Dec 13, House Training a Puppy Guide | House Training Dogs | In Home Dog Training

If you want to succeed in house training a puppy, you need to understand how dogs think and learn.

You might be thinking: "It will be cool if there is a device that can convert dog language to human understandable language or vice verse, so that I can communicate better with my dog." Well, based on the current technology, this is only possible in our dream.

I may surprise you; the fact is dogs do not think as all! Dogs react or response through motivation and drive. When dogs feel good about something, they will continue to have that behavior. Ok, may be dogs do "think". They think in sensory impressions like visual, sound and odor.

Some example:

When it is almost time to feed your dog, I guess your dog will be looking at you. In her mind, she probably imagine the words that you usually say (eg: "meal time") or the sound of the opening of the dog food can during her meal time or image of you carrying the dog bowl (even there is nothing in the bowl!).
Food treat is a very good motivator for dog. So, in order for she to get the treat from you, her mind probably learns to associate what is the command that you give her during that time (eg: "sit") and how she needs to react (she needs to sit down).

Illustration of Human's Command and Dog's Action

Human: "Sit" command + the dog is sitting = give her the food treat.
For us, we will only give the dog treat only when we say "Sit" and she is sitting.

Dog: Food treat = "sit" sound + I need to put my butt on the floor.
For dog, when she hears the sound "sit", she understands that she has to put her butt on the floor in order for her to get your treat.

I hope that with this illustration, you understand better that about how dogs think and further help in house training a puppy.

Acquisition
By definition, acquisition means the act of acquiring something. In our case, it is the training that we give our dogs. Dogs basically acquire the knowledge of the training when they are motivated to do so. Normally, we motivate our dogs by using food treat as reward. So, a dog will choose to engage in an action again and again so that she can continue to receive the rewards.
Automation
Automation is when your puppy performs certain action to a particular command without being lured. Let's say your puppy has passed the acquisition stage with accuracy of 90%. You may slowly reduce the dog treat when asking your puppy to perform the same action. Until your puppy reaches a stage where she is able to perform actions without the food treat, then she is in the automation stage.
Generalization
After the automation stage, you may further generalize the actions that she needs to perform. How? You may ask different people give the command or ask your puppy to perform the action in different locations or both. You may slowly change one aspect as a time. Your puppy will learn that she needs to perform the actions in any situation when commands are given.
Maintenance
In order for your dog to continuously behave or perform certain actions based upon your command, you will have to maintain the association of her sensory with the actions. So, refresher training from time to time is needed. In any case when your dog has any accident in your house, this is the time you will have to repeat the puppy house training.

I have included the four dog learning stages in the guide of the 7 days house training a puppy. This is a general guide which can be applicable for most dog breeds. Please adjust the in home dog training plan according to your needs.

First Day - House Training Your Puppy Day 1
Your puppy is in acquisition stage. She is learning to get use with your house and is learning some basic commands in potty training a puppy and crate training. She has been repeatedly trained with the command that you have selected for potty training, crate training and meal time.
Second Day - House Training Your Puppy Day 2 - 3
Your puppy is still in acquisition stage but slowly move to automation stage. Same like the first day, your puppy has been repeatedly trained with the same commands during potty training, crate training a puppy and meal time. Additional to that, she is introduced to her collar and leash. This is to train her to recognize the path from her crate to the elimination spot. All these actions are repeatedly done with the same person and same location. Your puppy should slowly associate commands in the house training.
Third Day
The third day is practically repetation of the things in the second day. You will realize that your puppy's actions will be more automated.
Forth Day - Puppy House Training Day 4
The forth day is the day to change one of the variables. For example, during the potty training, you can ask a different person to bring her to the elimination spot and use the same command you have used. She is now in the generalization stage. She needs to know that different people give the command, the response should be the same. During the puppy obedience training, you may also ask a different person to give the command.
Fifth Day - Puppy House Training Day 5
With no doubt, her automated acts will happen more often. During the obedience training, you may change to a different location. She is still in generalization stage. But, change location during the potty training is not advisable. You need to understand that some trainings can be generalized but some can not. Generalization is more applicable to obedience training.
Sixth Day - Puppy House Training Day 6 - 7
If your puppy has reached the generalization stage during obedience training, then you may introduce more different commands to her one at a time. But remember to repeat the previous commands so that you can maintain her behavior (maintenance stage).
Seventh Day
This day is maintenance stage and I believe you have successfully housebroken you puppy! Congrats! You can slowly move on to the next step which is teaching your advance puppy obedience training, leash training a puppy, collar training, dog clicker training, agility training and more.

To succeed in house training a puppy is not an easy task. The dog will go though different stages of learning. Patience and Consistency are the keys in successfully house training dogs.

Feb 4, Common Dog Health Problems Symptoms - Puppy Nutritional Guide, Care, Treatment and Veterinary

Any smart dog owner should become as knowledgeable and informed about common dog health problems as possible.

Learning about dog health problems, symptoms, causes and treatments will make it as easy for you to deal with these problems and situations as possible. The end result will be a healthier and happier dog, and a great relationship between you and your animal.

Unfortunately the list of the most common dog health problems isn't exactly a short one. There are many different ailments, conditions and illnesses that could arise to your pooch. On the bright side however almost all of them can be treated and dealt with relatively easily once you know what's going on and what you need to be ready for.

One of the most common issues that many dog owners encounter are dog hot spots. Hot spots are patches on your dog's skin where they have repeatedly licked, scratched and bitten, causing irritation and redness, along with fur loss. These patches can be bothersome and you need to keep the animal for making the problem worse. You can treat the problem from home by cleaning and treating the wound, and using a cone or Elizabethan collar to prevent further damage.

However, a trip to the vet will still be needed because these dog skin problems, like many other dog health problems symptoms that arise, are really spurred on by other underlying causes. Common causes for dog hot spots include allergies, flea and other insect bites, bacterial infections in more.

These are problems in and of themselves and will need to be treated on their own. Fleas can be prevented with simple once per month application of something like Frontline for dogs during outdoors season. If an infestation is already present, then the dog needs other treatment and you also need to clean out the carpet and other areas as well.

Canine allergies can be caused by all of the same things that give you allergies, like pollen, dust and dust mites and more. Allergic reactions can also stem from food allergies, allergic reactions to bites or medications and more. You have to be wary of the curious trouble your dog may get into and anything they could have ingested that they should not have.

Some allergic reactions could get very serious, while reactions to other foods and household items and substances could lead to food poisonings, puppy vomiting, dog diarrhea and more. Unfortunately, common dog health problems include sometimes deadly accidents where dogs lick up antifreeze from the garage floor, or eat something like rat or mole poison tablets or pesticides and insecticides from the yard. Serious symptoms like vomiting, convulsions and seizures could arise and veterinary assistance is needed immediately to prevent further absorption and clear out the system.

Seizures in Dogs can actually be caused by a variety of other conditions as well, and they can be a very frightening problem to deal with. The saddest part is the helplessness of not being able to help in the moment. You just have to try to comfort your dog, calm it down and care for it afterwards and work with the vet to try to find the underlying causes.

Luckily, many of the other common dog health problems are much less serious than the issues mentioned above. For example, you'll probably run into some dog ear infections, dog eye problems and irritations and so forth. There are various causes and symptoms for these different problems but they can typically be treated with simple cleaning and the quick prescription of some antibiotic by your veterinarian. In both cases though, there could be an issue with something being stuck in either the eye or the ear, and your vet may need to carefully remove that.

You may also end up dealing with dogs with arthritis. Arthritis in dogs can be caused by old age and being overweight, but it could also be a genetic problem that arises at an early age. Dog can also be born with hip dysplasia, and surgery may be necessary to fix the condition and prevent a better quality of life with more activity and less pain.

Dog health problems symptoms can pop up at anytime, so you always have to be prepared. But the best course of action is to keep your dog healthy each and every day and you'll be surprised at the difference that you can make with just some basic steps in your routine. For example you should always be attentive and tuned into your pooch, checking for unusual behaviors, symptoms and warning signs and so forth. It will help you realize when something is wrong and you'll catch problems before they become worse.

You can also prevent many common dog health problems simply by ensuring your dog has a proper diet and nutritional guide intake, and by providing plenty of play and exercise. Depending on your breed of dog, or specific conditions you already know your dog has, the diet may need to be altered or tweaked. In addition, frequent bathing, cleansing and grooming will go a long way to keeping your dog healthy and spotting problems before they can spiral out of control.

Of course there are other common dog health problems that you will run into through your course of dog ownership. The good news is that most of the problems won't happen to your pooch, but it's still important to completely understand all of the possibilities and scenarios that could take place.

We encourage you to take a look at all of our specific pages on these common dog health problems and much more to find all of the information that you need. You will learn about dog health problems, symptoms that make them easy to spot, the underlying causes of the problems, potential home and veterinary treatment and much more. Do the work ahead of time and you'll prevent as many of these common dog health problems as possible while staying prepared should any of them arise. Your dog will certainly thank you for it!