Daily Training Exercises

Training you should do daily with your dog

Threshold Manners

A threshold means the point in which a dog enters a new environment, i.e from the crate to out of the crate, doors around the house (mainly ones leading to outside). You should aim to create a situation with leadership where the dog can sit, stay/wait, and look up to you for approval that they can calmly walk through this threshold with manners.

Food Drills

Using there allocated food for the day as rewards when they are just simply displaying behaviour that you like i.e behaving calmy when visitors are round can help them understand what behaviour is expected of them. It's important that we don't overuse high value treats as they can be unhealthy in larger quantities. A good habit to have is not leaving their food at meal times down because food is the highest value resource in their life. The aim is to get them to understand that they access that through the owner by being respectful and calm not whenever they decide. A good drill to have at meal times is sit, stay, break/okay, as this teaches them to look to you for loving guidance and for your cue to lead

Crate Training

It's extremely beneficial for new dogs that your welcoming in the home to be at least crate trained. Gradually, the dog can be given more space once your have established they aren't anxious or destructive. This can be a great level of security for both the owner and the dog; the owner can relax knowing that the dog is comfortable in its space and not becoming destructive with furniture, and the dog feels secure in knowing that it has their safe space. Giving them this safe space to decompress is only going to be beneficial to your dogs behaviour outside of the crate.

Exercise

We all know that both physical and mental exercise for your dog is vital to a happy dog and happy humans. Tired dogs are happy and well behaved dogs, they are also easier to train and socialise. Mental exercise will be crucial in helping dogs settle in the home. It's also important to understand the requirements for your dog as the amount of exercise a pointer would need will be totally different to a pomeranian.

Obedience Training

Loving leadership and guidance is the key to a great relationship with your dog that has clear pathways of communication. The most important commands for a perfect, canine companion that is also safe and controllable are, sit, stay, break/okay, heel, recall, and place. Building these commands with hand signals is also extremely beneficial to further help the dog understand what it is you want them to do and reward them when they make good decisions. This will also help the dog to have no anxieties or fear about what they should be doing and when because the communication is clear and concise with no grey areas.