How to Get your Puppy to Stop Chewing!
by Dan Salb
There’s nothing as wonderful – or as exhausting – as a new puppy! It’s like turning a mini Tasmanian Devil loose in your house – one that messes, chews and destroys until he simply falls over for a nap! Then, once he’s refreshed, he potties on the nearest carpet and chews the leg on your antique table!
Sound familiar? I get so many calls from new puppy owners – desperate to start obedience training their cute whirlwind. And everyone is shocked when I advise AGAINST formal training for puppies!
Obedience training classes for puppies is like algebra and statistics for preschoolers – the information is fantastic, but the audience is just NOT THERE YET! There are puppy kindergarten classes – but these are primarily a place for the pup to play and socialize, sort of like taking your preschooler to the park to burn off steam.
Worried your house won’t survive the puppy months? Never fear! There are simple things you can do, at home, TODAY – that will help transform your wild pup into the dog of your dreams!
Are you confused by different dog training methods?
By Dan Salb
Seems like every week a new dog training method is popping up. I don’t really get that – I mean, dogs haven’t changed. It’s not like one morning the dog wakes up and says – “You know, I don’t want to be a dog today, so I’m going to ignore all that instinctive behavior and pack mentality and be something else!” A dog is – quite simply – a dog!
So why so many different training methods?
I think people keep changing their minds about what a dog should be – they want the dog to be their friend, their child, their partner. (and, since we’ve already acknowledged that a dog can only be a dog – expecting the dog to fulfill some other role is setting everyone up for disappointment and failure!)
Don’t get me wrong – dogs are fantastic! I live with four of them – and can have that many again as borders. But dogs are bred to have a purpose – a job. And every one of those jobs involves helping out their humans! Whether herding, hunting, guarding, catching small rodents or pulling heavy carts – dogs have been bred to work with humans to accomplish necessary tasks. Having instincts doesn’t mean they do everything perfectly, however. They still need to be trained how to successfully accomplish their task – even if that task is simply living in harmony with their humans!
How to Housebreak Your Puppy - Dan's Elite Dog Training, Easton, Maryland
One of the questions I am constantly asked is "How do I get my puppy housebroken???"From Beast to Beauty: Adventures in Dog Training
Good Dogs aren't born - they're Trained!
by Cyndi Paxton Johnson www.MidShoreLife.com
In April we adopted a young black lab that had been rescued from a kill shelter in Georgia. Instantly our somewhat chaotic household was immersed in constant insanity - the dogs fought, the cats hissed, the children screamed, and the young male dog was a force in motion - constantly chewing, jumping, biting, destroying, etc. Even our animal-crazed children begged us to get rid of him. He was, quite frankly, the canine spawn from hell.
In desperation I emailed several dog training groups around the Mid Shore. I've trained dogs before, but had never encountered a Beast such as this. I was concerned about joining a "rewards only" dog training class. Even with smaller, calmer dogs I've always had the best results from a combination of rewards and a properly used choke chain collar. But nothing in my past prepared me for this unmanageable, wild beast. We had just about admitted defeat and were prepared to return him when I spoke with Dan Salb from Dan's Elite Dog Training in Easton. Dan was confident that our Beast could be trained - and guaranteed that, if we followed his program, our dog would be OFF-LEASH reliable at the end of the 10 week training program. He sounded so confident that I instantly felt better - the feelings of hopelessness and defeat were GONE. We had a plan!
