Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Training a Working Livestock Dog

You are training your dog to work with live stock on your farm and want to be sure that your dog is useful, safe, and treats your live stock well.  This is important to the productivity of your farm.  This article will provide specific ways that you can train your working livestock dog accordingly.

Learning to listen to your dog will make you a better trainer of him. Animals are not robots that can be programmed and your dog has a personality with preferences and quirks, just like you. Understanding the nuances of your dogs expressions will help you decipher more in training and therefore, expand your ability to teach him.

If you are trying to prevent your dog from begging, the best thing to do is ignore the begging completely. Don't respond either positively, with a treat or petting, or negatively, by shouting. Your dog will learn quickly and remember for a long time that the begging ended up with you paying attention to the dog.

Teaching your dog a fun trick, such as "play dead" can be a fun way of distracting him.  When your dogs behaviour is bad, simply use the command you have established for his trick instead of using negative punishment.  This provides for a fun activity for your dog and creates a positive environment for you as well.

Tip: K9 Magazine's Ryan O'Meara says: "Dogs all have individual motivating factors. For some it's food, for others it's play. Before you begin to train, try to learn exactly what your dog's main motivating factors are."

Find out what motivates your dog as a training reward, and save it for training sessions to get maximum results. Some dogs love a chance to chew on a special squeaky toy or ball, while others adore a certain brand of treats or tiny chunks of fresh baked chicken. It never hurts if the dog is a little hungry so the treats seem even tastier.

Dog Nutrition Guide

Your dog will need a diet high in proper nutrition and the right type of calories to maintain his vitality and health. This means that you should be picky about what you feed your dog. Making your own dog food can help to reduce fillers that do nothing for your pet, while increasing the crude protein to a healthy and more beneficial level.

Remember how many treats you reward your dog with during the course of the day to avoid fattening him up. Many people overlook treats when considering the animals diet but they will certainly add up, especially during active training. Carefully choose which treats to give him based on quality and nutrition and if you're finding the dog gets a lot of treats you may want to consider praise as an alternative reward.

In conclusion, it is important that you train your dog well in order to be able to work with your live stock.  As long as you follow the tips and tricks included in this article you should be able to train your dog to more efficiently and safely work with your live stock.

Training a Working Livestock Dog

You are training your dog to work with live stock on your farm and want to be sure that your dog is useful, safe, and treats your live stock well.  This is important to the productivity of your farm.  This article will provide specific ways that you can train your working livestock dog accordingly.

Learning to listen to your dog will make you a better trainer of him. Animals are not robots that can be programmed and your dog has a personality with preferences and quirks, just like you. Understanding the nuances of your dogs expressions will help you decipher more in training and therefore, expand your ability to teach him.

If you are trying to prevent your dog from begging, the best thing to do is ignore the begging completely. Don't respond either positively, with a treat or petting, or negatively, by shouting. Your dog will learn quickly and remember for a long time that the begging ended up with you paying attention to the dog.

Teaching your dog a fun trick, such as "play dead" can be a fun way of distracting him.  When your dogs behaviour is bad, simply use the command you have established for his trick instead of using negative punishment.  This provides for a fun activity for your dog and creates a positive environment for you as well.

Tip: K9 Magazine's Ryan O'Meara says: "Dogs all have individual motivating factors. For some it's food, for others it's play. Before you begin to train, try to learn exactly what your dog's main motivating factors are."

Find out what motivates your dog as a training reward, and save it for training sessions to get maximum results. Some dogs love a chance to chew on a special squeaky toy or ball, while others adore a certain brand of treats or tiny chunks of fresh baked chicken. It never hurts if the dog is a little hungry so the treats seem even tastier.

Dog Nutrition Guide

Your dog will need a diet high in proper nutrition and the right type of calories to maintain his vitality and health. This means that you should be picky about what you feed your dog. Making your own dog food can help to reduce fillers that do nothing for your pet, while increasing the crude protein to a healthy and more beneficial level.

Remember how many treats you reward your dog with during the course of the day to avoid fattening him up. Many people overlook treats when considering the animals diet but they will certainly add up, especially during active training. Carefully choose which treats to give him based on quality and nutrition and if you're finding the dog gets a lot of treats you may want to consider praise as an alternative reward.

In conclusion, it is important that you train your dog well in order to be able to work with your live stock.  As long as you follow the tips and tricks included in this article you should be able to train your dog to more efficiently and safely work with your live stock.