When’s the best time to start training your dog?
Ideally, it should be the moment you first bring
her home, whether she’s a seven-week-old puppy or
a nine-year-old rescue from your local animal shelter.
Training simply means educating your dog in a safe
and loving environment. and teaching her that she
can get whatever she wants by her actions…as long
as she checks with you first.

Successful training depends on your skills as well
as your dog’s health, history, daily routine, diet,
age, sleep and exercise patterns, and breed predispositions.
There are, however, some basic tenets all
dogs can benefit from. Remember that her health is
your first concern. As soon as you adopt your new
canine bundle of joy, make an appointment with
your veterinarian to make sure she has a clean bill
of health. Then you can begin the training process.

1. Plan ahead
Collect everything you and your new dog will need, including highly valued treats, a bed, a proper buckle or Martingale-style collar, a six-foot nylon leash, wire tethers and a training clicker if you choose to use one. Create an environment that will promote success by puppy-proofing your house (remove inappropriate chewing objects like shoes, stuffed animals and the remote control), and appropriately using tethers, kennels, baby gates and exercise pens.

2. Make a behavioral wish list
Positive training isn’t about teaching your dog to stop doing something. It’s about teaching him what you want him to do instead. If you don’t know what you want him to do, he won’t be able to figure it out either, and both of you will end up barking at one another in frustration. For example, it isn’t about how you can get Buster to stop jumping; it’s about teaching him to lie down when people come through the door. It isn’t about getting him to stop chewing slippers; it’s about teaching him to chew appropriate toys and ignore slippers.

Sit down with your family and make a wish list of likes (desired behaviors) and dislikes (unwanted behaviors). Learn from books, DVDs and trainers how to shape the behaviors you want, step by step. Then you can proactively teach your dog exactly what he is supposed to do rather than reactively try to correct unwanted behaviors.

3. Use consistent communication
We often inadvertently teach our dogs to do exactly what we don’t want them to do. For example, if you don’t want your dog to jump on you, don’t reinforce the jumping by occasionally petting him when he jumps. Be consistent and always have him sit or lie down before being petted.

A big problem people have is getting their dog to “stay.” This also has to do with inconsistent communication. For example, don’t say “stay” and then walk out the door without releasing your dog from the command. She’ll quickly learn that she can get up whenever she wants. You must give her a clear signal when you ask for a behavior – and another clear signal to complete it.

Mixed messages also often cause confusion and unreliable behavior. For instance, don’t say “sit down” if you mean “lie down”. Don’t say “down” if you mean “off”, as in “get off the furniture” or “get off me” when the dog jumps. Make sure every family member is using the same signals.

4. Maintain realistic expectations
Older or larger dogs can’t always do what younger or smaller ones can do – and vice versa. Train at your dog’s individual learning rate and also take her physical and emotional abilities into account.

Here are some examples of unrealistic expectations:

• You can teach a seven-week old puppy how to sit, lie down or come in just a few days. But reliable behavior won’t happen until he reaches emotional maturity, between one-and-a-half and four years of age. Similarly, some people think a golden retriever should immediately like swimming. But many retrievers don’t wake up to who they are, so to speak, until they are a year old. Other breeds undergo the same process of discovering their traits as they mature.

• Many puppies cannot be housetrained and taught to reliably eliminate outdoors until they are seven or eight months old.

Paul Owens is the author of The Dog Whisperer: A Compassionate Nonviolent Approach to Dog Training, now also available on DVD. Certified by the Assoc iation of Pet Dog Trainers and endo rsed by the National Assoc iation of Dog Obedience Instructors, Paul is the director of Raise with Praise, Inc., based in Burbank, California. www.dogwhispererdvd.com.