Wisteria Goldens English Creme Golden Retriever: Train Your Dog Effectively to STOP Behavior Problems!

1. Puppy Obedience
Train Your Puppy Effectively to PREVENT Behavior Problems!
By Wisteria Goldens
http://www.WisteriaGoldens.com
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2. Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3
Biting Behaviors ............................................................................................................................. 4
Whining, Howling and Excessive Barking ..................................................................................... 6
Problems with Chewing .................................................................................................................. 7
Jumping On People ......................................................................................................................... 8
Pulling and Tugging On a Leash .................................................................................................... 9
Untimely Urination ....................................................................................................................... 10
Not Heeding the Owner’s Call ...................................................................................................... 12
Escaping and Roaming ................................................................................................................. 13
Begging ......................................................................................................................................... 14
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 15

3. Introduction
If you own a dog, it is important to incorporate a good training program while raising them to
PREVENT bad behaviors before they start. Just about every puppy, no matter what breed, will
have some bad habits and behaviors you will have to break and get rid of if not trained as a
puppy or if the puppy is allowed certain behaviors that are not preferred as an older dog, such as
jumping up on you.
It is necessary to make sure that you are sending the right message by eliminating any behavior
that is deemed inappropriate and can eventually lead to bad manners or harm to your dog.
There are different ways to deal with each of the unacceptable behaviors from your dog.
Whatever you do, make sure that it is a positive experience in order to create effective change in
the behavior.
Since there are different behaviors for each occurrence, you will find that some will require
unique solutions. Of course, you will have to take into account the breed of your dog. There are
some behaviors that are characteristics within each breed, so those will have to be dealt with
accordingly….such as having a herding dog as a pet. We used to have an Australian Shepard
that liked to ―herd‖ company into the house when they arrived to visit.
Starting your puppy on the wanted behavior in the beginning is the key to getting them to do the
right thing and have good manners. If you wait until later, it may be difficult for you and your
dog to get things together. It is confusing to an older dog why they are no longer allowed to
jump on you, when you have allowed it since they were a puppy.
It is important to incorporate proper training and teaching for your dog. Even if it’s not your first
one, you still need to go through the process with every one you get. Make the environment for
them a pleasant one and you can have a happy dog. Dogs do well when they understand what is
expected and receive consistent praise for doing what is asked.
You want your dog to be your best friend and make them a member of your family. You want
them to be that special companion.
You want to have a happy dog. In turn he will make you happy. Once they are bonded to you,
they are attached and there’s no turning back.
Dogs are man’s best friend for a reason. They provide companionship and joy. However, they
have to be trained properly in order to do that….no one wants to be around an unmannered dog.
While you are training your dog it’s important you have patience. It will take time for your dog
to learn what you are wanting and what he needs to do in order to make that happen.

4. Biting Behaviors
Even though play biting is considered as a normal puppy behavior, you should also keep in mind
when dogs get older, it could pose a serious risk to others including yourself.
It may be cute in the puppy stage, but as they grow, it’s not cute anymore. You have to start
when you still have a puppy to get them to change their behavior regarding biting.
As a puppy, biting is a learned behavior that comes from their mother and littermates. They like
to interact with each other, which will include ―play‖ biting. If there is one puppy that is overly
aggressive, the others will get after the aggressive puppy for being too rough. As they continue
to play with each other, the puppy will learn to subside with the biting. You can continue this
training while they are still a puppy when they are with you.
Here are some tips that you can take to get an advantage:
 Let the puppy know that you hurt when they bit you. You can be stern and say ―Uh-Uh‖
or ―ouch‖ to let the puppy know it hurt you. The puppy will know that they have gone
too far and they will think about what they’ve done.
 Slowly take your hand away. Doing this too fast can cause more damage.
 If they bite you again, repeat your verbal reaction. Step away from the puppy for a while.
They will realize that you don’t appreciate what they did and will figure out that you
don’t want to be around them.
 Give them a toy to chew on.
 Reward the puppy when they are good and not biting you.
 Be consistent when you are training them to stop biting. Continue to let the puppy know
that bites are not acceptable.
 Your puppy should take an obedience class. That way he can interact with other dogs as
he gets older. He will learn about limits with humans and other dogs.
 As your puppy gets older and grows into a dog, he needs lots of physical activity,
including regular exercise. Also, give them a chance to play outside so that he can get
some fresh air. Make sure he gets to walk and play fetch.
 Keep them on a schedule with their physical activities. They will get used to doing
things and will come to enjoy doing them.
 Always supervise young children with the puppy. The puppy may still be in the learning
stage and may bite the child. Puppies have sharp teeth and while only playing, can hurt.

5.  Refrain from aggressive behavior with them. This can influence them to continue biting.
This includes: playing with the puppy where they chase your hands or feet it encourages
play biting. Do NOT swat or grab their muzzle playing either.
 If they continue to bite despite your best efforts, contact your veterinarian or a dog trainer
for assistance.

6. Whining, Howling and Excessive Barking
There are times when whining, howling and barking are normal for your dog. However, if you
have a dog that constantly whines, howls or barks, it can become a problem. Not only can it
become a problem for you, it can also become a problem for your neighbors if you live in an
apartment or a subdivision. No one wants to receive constant complaints.
Here are some ways that you can deal with a dog that is constantly creating havoc:
 Find out why the dog is whining, howling or barking so much. They may be hungry,
thirsty or both. Make sure that the dog is always fed and always has water. Don’t forget
about supplying the dog with toys so that they can stay busy.
 Goldens do not like being by themselves. They get upset when no one is around and it
―can‖ create anxiety for them. In addition to being lonely, they get stressed out and
starting making all kinds of annoying noises.
 Even if you are at home with the dog, they need to learn how to be alone. Don’t make it
a habit of always catering to them when they whine. If you do, they will expect you to
come every time. You’ll have a difficult time breaking the habit.
 Sometimes a dog will make noises because they need to use the bathroom. The three
times that you need to know to take them is after they eat, after an activity and after a nap
or when they are waking up in the morning. There will be other times, but once the dog
gets trained, you will be able to understand their cues.
 After you have provided food, water and toys for the dog, they should be quiet.
However, if they are not, don’t be afraid to let them know that their behavior is not
acceptable.

7. Problems with Chewing
Chewing is natural, starting from puppies all the way to a dog. Dogs think that chewing is
normal. However, it is not necessarily correct, especially if it is your furniture. If you notice
your dog is chewing, you will need to correct the problem as soon as you notice it. Give a firm
―Uh-Uh‖ command and take away the unacceptable item and replace it with an acceptable chew
toy.
Make sure your dog has a variety of dog toys that they can chew on. Using these toys can teach
them what they can chew on and what they cannot. Kongs filled with nutritious treats can also
satisfy the need to chew and give them an activity at the same time.
Do not let your dog play with ―old‖ socks or shoes. They can’t tell the difference between old
ones and new ones and therefore, some of your new items may become unwanted play toys.
Chewing on the toys will also keep their teeth and gums healthy. Consistently encourage your
dog to play with the toys.
It is also important the area where the dog plays is kept free of clutter. For your part, make sure
that there are no shoes or other items that can provoke them to start chewing on them.
Sometimes when a dog continues to chew, it is maybe because they are bored or lonely. Look at
your routine and interaction with your dog and make sure they are getting the attention they
need.

8. Jumping On People
Dogs like to jump up on people. However, there are some dog owners who actually encourage
this kind of behavior. They should keep in mind not everyone likes dogs and their dog should
not jump up on everyone they encounter. Even though they are cute when they are still puppies,
it can really pose a problem as they become full grown dogs.
The problem with this is as the dog gets older, they weigh more. The more the dogs weigh, the
more dangerous jumping on people can be, especially for children and senior adults. Also, there
are people who don’t like dogs, they certainly will not appreciate your dog jumping on them and
possibly knocking them down.
A child could be seriously injured due to the weight of the dog. The dog owner could be in
serious trouble, regardless if it’s their child or not that got hurt. Whether it’s an adult or a child,
you could find yourself with a lawsuit if you have not trained your dog not to jump on people.
The best time to teach him not to jump on other people is when the dog is still a puppy. It’s
easier to train them as a puppy vs. retraining them if the dog were older. Once you allow them to
jump on other people, it can be difficult as the dog gets older to break this behavior. They have
learned this is acceptable and breaking this habit can be difficult and confusing for the dog to
understand.
The way to do this is when they try to jump on you wave your hand above and across the top of
their head, step back away from them and tell them ―off.‖ Praise them, ask them for a sit
command, and then give them the attention they are wanting.
Make sure that everyone in the family knows the rules and does not encourage the dog to allow
jumping on them. It can be confusing if you have one person allowing it and not. The whole
family must be consistent, regardless of who it is.

9. Pulling and Tugging On a Leash
Another behavioral problem that dogs can have if not properly trained from puppyhood is pulling
and tugging on a leash. This is a behavior which is usually started and allowed by dog owners.
Train your puppy to walk on a ―loose‖ leash. There are several ways to do this, but the easiest it
to just stop if the puppy pulls. Do not start again, until the leash is loose. It doesn’t take many
times until the puppy realizes they do not get to continue on their walk until the leash remains
loose.
If you have a dog that is really struggling with learning walking on a loose leash, try a body
harness or gentle lead leash. They help to protect your dog’ neck if he is pulls strongly. As you
are walking the dog, give them a treat for staying your side.
Some other tricks: If they pull ahead of you, change directions so that they will end up behind
you. This should be done before the puppy gets to the end of the leash. Do not allow the puppy
or dog to pull you. While they are still young, they need to learn how to walk the right way.
As they get older and larger, it’s crucial that they are walking correctly. As you correct him, do
not yank or pull on their neck. Just make a gentle movement and they will respond. Using too
much force can cause the dog to become agitated.

10. Untimely Urination
There are two types of untimely urination, excitement and submissive. When offering your
puppy love and affection, the dog urinates. When you scold your dog he urinates. Urination
while greeting or being punished is a common dog behavior. The first step toward resolving this
problem is to realize that it is completely natural.
Excitement Urination
Excitement urination is the result of infant muscles that simply cannot hold their urine when the
puppy gets excited. They can get so excited when he sees his owner he temporarily loses control
of his bladder. Since they are still small, they tend to not control their bladder. In fact, they may
not realize what’s happening. The one thing you don’t want to do is get angry with them. That
just makes it worse for them and for you. They will continue to urinate because now they know
they have upset you. The vast majority of dogs simply outgrow this problem as they become
stronger and gain control of their muscles.
What you can do help is implement prevention. Help him from getting excited about certain
things. If he is excited when you come home, make sure you are not provoking it. Don’t greet
your dog with a high pitched, excited voice in seeing them. Keep everything calm in greeting
them when first coming home.
Continually expose him to whatever it is that is making him excited and urinating. The more that
you do it, the less excited they will get, which in turn, will stop the urination.
As they get older and grow bigger, they will be able to control their bladder better.
Submissive Urination
Submissive urination falls into a completely different category. Dogs have several behaviors
designed to reduce violence between them. When challenged, a submissive dog must display
some or all of these behaviors to display its lower pack status and to prevent an attack.
Submissive urination is most commonly offered in this type of greeting. By wetting, the dog is
merely acknowledging the other dog's superiority.
While all dogs are capable of offering this behavior soft-tempered, sensitive are most prone to
submissive urination. Whenever he perceives a threat he eliminates before anyone gets the idea
that he might have a dominant bone in his body. To him, this behavior is perfectly acceptable
and required.
When friends come to visit, the puppy is worse than usual. If a guest attempts to bend over and
pet the puppy it triggers the behavior.

11. Fixing the problem starts with understanding what signals trigger the puppy’s reaction. First,
dogs assume that direct eye contact is a challenge. For a submissive dog, even a moment's eye
contact can be intolerable. Eye contact from above, indicates that the other dog is taller, and
heightens this reaction. For some puppies, a person towering over the top of him is guaranteed
to cause a submissive gesture.
Another signal that dogs perceive as a challenge is bending over or touching their head, neck or
shoulders. Dominant dogs often display their control by placing their neck or a paw over another
dog's neck or shoulders. When a human pats a dog on the head, a submissive dog perceives it as
a display of dominance and they are likely to roll over on its back and wet.
To change this behavior, avoid those situations that instantly trigger urination. When you first
get home avoid eye contact, not bend over to greet your dog, and in general ignore the dog for
the first few minutes. If you do not trigger the reaction, try some very calm words of greeting
and gradually add physical affection over the next few minutes. After the physical affection, if
your dog still has not eliminated, tell him "good boy" and give him a treat.
The use of food for successful greetings is an important ingredient for success. Since physical
petting may actually cause the behavior to happen, food as reinforcement is a logical alternative.
Another advantage to using food is urination and eating is very difficult for a dog to do at the
same time. The dog's response to the food competes with the urge to eliminate, and strengthens
the correct behavior.
Guests to the home should be encouraged to pretend the dog doesn't exist. If they absolutely
must greet him, confine the greeting to outdoors. Barriers such as baby gates can allow the dog
to get used to the person's presence before actually greeting them. While this reduces his
tendency to eliminate at first sight, you must still eventually deal with the actual greeting. When
you remove the gate, it is a good idea to discourage him from rushing quickly at people and
jumping on them, (teach the ―wait‖ command) as it puts him in a position that is likely to trigger
the submissive urination.
For the owner and puppy, the solution to this very common problem is a combination of things.
The owner is going to reduce the likelihood the puppy is going to greet people incorrectly. He
will do this by asking guests to ignore the dog. He is only going to allow uncontrolled greeting
outside where and accident won't damage the carpet. Whenever the puppy performs a correct
greeting he is going to use food and limited affection to reinforce the behavior. The owner is
also going to give Rocky some time to outgrow the problem.

12. Not Heeding the Owner’s Call
It is important for dog owners to realize how important it is for their dog to come to them when
called to do so. When they fail to heed the owner’s call, it can be dangerous. If the dog is active
and does not come when called, they can run into traffic and get hit by a car.
Unfortunately, there are dog owners who allow their dog to roam free without a leash and
without being solid on their recall command. This is not a good idea. The owner should always
have the dog on a leash, unless they are in a protected area and the dog is solid on his recall. In
fact, many urban areas require that a dog is on a leash or the owner could face fines.
Begin to teach your puppy to ―come.‖ At first place puppy a short distance from you and then excitedly
call his new name. You can also play this training game between two people calling the puppy back and
forth with the ―come‖ command. When he gets the idea and begins to ―come,‖ don’t forget to reward the
puppy with verbal praise and a little treat…eventually weaning off the treat. His attention span is short at
this time, so play new games for a few rounds and then wait to play again in a few hours or so. The Come
command is important – you want the puppy to come when you are outside and ready to go in and the
puppy wants to stay outside and play! You also want to them respond to the come command immediately
in order to keep them from dangerous situations with needed.
As your puppy grows you will want to make sure they understand to still come at long distances away
from you. To teach the come command at long distances, put them on a long rope – a light clothes line
for instance, and use the command.
Your dog will always be in the learning stage. It’s important that each process of teaching and
training is something that is positive. That way, they won’t hesitate to come to you whenever
called.
Each time you command the dog to come, give him a reward. It does not have to be elaborate.
Encouraging the dog can include high praises and petting. You can also provide them with dog
treats. Just as long as it’s something that makes them feel good and they enjoy. As with all
training you must be consistent with it.

13. Escaping and Roaming
You should never allow your dog free outdoors to roam in the neighborhood. It can pose a
danger to your dog. In most places, you are required to have a leash on the dog. If you allow
this to happen, you could possibly face a fine.
But, there are some dogs that will work an escape plan by themselves. One of the things that you
can do is eliminate the need for them to want to get away. Most dogs only dig or jump fences to
get out of their yard when they are bored or lonely. Make sure you provide toys (Kongs are
interactive toys), along with water, food, and shelter.
If you have a dog that has a lot of pent up energy, make sure they are getting plenty of exercise.
Sometimes getting another dog for a companion also helps.

14. Begging
As with all bad manner behaviors, the easiest way to prevent this is to not allow it to start at all.
One of the primary reasons to train your puppy not to beg is so you can maintain a healthy and
balanced diet for your dog. Many people see a begging puppy with longing eyes to be
'irresistible' and so will offer scraps of food which often isn't in line with the dog's diet and can
quickly change a happy and healthy puppy to being overweight.
When you are sitting down to dinner, take your dog to a specific spot and tell them to stay. It
may take some time to achieve this, but eventually they will stay when you tell them. It's okay
your puppy watches you having dinner, but don't be tempted to give them anything from your
plate. After you have finished, you should praise your puppy and reward them with their own
delicious dinner. This is exactly what happens in the dog world. The alpha dog eats first and
then the rest of the pack.
Remain consistent with this process every time you have a meal. Don't waver, as otherwise you
will quickly undo all the hard work you have already put in.
Your puppy has a very powerful nose and so they will naturally follow pleasant smells in the
hope of finding food. However, human food is not good for dogs and there are many things that
your dog should not eat that are common in your diet. For this reason, discourage your dog from
begging in the kitchen.
When training your puppy not to beg, you can use the 'sit', 'stay' and 'down' commands. These
are all great ways to reinforce your authority and prevent your puppy from starting to beg.
One very important thing to note when training your puppy not to beg, is that this is one time you
should not use food treats as a reward for good behavior, as this goes against what you are trying
to enforce.
Voice commands are also very effective to stop begging behaviors, and often a strong 'Uh-Uh',
will cause the dog to go down into a sitting position.
Be extremely persistent and patient when training your puppy not to beg. As long as you
maintain the stance that your puppy receives nothing when they beg, they will soon realize that
this behavior brings no rewards. Don't give in and you won't have to deal with this as a behavior
problem later on.

15. Conclusion
You can help your dog change their bad behaviors by consistently working with them, but more
importantly by not allowing the behaviors to develop at all. Train your puppy to have good
manners from the start. Consistency is the key in any successful training program. Stick to your
rules and don’t allow anyone else that comes in contact with the dog to deviate from what you
have taught.
Once your strategies and training is etched in stone, your dog will start to get used to them and
eventually will get rid of any bad behaviors that have developed. You will have a difficult time
with a dog that does not want to follow your orders. Spend time developing your relationship
with your dog and establishing the leadership he needs.
Having a well-trained dog that will allow you to enjoy your dog more and he to bond with you
and have trust in you as a great leader.
Dogs are like children—they need guidance, leadership, nurturing, love, and support. At the
same time, they must realize that they have to accept the rules of the home in order to be a
productive member of your family.
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