pissed before they comply. These people turn the word NO into a warning and not a correction. My goal in training is for my dog to follow my voice command. With this said I also want to be able to use my voice as a correction. To accomplish this I must ALWAYS give a voice correction before a leash correction and before a correction with a remote trainer.
The sequence of events goes like this.

1 - I give an obedience command which is refused or the dog displays inappropriate pack behavior and a correction is warranted 2 - I give a voice command of NO 3 - This is followed by a pop of the leash (or remote trainer) 1 seconds later. The correction level is appropriate for the temperament and the distraction level of the dog I am training.
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The goal is to convince my dog that this sequence will ALWAYS be followed. Thats why consistency in training is so important. When my dog believes that there will ALWAYS be a correction after the NO correction he will do his best to beat the pop of the leash or the correction with the remote trainer. For a correction to be effective the dog must associate the correction with the infraction (the same goes for praise.) If a correction comes too long after an infraction the dog becomes confused and the training goes down hill. There is a rule of thumb that a correction must come within 1 seconds of an infraction. One of the most gratifying moments in your dog training career is going to be when you simply tell your dog NO (in a normal tone of voice) and he stops doing something and looks at you and says OK what do you want me to do?
Delayed Correction

I have discussed the concept of a delayed correction above. Its the 1 second rule. This is where a correction must come within 1 second of a refusal. I am a firm believer in giving a dog the chance to think and consciously refuse to do what I have asked him before I correct him.

The basic commands

The five basic commands you will need to teach your dog in order to obtain a good degree of control are: sit, down, stay, come and heel (for walking nicely on the lead)
SIT

1 Stand in front of your Dog and extend your right arm straight out in front of you 90 degrees to your body. Hold a treat that your doggie likes in your hand. 2 Take the treat close to your dogs nose and give him the voice command of "sit." 3 Gradually raise the treat over his head. He will go down on his haunches as you do so. 4 Do not give him his treat until he sits down completely.
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5 Repeat this exercise a few times 6 This way he will associate your extending your arm out in front of you and bringing it down with the command "sit."
DOWN

1 Ask your Dog to "sit." 2 Bend your arm at the elbow with your palm facing downwards. 3 Bring your palm slowly down to your side. 4 Hold a treat for your pooch in the palm of your hand 5 Lower your hand that is holding the treat down to the floor between the dogs paws 6 His nose will follow your hand that is holding the treat and he will get into the down position. 7 Now you can release the treat to him. 8 Practice this command until he masters it.
STAY

1. With his lead on for extra control, make him sit or lay down. 2. Step away from him as you command him to "stay". Silently count to five... 3. Step back to him, treat and praise. 4. If he gets up, ask him to sit again and repeat the procedure. After a few successful sessions, drop the lead before stepping away. If he is doing this short 'stay' correctly, gradually increase the distance between you and your dog and/or the time that he is asked to stay. If he gets up when he is not supposed to, go back a stage to a shorter distance or time and then increase again slowly until he is doing as he is told every time. When you are confident that your dog will reliably stay during training, you can progress to unclipping his lead before stepping away.
COME

Patience is the name of the game when you are teaching or training your dog. This includes a simple command such as "come." Your dog must associate the word "come" with something pleasant or he will not respond. Here are some methods to ensure that your dog will respond when you beck on him to you.
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Make it a pleasant association; never scold him or grab him when he comes; praise and reward him as soon as he responds; reward him with surprises. Then he will look forward to what you are going to do. Surprises can include giving him a treat, toy, praise, or just playing with him. Use positive body language. You can crouch down to his level and hug him. You can clap your hands and smile at him. He will love it. Show him that calling does not put an end to his exercise or play time. So sometimes you must allow him to return to what he was doing. You must also be aware that these are some methods that will ensure that your dog does not come to you when called.
HEEL

Practice in your home and garden first as there are fewer distractions for your dog than in the street. Put your dog on his lead. When he moves to your side say "heel" and then praise and/or treat him, so that he learns to associate the 'heel' command with his position next to you. Once he understands what this means you can try outside. Once in the street, command your dog to "heel". If he pulls, stand still immediately so that he has to stop, but do not say anything to him. Patiently wait until he comes back to your side, say "heel", praise and then walk on. If he continues to walk at your side, reinforce this by using the command "heel" again and then praise and/or treat. Every time that he pulls you must stop. Your dog will soon learn that it is pointless to pull, as it will not get him anywhere and so should soon start to walk at your heel. It is a natural, enjoyable behavior for a dog to want to find out what is happening in his local area by sniffing the ground, lampposts and fences for scents left by other dogs. On walks you should allow him to have a sniff around, but only when you say so and not when he feels like it. When you are ready to let him do this, use a command such as "off you go", so that he can learn when he is allowed to do this. You could use this loose lead 'freedom' as a reward for when he has been performing well on the lead.
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TIPS
Training a dog has its fair share of problems. If your dog is stubborn and willful you will have to exercise extra care and tact in handling him. During the initial phases of disobedience he will pay no heed to your commands. And that can be quite irritating and trying on your patience. He will test your limits of physical endurance as well by tugging at his leash. His excited nature and over enthusiasm can also test the strength of your arms as those sturdy sinews of his pull and tug you in various directions. You must always be in a position to correct your dog before you give him a command. Whenever your dog reacts favorably to your correcting him, you must shower him with a lot of praise. Be very clear and consistent in the commands that you use. Never let your body language come into conflict with your verbal command. Use your dogs name every time you teach him something. It increases the sense of belonging that exists between you both. Do not use his name when you are saying No to him. The correction must be effective enough to ensure that your dog does not repeat it again. Above all, be patient and consistent. Attention seeking gimmicks must not be encouraged. They can be damaging. So if your dog jumps at you while you are just lounging or standing around, do not encourage him. A positive approach to this is to provide your Dog with sufficient exercise. Discourage begging for scraps of food from the table too. A positive way of doing so is to ensure your dog is fed before you sit down to eat. Commands must be followed - when you give a command to your dog to follow he must obey it. If he does not do so and you do not reinforce your desire on him that the command must be obeyed, you are running the risk of him getting the message that he only needs to obey when he feels like it. Single command, single response this attitude evokes quick response from an alert Dog. So when you say "Sit" he sits. Do not say "Sit, sit, sit" a number of times when you want him to sit only once. Do not combine commands - this will only confuse your Dog. Do not say "Sit down" when what you want him to do is just sit. Down in
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your Dogs vocabulary means going flat down on his stomach with his nose to the ground. His Masters Voice - your Dog loves hearing your voice. So if he keeps hearing his name being repeated by you, he will feel simply great. Make sure that you use his name only in conjunction with positive words. Do not use his name when you are scolding him. He must get the feeling that when he hears his name it is for something positive. No punishments, only correction of bad behavior. Communicate your requirement to your Dog. Do not beat him to teach him. It will only damage your relationship and kill all the joy of learning. Timing - to correct bad behavior, you must catch your Dog in the act of doing it. Only then will this lovely animal get the message. If you try to correct him after the act, it will be futile. This is because dogs have a rather short memory recall. But if you catch him trying to swipe food off the kitchen counter, firmly tell him "No." Telling him later will serve no purpose. Ignore - you have to show him who the boss really is. So when he does misbehave, you can pay him no attention at all. This will reinforce the fact that you do not want that particular kind of behavior in his life. Consistency is very essential when you are training your Dog. This is because he is a creature of habit. He loves routine. So you must conduct his training sessions at the same time everyday and preferably maintain the same period of duration too. This way he will soon start looking forward to his training sessions. Do not disappoint a willing student. Recognition & Rewards - when your dog responds to any command, you must recognize his efforts and intelligence in doing so and praise him lavishly. You can reward him too with little treats. A warm hug can also work wonders. As a result, your Dog will soon associate rewards with his ability to respond to your commands. This way he will be even more responsive to your commands. Do Practice in your home and garden first, before trying commands in public areas Start training with your new dog or puppy as soon as possible Keep sessions short (15 min. max.) and fun Train him when he is hungry - before his dinner time he will try harder for his treats
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 Reward or treat him on a random basis, once the new command has been learnt Try to use hand signals with verbal commands, as some dogs may find it easier to recognize these Keep commands clear and consistent Take your time and be patient Stick to one command per training session at first to avoid confusing your dog Consider going to a good local training class Try to finish on a high note - your dog is more likely to want to train again next time! Don't Let your dog get bored - stop immediately if you see this happening Tell him off if he gets it wrong Shout or physically punish him - it will make him scared of you and may cause him to become aggressive Train him if he is tired Chase him when you want him to come - he'll think it is a great game and will run away even more Try to train him in an area with lots of distractions, such as other dogs, people, noises, smells. Expect too much too soon Expect him to understand a command until you have taught him what it means

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