Properly train your dog in or out of a dog crate

The old school of thought was that you should put your pup on a leash and force him to obey by pulling him from all sides. If the leash did not work, a choke collar or spiked collar was used. Dog cages were used as a place of punishment and were associated with negative behavior. Many old school dog trainers used negative reinforcement and harsh punishment when training not too many years ago. This system has failed and has only made the dog fearful and obedient to the trainer. For results that work with your pup, you need to engage every day. Two five to ten minute training sessions with gentle but firm voice commands will achieve the same fearless obedience result.

As the owner of your pup, you want to act as the leader of the pack. One of the best and most prominent voices of this is Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer. He is calm, consistent and fair. He doesn’t snap and yell at his dog or worse, start hitting him. Yelling just causes fear and he will cower in a corner and build up resentment towards you. Listen to yourself when you start yelling at someone about something. He looks a lot like the neighbor’s dog barking. That is why he should keep his voice normal and show him with hand signals and body language exactly what he would like him to do. One trick I learned was to snap my fingers to get his attention. After you have their attention, you can give an order. Without his full attention, you’re better off forgetting about it. You want your pup to respect you, not fear you. Reward good behavior. You don’t always have to use a treat, but it’s a great way to get their initial attention. Later, you can phase out the treats and reward good behavior.

Puppies will do a lot of cute things that turn annoying later, so be careful what you reinforce. Don’t reinforce bad behavior. You should have a designated place for you to retreat to when you need to sleep. And believe me, puppies like to sleep. This is where a dog crate comes into play. The dog cage is a place where you can go and be safe. It is not a place where you go to the bathroom. Before giving him the order to go to the checkout, make sure he has had enough time outside to relieve himself in the designated area. Naturally, it will go to the same spot unless it gets too dirty with feces. Keeping this area clean is a huge, smelly job that falls to you, the master.