One of the little understood benefits of a dog bed is the security it can provide for your dog. Many dogs suffer from anxiety and stress, especially when their owner is away for extended periods. Having a place that your dog can go to when they feel anxious or maybe when they just want some time-out can benefit your dogs emotional wellbeing. When you get your new dog bed, observe where your dog prefers to lie. Most dogs have a special area that they favor more than others. This is where you need to put your dogs new bed. This will be ‘their spot’.

A good quality dog bed will provide insulation for your dog especially during the night. It will also provide essential support from a hard cold floor. Although dogs will sleep on a floor, it is often uncomfortable for them. This is usually the reason that they sneak onto the furniture the minute you leave the house. Your dog will be glad of a comfy warm bed of its own.

In a lot of dogs, as they get older they will start to suffer from joint pain, arthritis and hip problems. This can occur in much younger dogs too. These ailments are just as painful for your dog as they are for humans. If your dog sleeps on a hard floor, or in an area where cold draughts exist it can compound the problem. An additional problem here is that your dog will probably not be sleeping well, which can lead to other problems such as lethargy and unwillingness to go for walks and exercise. Luckily for your dog, you can get orthopedic dog beds which are specially designed to provide relief for your dog from such symptoms.

Something else you will need to consider when getting a new dog bed is what size bed to get. The rule of thumb here is to measure your dog from head to toe when it is in its natural sleeping position. When you have this measurement you must add about 5 inches. This will be the size of bed you need to get. If you find it difficult to measure your dog sleeping, try measuring with your dog standing. This will give you a slightly longer measurement but will give you a rough idea what size you are looking for.

If you invest in a good quality dog bed that is washable, it may last the life time of your dog. Buying a cheaper bed is a false economy as these will quickly wear out. You can be sure that your dog will appreciate a new bed and with the added benefits discussed in this article, it’s well worth the investment.

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Eating is one of the most primal activities for dogs. They love it, and they have respect for whoever gives them food (the leader in the pack). You can use your “power” of being pack leader to enhance your dog training efforts — every day.

The following suggestions will help you establish your role as pack leader and reinforce dog obedience, deferment to your leadership, dog training techniques, and overall attitude and disposition (yours and your dogs).

1. CONSISTENCY

A good habit to have in feeding your dog is consistency. Dogs love routine and food is a very important subject to them.

For example, feed your dog at approximately the same time(s) each day (some modification is fine for weekly schedule changes.) If feeding two times a day, pick two windows of time that you can be consistent with, for example, between 7:00 and 8:00 am and then again between 5:00 and 6:00 pm.

Having a window of time helps prevent anxiety in a dog expecting to be fed at a specific time each day (5:15 pm — yes, dogs can zero in on a specific time of day like 5:15).

This is a very real concern for dogs and some dogs can fall apart emotionally and physically if they are expecting food at that time and dont get it. Ever hear of the dog that is panting and spastic and throwing up or having diarrhea? This dog is anxious. Setting a window of time and sticking to it will help your dog remain calm. Practice the same routine every day.

2. NO RUNNING BUFFET

A big mistake is to offer up the running buffet, where food is available around the clock. This is actually a pretty common feeding program in many homes because its simple for the humans — add food as needed.

So why not do this? Because it leads to an obese, lazy dog who doesnt listen to your commands, respect your leadership position or adhere to rules youve set forth in your dog training.

3. MEALTIME IS DOG TRAINING TIME

Wonderful things happen at mealtime — for you and Fido. You get the opportunity to have your dog perform (reinforcing all that dog training youve done) for his meal. This could be sit, down, come, place.

So what, you say? Well, this is the easiest way you have of getting your dogs affirmation of you being the leader and reinforcing dog training. If you arent the leader, guess who is. It will be the demanding, obnoxious dog bossing you around for a meal.

What exactly does it look like? Hold the food bowl in your hand. Your dog may be spastic, jumping, yipping, and pawing at you for the food. This is another dog training opportunity for you — teaching him to be calmer at mealtimes.

State your command once and wait (good to start with a sit, which is usually the easiest). Your dog sits and the bowl of food goes to the floor with praise for a good sit and a release “OK” that they can move to get the food.

When your dog complies with your command, he has just deferred to your leadership in the pack. (When beginning this program, you may need to help your dog with completing his command and praise warmly and then give food.)

Once your dog has the program down, you can introduce other feeders such as spouse, responsible children, etc to gently let your four-footed family member know her position in the pack.

CONCLUSION

By changing your dogs feeding routine, you change so much more. You get to reinforce all the dog training and dog obedience youve worked so hard on — and it feels effortless. You get increased respect from your dog for providing the important commodity of food and for being a consistent provider. The more you establish yourself as leader of the pack, the more your dog will want to please you and dog training will be a snap.

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We have a 15-16 month old German Shorthaired Pointer named Copper. She is pretty well obedience trained (if a dog can be that). We have used a pinch collar and an electronic collar for her training. The one thing we would like to solve is her whining. I would like to find out what we could do to eliminate it. When we corrected her in the past for whining she’ll stop for a few seconds, but then start right back up again. My first instinct is to continue to correct until she stops, but I wanted to get your opinion on the topic first.

Thank You,
Mark

Dear Mark,

This tends to be a genetically motivated behavior. That is, we see some breeds that do it more than others.

In any event, it’s unlikely that using a leash or e-collar correction will work for this behavior, or you’d have already seen results. (Note: It does work on some dogs if applied consistently).

Here’s what you’ll need to do:

1. Recognize that it’s an anxiety-based behavior. The anxiety is usually the result of your dog not being able to contain her excitement for getting involved with the situation around her. For example, if the dog is made to hold a down-stay, but she sees another dog playing with a ball in the distance. This is when your dog will start whining.

2. PAY ATTENTION: Most owners will release their dog from the down-stay at this point, thus rewarding their dog for whining. Instead, wait until the dog is quiet for at least FIVE seconds before releasing the dog.

3. It is your job to convince the dog that: The longer she stays silent, the more likely it is that she will be rewarded with the ball/food/play/praise or whatever you’re using as a motivator.

4. Be sure to NEVER reward the whining. Even though it may be a hassle in the beginning.

5. Recognize that you may never completely eliminate whining, but you should be able to minimize it to the point where it is no longer an annoyance.

That’s all for now, folks!
Adam

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The best way to understand and find success with house training is to use the dogs own nature to help you.

Dogs are, by instinct, very clean animals. They would rather not soil any areas where they normally sleep or eat. Dogs are also creatures of habit — they like to know where theyre supposed to go urinate and defecate. If the dog is taught to eliminate on gravel or concrete, they will tend to look for either of those surfaces to do so. If theyre taught to eliminate on grass or dirt, thats where they will choose. Use these habits to your advantage.

Setting up the training area

This is the first step. Make sure the area you choose is small and confined. A bathroom works for this, or a place in a kitchen or garage also work well. Remember that crate training works well for puppies or small dogs, but for the larger animals, the crate is too confining.

You need to spend some time with this aspect of the training. You need to play with your dog in this area, and this is also where the dog will be taught to sleep and eat. Put together a special bed. This can be something you make up with items around the house, or you can go to the store and purchase a bed. Dont worry of your dog eliminates in this area at first. Once they figure out that this is where the sleep and eat, theyll stop eliminating there.

Once your dog realizes that the bed is for sleeping, you can begin to move it around the house. But, only when youre there. When youre not, put the bed back in the training area.

Setting up the toilet area

Now you need to determine where the toilet area is going to be located. Presumably, this will be outside the house. Wherever it is, it has to a place that the dog can go to whenever it needs to go. You need to go there with your dog so you can give the appropriate rewards for good behavior.

Establish a set feeding schedule for your dog. If the dog is in the habit of being fed at certain times, the natural process of elimination will also begin to occur at certain times. Once you learn when those times relate to the eating times, it will become much easier for you to guide the dog to the established toilet area.

Dont forget to make sure your dog has ready access to the toilet area. That way mistakes arent as likely to occur.

Continuing the house training process

Once your dog is in the habit of eliminating in the toilet area and not in the sleeping/eating area, you can begin to extend the training area to the rest of the house. Do this slowly. Start by expanding to one additional room, and then gradually expand into other areas. Dont expand into new areas until youre sure your dog has control of its bladder and bowels. At first, do this only when youre around. If youre away, then put your dog back in the original training area.

Speeding up the process

If you have to move this process along more quickly, you can do so. Remember to proceed with caution, though. Its better to go slowly than to have to try to retrain a dog later. If youre going to try to speed things up, you will have to be there in order to reward your dog for successful eliminations. It is also important not to punish for mistakes. That will only confuse the dog and slow the process even further.

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