You gain a ton of knowledge by watching Cesar Milan’s “The Dog Whisperer”. He teaches/enables his watchers how what he does works.
First, you must become the dog’s master. This is done by taking the dog on walks, and making sure you are in front. If the dog tries to get in front of you, it’s because he thinks he’s your master. Because of this, he’ll never listen to what you say because you are a lower rank than he is.
Second, you should take control of your home, and most of all, your space. Sure, you must think it’s cute when he jumps into your lap of his own free will – but you are completely misinterpreting the dog’s actions. He is invading your space without permission, because well, he doesn’t need it! You’re ranked lower than him. So he can walk and lie on you as he pleases! Start telling him no, at the beginning of the jump. The once he masters this, start giving him the command “Up!” or whatever phrase you choose to use to mean “Get in my lap!”. Be consistent.
Always address the action as it is happening; if you’re seconds late the dog will not know what you are referring to.
Third, begin addressing the barking. Have one of your family members go outside, and play the part of the “visitor”. Dog’s start their bark with a low growl, or a guttural sound in their throat – you must listen for this and train your ear to it. It is at this moment that you must say “No!”. You can supplement the command with a hand signal, and the hand signal can work alone as long as the dog is looking at you [and he will look at you often, for everything he needs to do as long as you’re Alpha [master]]. If you wait until he starts barking, he will reach a point of excitability that cannot be pierced with a command; it will be too late.
Your relationship with your dog will become more attached, if your assert yourself as the leader. And each of your family members needs to be the leader as well…in the dog’s mind they are just different ranks above himself. He will be able to relax and be playful, since the responsibility of running a pack has been taken off his hands.
Never, ever beat the dog.
Never get into a shouting match with the dog.
Always exude calmness, especially when he is on the leash. If you are nervous, the dog can feel it through the leash. An Alpha [master] is always calm, and the dog knows this. If you slip up and show anxiety or anger, the dog will feel you’ve failed as an Alpha and he needs to take over.
Have fun! Gaining Alpha can happen in one day, but un-training behaviors will take weeks of consistent correction. Depending on how bright the dog is, it may take only days. But not all dogs are blessed, lol.
Since I’ve watched Cesar Milan’s show on TV, I’ve been enlightened. I’ve raised three puppies since then [yeah, I feel like a farmer’s wife every time I get up in the morning to feed my animals].
One was a Jack Russell named Choi. We got her at 14 weeks of age. I started off from the beginning by training her to know me and my husband as the Alpha by walking her. We untrained her need to bark at the door, and at strangers. We trained her not to jump up on people, or grab at their legs…unless they gave her permission. We had her potty trained within 8 weeks. We taught her “Sit”, “Up”, “Down”, “Come” – all very important commands.
The came Panda, a mix between Great Pyrenees and Rottweiler. This baby was lightyears smarter than Choi. We got her at 4 weeks of age, because her mother wasn’t feeding her puppies anymore. We had her potty trained – and she would ring a bell that we had hanging from the back door when she had to go. She could defecate and urinate on command. She knew all the “sit”, “come”, etc commands by week 7. By this time my method had matured a little and I was getting better at training. She’s my star pupil, and adorable at that. She’s also HUGE, we had to make her a guard dog… until she gets older and can be inside without knowing FURNITURE over. lol.
The Chico. He’s a chihuahua…partially housetrained, He defecates and urinates on command, knows the basic commands. We got him at 12 weeks, and his previous owners taught him by keeping him on diaper pads. It’s been a real pain to break him from sneaking off to do his doo inside the house. The real problem is me, because I can never catch him in the act to say “No!”. So we are faced with trouble like this. But he does everything else well!
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