What is the most commonly asked question from dog owners?

What is the most commonly asked question from dog owners?

"Can you make my dog listen to me?

Actually,the dog is already listening!To the endless stream of
ever-changing words you've never clearly explained the meaning of. To
the harsh tones that he's learned to either fear or ignore. To your
begging and pleading and cajoling that actually, to a dog, sounds a lot
like praise." The true first step is to teach the owners to listen to
their dogs. When that happens, the rest falls into place in a
heartbeat.

It is estimated that 93% of all "professional" dog trainers don't
really know what they're doing. And the other 7% charge hundreds, if
not thousands of dollars.

If you're not using the right dog training techniques, you're probably
wasting hundreds of hours per year. Not to mention missing out on some
of the joys of owning a well trained dog. Imagine being able to take
your dog to macdonalds and place him in a "down-stay" while you go in
and have a cup of coffee. And know that he'll still be there when you
come back! You can easily reduce your training time by more than 60%,
and still achieve maximum results.

Teaching the "Come" command

Before you start teaching your dog to come on command, there are a few
things you need to be aware of.

First and foremost, never call your dog if you are going to do
something unpleasant to him when he comes. For instance, never call
your dog then: end a fun outing by putting him on leash, bathe him,
scold him, lock him up, clean his ears, take his toy away, etc. Never
call your dog, then punish him for something (such as running away)
when he comes. Your dog will think he's being punished for coming to
you!

If your dog has already formed negative associations with the come
command (i.e. he thinks it means "run away as fast as you possibly
can") or you've used it inconsistently and your dog is used to
ignoring it, choose a new come command.

Mothball your old come command and teach this exercise using a new
word. "Here" is a popular choice, but you can make up any command
you like.

The other thing you need to be aware of is what constitutes a proper
recall (dog trainer's term for the come exercise). On a single
command, your dog should stop what he's doing, run to you as quickly
as possible, and sit down in front of you. In this article, I will
treat this as two exercises. These two exercises can be taught over the
same period of time, but should not be combined until the dog knows
both.

Come sit in front.
Have your dog on a four to six foot lead. When you have your dog's
attention, take several swift steps backward as you guide the dog to
you with a treat held at his nose level. When the dog is in front of
you, stop and raise the treat up slightly, causing the dog to sit.
Click and treat when the dog sits. When the dog does this smoothly,
Introduce variable reinforcement, then
Introduce the recall command
Next, practice this while standing in place rather than backing up.
Then eliminate guiding with food and switch to simply reinforcing a
correct "come in and sit."

Long line recall.
Attach a long (at least thirty foot) line to the dog's flat collar.
Have a family member or friend hold the line in two places; the handle
at the end, and about three feet from the collar. The assistant's job
is simply to hold the dog in place until the handler gives the recall
command, then release the dog by dropping the portion of the line near
the collar and continuing to hold the end to prevent the possible
escape of the dog.
Your job is to run away from the dog, calling his name, whistling,
waving your arms, etc., until the dog is lunging against the leash with
obvious desire to come to you. At this point, stand still and give one
clear recall command.

Your helper should release the dog at this time.

If you called your dog at the right time, he should come running to
you. Click and treat when he gets there. Repeat this only two or three
times per session, so that you leave the dog wanting more.

When the dog is performing both of these exercises well,
combine them by recalling the dog, and simply prompting the dog to sit
in front by guiding slightly with the food. After a few repetitions the
dog usually does this smoothly on his own.
The finishing steps for the recall are:

Stop having the helper holding the dog, and simply recall when
the dog is wandering at the end of the line.
Start using variable reinforcement
Practice calling the dog away from and past distractions
Practice calling the dog from a sit/stay position
If you call your dog and it does not come, run away from it calling its
name and whistling just as you did at the beginning of training.

And remember: Always make it fun for your dog to come!

I recomend personal traing for household dogs over professional

shore...

I will never in a million years understand why some people
are so unscrupulous in their business practices.

training and one of the best books I have come across is Secrets of a
Professional Dog Trainer which you can get here:
http://affiliate-mentor.com/dogtraining.htm

Keeping dogs can be very rewarding but it can also become stressful if
you don't get the right advice so be sure to check that book out.
http://affiliate-mentor.com/dogtraining.htm