By Michele L. Meyer

Would you like your dog to behave better? Here are some free training tips for 5 quick and easy ways to improve your dog’s behavior.

1. Teach your dog to sit before all rewards including food, treats, going outside, putting the leash on, coming out of the crate, for toys, etc. Doing this teaches your dog that sit means “please” and being polite gets him what he wants.
2. Be sure to prevent the undesirable behaviors from happening when you are not there to monitor your dog by safely confining him to a crate, behind gates, etc. The only way to effectively correct your dog for wrong behavior is to catch him in the act…please see our blog post “The Two Second Rule” for more on this.
3. Never use a retractable leash when walking your dog. There are many problems with these types of leashes including giving you less control and allowing your dog to roam too far and therefore lose focus of where you are. Six foot leashes are best.
4. Teach your dog to stay on one side of you during your walks instead of allowing him to cross back and forth. Not only will this decrease the likelihood of your dog tripping you… but also provides more structure to the walk, improving your dog’s attention to you.
5. Use the leash more. Using a standard 4-6 foot leash in the house and even inside a fully fenced yard is a great training tool when we need our dogs to listen better. You could either hold the leash, use it to safely secure your dog, or let him drag it if in a safely confined area. Please remember to NEVER LEAVE YOUR DOG UNATTENDED ON A LEASH!

These 5 things will get you off to a great start to having a well-trained dog. Please contact us for more assistance with training your dog.