Dog training tips: one of the most important exercises to teach your dog is to retrieve. Retrieve is the fetch game; its when you throw a ball, your dog runs to get it, brings it back to you, and willingly returns it to you – as if saying: “that was fun, let’s do it again!”  Tip two for dog training: one of the worst things to teach your new dog or puppy in the early stage of development is tug of war. Tug of war is when you take a rope (or toy),  your dog bites one end of the rope; and the owner and dog play a pulling game: a tug of war against one another other. Retrieve teaches your dog to share. Tug of war teaches your dog to work against the owner.  As a beginning exercise, retrieve may not be simple to learn, but all dogs can learn how to retrieve. Another important tip for dog training: tug of war is very easy to teach your dog, and if tug of war is one of the first games that you teach your canine, you are increasing the chance of creating behavioral problems in your dog or puppy.

Dog training is about learning how to influence canine behavior.

The retrieve game is important on many levels. It provides exercise for your dog. It’s a bonding activity between you and your dog. And retrieve teaches your dog the act of sharing. The owner and dog are doing a shared activity. The dog is having fun in a controlled situation. Retrieve teaches the dog to cooperate with the owner, while still having fun with the owner. Playing proper games with a dog is how a dog learns good manners. Retrieve helps the dog to become more mature. With maturity comes improved behavior and cooperation.

Conversely, tug of war teaches a dog to become selfish. The dog pulls against you. And gains pleasure by competing against you. Tug of war teaches a dog to gain pleasure from the “me” perspective, retrieve teaches a dog to gain pleasure from an “us” perspective. Dog training is a worthwhile endeavor because the pet owner learns how to develop good dog behavior for the lifetime of their pet.

Some dogs play tug of war with the leash while taking a walk with their owner.  How did this problem start? Did someone teach the dog to play tug of war? Most likely, someone in the family has taught the dog to do tug of war. Now the dog is just extending the same tug of war game to the walk and the leash. When you tell the dog to stop playing tug of war, very commonly the dog doesn’t listen. Why? Because the tug of war game encourages the dog not to listen. The tug of war games teaches the dog to do what he wants; not what the owner wants. This example of a dog playing tug of war with the leash while on a walk is what can happen if someone teaches a dog the wrong activities in the development stage. When seeking a dog trainer, part of the job is to erase past mistakes. A dog playing tug of war with the leash while walking is correctable by a good dog trainer.

Only teach a dog tug of war as the last part of dog training obedience lessons, not the first activity between the owner and pet.  Playing tug of war too early messes up the retrieve exercise; and it negatively affects dog behavior. A dog that is taught retrieve after tug, will likely do a poor fetch. He will chase the ball, pick it up, maybe even come close to you. But when it comes to handing it over… no way!  He dances close to you and when you reach to grab the ball, He dashes away. Or He holds the toy so tightly in his mouth that you have to pry it out.  Your dog is doing exactly what you taught her to do. He is being selfish, not listening, and doing what he wants. He is having fun at your expense, rather than having fun with you as a shared activity. These types of problems can be corrected. A dog trainer fixes unwanted behaviors.

All pet owners who are interested in dog training  should be learning how to do the retrieve game with their dog. If the dog doesn’t take to retrieve automatically, then it is recommended to contact a dog training professional to learn this essential activity. When you teach a dog to play tug of war too soon, you encourage him to have fun by being selfish. Behavioral problems such as playing tug of war with the leash; fighting with other dogs; barking; destroying furniture; leash lunging, and not listening all have a component of the dog being overly selfish. Practicing the retrieve game is one way to help bring cooperation between the owner and dog. Whether it is intentional or unintended, dog behavior is a consequence of the games that are done between the owner and the dog. Learn to play the “right” games with your pet to bring about a well trained dog.

When seeking dog training Oahu, its helpful to view the evolution of dog training in general. Dog training has evolved in a similar manner as childhood education. In the 1870’s, it was common for a school teacher to hit children and at the time, hitting a child was an accepted part of childhood development. Very similarly, old style dog training has been taught through fear and pain. When looking at your options for dog training Oahu, do you want a dog trainer that is employing methods from the 1870’s or someone that is using contemporary techniques?  In Hawaii, the geographical isolation of our islands has permitted old style dog training methods to continue. Some Oahu dog trainers still employ older methods that rely on pain and punishment. There are some simple signs of whether your dog training instructor in Oahu is using an archaic method or a newer method for teaching a dog.  A contemporary dog trainer in Oahu uses positive experiences to guide the dog towards desired behavior. Positive reinforcement training is the modern method of training dogs and puppies. One way to determine if you have selected a good dog trainer for can be based on the dog trainer’s choice of tools, particularly the leash and collar. Here are some tips for how to select a good teacher for dog training.

When interviewing instructors for dog training Oahu, ask them if they use a choke chain collar.

If the dog does something undesirable, then the old method dog trainer yanks on the choke chain collar (via the attached leash) to punish the dog. I am very surprised to see that some dog trainers in Oahu are still employing this outdated method. This technique of constantly reprimanding a dog through choke chain correction, is akin to the 1870’s style of childhood education. This is the the old school house master hitting the students with the stick. An old criticism of dog training was that it kills the spirit of the dog. Well, if you are constantly and repeatedly employing a choke chain correction, then imagine what it does to the personality of your family pet? Choking a dog for every undesirable act? Do you see how that could negatively alter the personality of your dog? Then why do some instructors of dog training Oahu still use the choke chain? Because Hawaii is the most geographically isolated land mass in the world. There’s been a shortage in the exchange of ideas (at least in the field of dog training). Even if clients objected to old style dog training techniques, there weren’t many choices within 2,467 miles, so this allowed old style dog training to perpetuate in Hawaii.   The choke chain collar is an outdated training tool. I would not recommend any dog trainer in Oahu that still uses this device.

When interviewing teachers for dog training, ask the instructor if he uses an electronic shock collar.

The idea of using an electronic shock collar to train a dog is so outrageous that dog trainers who use this device call it a different name other than electronic shock collar. Sometimes its called a “remote.” And others will call it an “e collar.” When the dog does something undesirable, the owner zaps the dog with electric shock. Go back to the 1870’s school house style of teaching. Maybe the school house master didn’t have access to electric shock therapy, but if he did, then he would gladly shock students for spelling incorrectly. Beware of training your dog with a dog trainer that uses an electronic shock collar. The personality of the dog will be negatively affected after being shocked with electricity. If you use the electric shock collar for dog training Oahu, then you will essentially kill the spirit of your dog. Unfortunately, the use of the electric shock collar is used by some dog trainers in Oahu. So before you decide on who you are going use for dog training Oahu, ask the instructor if he uses the electronic shock collar.

A standard six foot leash is the standard tool in positive reinforcement dog training.

A dog trainer communicates with a dog through the standard leash. Not the gentle lead. Unnecessary leash devices include the “gentle lead” device which wraps around the dog’s snout and pulls on the dog whenever the dog pulls on the lead. The problem with the “gentle lead” is that it is not gentle. When it pulls on the dog’s snout, this produces a great deal of pain in an area that is highly sensitive to a dog.  Additionally, the “gentle lead” device doesn’t allow the dog to fully open their mouth. A dog regulates their body temperature by opening their mouth, so you don’t want anything impeding this action. The desired effect of a “gentle lead” device is to teach the dog to walk without pulling on the leash. If this pulling on the leash can be solved without the “gentle lead” device, then it would be a more humane form of dog training because the same effect can be produced  while letting the dog breathe more comfortably and with less pain to the dog’s snout area. It’s the skills of the dog trainer that produce good behavior in dogs, not the use of extra tools, like the gentle lead.

 What is dog training?

Dog training is a low technology activity. The best tools for dog training are the simplest ones. Look for the  dog trainer that uses the standard buckle collar ( the martingale collar is also acceptable) that goes around the neck; and a standard leash that is six feet long. When you select a dog trainer that uses these simple tools, you will be learning from a teacher that emphasizes relationship building rather than communicating via pain and punishment. A dog trainer that uses the buckle collar and the six foot leash is more likely to encourage pet owners to use their emotions to communicate with their dog rather than relying on extraneous devices to send signals to their dog.  The goal in selecting a teacher for dog training Oahu, is choosing someone that will teach the pet owner how to communicate with their pet. If you want your dog to keep his award winning personality, then avoid the dog trainer in Oahu that advocates using the choke chain, the electronic shock collar, or the “gentle lead” device. These tools are instruments of pain. Every time the dog does something undesirable, the dog handler sends a pain signal to the dog. The evolution in dog training has been to minimize the use of pain as a communication tool and increase the usage of reward. The choke chain, the electronic shock collar, and the gentle lead are indicators of pain based dog training. The newer form of teaching dogs is referred to as reward based dog training.