Good Dog: Tips 4 for Training Your Four-Footed Friend

You finally feel you're ready to commit to owning a dog. And that's what it is, a commitment. So now what do you do? Where do you begin? Here are four things Michael Chill, owner of Animal Services Dog Training and Behavior suggests.

1. Choose the right breed for you. If you're not athletic, don't get a dog that needs lots of exercise. If you don't want the responsibility of a known aggressive breed, like a pit bull or Rottweiler, pick something else. Think about your lifestyle and be as realistic as possible.

2. Socialize your dog with other dogs, people, kids. If it's a puppy, let it meet lots of strangers -- as many as 20 a week from the time you bring it home.

3. Supervise play dates with other dogs carefully and watch how they interact. Rough play turns into play fighting, and play fighting turns into real fighting. If it takes more than one or two commands to get your dog's attention, tone the play down.

4. Start positive training techniques immediately. Train your dog to obey because it wants to behave and not because it's avoiding pain or discomfort.

And most of all, says Chill, don't ignore the signals, particularly with aggressive breeds. If you have a dog that growls once, don't just shrug it off. Talk to a professional the moment you see behavior in your dog that might be of concern. Don't allow that kind of behavior to become a pattern. As Chill says over time, dogs don't get better. They get better at it.
 

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