3 "Common Sense" Habits That Make a Dog's Behavior Worse

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Habit 1: Rubbing his nose in it.

It's probably the oldest house-training advice there is, and professional dog trainer Dan Stevens says it doesn't work. When you punish a puppy by rubbing his nose in his mess, he probably doesn't even know what you're correcting. He gets frustrated, and his learning is stunted.

The better way is to reward him for going in the right place. As Dan puts it, reward sure sounds like more fun than punishment.

Habit 2: Telling him off after the fact.

You find the chewed shoe an hour later and call him over to scold him. By then your dog has no idea what the scolding is for. Bad deeds have to be caught in the act. Anything later teaches him only that coming to you is a bad idea.

Habit 3: Drilling the same exercise week after week.

Long training plans that repeat almost the same thing every week can switch a dog out of learning mode altogether. What matters most, and what most courses never mention, is making sure he understands what you're asking him to do.

Most owners pick these habits up from well-meaning friends and family. It isn't their fault. They were simply told the wrong things.

John and Jackie from Redcar in the UK switched to Dan's methods and wrote: "we now get a full nights sleep (no crying & barking in the wee small hours), and every morning we come downstairs to a clean floor with no accidents to mop up."

Dan's full method is in Secrets to Dog Training, with step-by-step fixes for over 25 behavior problems. Follow this link...

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