Training Pets

Dogs mostly are more intelligent than most people realise. They understand far more than we give them credit for. And, by using this canine inherent ability we can soon have pets doing anything we ask of them.

A big secret in training animals is using their inherent abilities to our advantage. With dogs, this inherent ability could relate to their ancestral purpose, such as hunting, so ingrained in terriers or with kelpies or border collies that love to muster almost anything that moves!

Those dog breeds that love to hunt are dogs that also love to seek things out, while other dogs love to muster. These traits are things that dogs just love doing naturally, and we can use these traits to make it fun for pets to learn new things. I once had a Jack Russell terrier called Pippy and she loved to muster cattle and sheep. She became one of my best "cattle dogs!" working with a kelpie and collie. This goes to prove you need to watch what your dog loves doing and use this trait to advantage when teaching.

This also applies to goats. My wife raised two orphan Angora Kids goats. They were snow white and were smaller than a toy poodle. They loved to sit on my wife's lap in the lounge room and watch T.V. with her. Their names were Charlie and Jeanie. My 14 year old son took a liking to Jeanie and soon had her doing all sorts of tricks. He simply used the goat's natural ability and love of jumping up onto chairs, rocks or any high object, a sort of King of the Castle game that goats seem to like doing. Anyway, in a short time he had Jeanie learning to jump from one 12 litre oil drum top to another, several lined up in a row.

It was a simple task to teach Jeanie to jump onto the first barrel, then jump to the next, and jump four more in a row. At the last barrel my son would extend his arms out to Jeanie and call her and she would launch herself into his arms. She did this simply because she loved jumping on things, which my son simply exploited.

Then one day when Jeanie was almost fully grown, the vet came to check the goat herd and Jeanie was amongst the flock. But as the vet moved amongst the flock checking their general health Jeanie just followed him about like a 'shadow'. Eventually the vet straightened up and asked me what was up with the young goat that kept following him? He then made the fatal mistake of holding his arm out to point at Jeanie. Instantly she noted the signal and launched herself into the vet's arms nearly bowling him over amongst the other goats. It frightened the life out of him!!!

This sort of training is easily achieved with dogs. Many dogs love to jump onto things and so do cats. But this is where 'bribery and corruption' comes into play. This bribery is achieved with some small tasty tit-bits. You use small pieces of meaty bits like cabanossi or chopped off pieces of sausage or chicken. Anything tasty will do that your pet loves.

You use these small food bites to teach them to obey a whole range of commands such as:

? To sit
? To come
? To walk easily on the lead without tugging and pulling.
? And to teach your pet to do tricks.

It's of real value to use a shoulder harness when walking your dog or any other pet such as your cat, goat or even a pig. If your pet is in the habit of trying to pull too hard on the lead or rush at other pets being taken for a walk, you simply quickly turn the pet around in the opposite direction and walk away. The pet usually looks astonished at this sudden change in your behavior. But your pet is more intelligent than most people it credit for. You only have to do this a few times and the pet gets the message and behaves perfectly. You can also use your 'bribery and corruption' food bites to take your pets attention off anything that you want it to, by giving it a quick sniff of the food and it will switch its attention to you immediately.

There are many training systems that you can use. I have reviewed quite a number. Some are a waste of time and money. But I have found a few that are really good. To check out the best go to my review site below.

If you have a pet that is misbehaving you will find among these training systems one that will suit you and your pet, which will make both your lives really enjoyable.

Copy Rights © John Duffey 2007. All rights reserved.

John Duffey writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic John recommends you visit: http://dufjoh.bezoogle.com/pp/dog-training John also has a variety of other interesting information on: http://www.checkjohn.com