My mom is getting sick of my dog going potty on the livingroom rug. She suggested something called doggie boot camp, where they teach your dogs right from wrong and some cool tricks as well as housebraking. know of any? If so PLEASE help me and reply!

All you really need is a normal group obedience class. Just going to Petsmart classes could teach you how to fix your dog's problems and how to train them.
If your dog is having housetraining problems, just go back to the beginning. When you can't watch them, put them in the crate. Keep them on a leash that's around your ankle while they're out, so you can stop them if they're making a mistake. To stop them, just make a loud noise, pick them up and take them outside to finish pottying. Praise them and make it a big deal when they go potty outside. You should be going outside with them everytime, or else telling them good dog when they come in, doesn't show them what they did right. They'll think they're "good" for coming inside. Every hour take the dog outside to go potty. Any mistakes are your fault for not watching them. Housetraining can easily be done as long as you're consistent with them.

Be wary of places that want you to drop your dog off for training. Since you are not there, you don't know what they're doing to your dog. I read about some trainer a while back that claimed to be a positive trainer, and wanted you to drop the dog off for training. When she had the dogs, she would put shock collars on them and shock them over and over saying she was showing them who was boss. Or if they ran off, she would keep shocking them until they came back. She would also put shock collars all over the dogs' bodies for even more "control." A good trainer wants you to be there the whole time so you can learn how to do it yourself. Most places just teach you how to do it so you'll have more success.
This may be of some help for you.

Dear Woman's Best Friend:

Please go to Association Pet Dog Trainers You may find a trainer in the same area where you live.

Best of luck to you.
John Lacher
Canine Training Solutions, LLC
San Diego, CA

Yeah, go look at this site. Please don't go to PetSmart/Petco Training classes for the sake of your dog, because they train for the money not for the dogs.

I would perfer a professional dog trainer that knows what they are doing and will train your dog not for the money but also for the love of the dog that she/he trains.

I don't know any good sites to search, but I'm sure you can find something better than Pet Store training classes.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by pawnearsk9training:
Yeah, go look at this site. Please don't go to PetSmart/Petco Training classes for the sake of your dog, because they train for the money not for the dogs.

I would perfer a professional dog trainer that knows what they are doing and will train your dog not for the money but also for the love of the dog that she/he trains.

I don't know any good sites to search, but I'm sure you can find something better than Pet Store training classes.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

I think that it really depends on the trainer at the store. Some are great, others not so much. But I do agree- an actual training business would be better, but you run the risk of going to someone who doesn't really believe in positive methods. At Petsmart the employees are only supposed to use positive methods. The other problem with classes at stores is that it can be more distracting when you're first learning, but once your dog gets better that can be great to train in.

There's no point in having your dog trained if you're not trained as well. Sending your dog off to boot camp won't teach you how to deal with him once he's back home. You an/or your mom need to take the puppy to classes where you learn how to train and take the dominant role with your dog. Good luck.

I have to disagree with erl1391. There should be no risk in finding the right trainer. It just involves doing your homework; it would be foolish for someone to sign up for a training class with out first seeing how the trainer works with the dogs. I think PetsMart is a bad place to go for training. My friend owns a Siberian Husky. These are strong willed dogs. The first week of PetsMart training class the trainer (who used all positive methods) told her that her dog was mentally slow and would never learn basic obedience! Luckily my friend found a local trainer, who used a combination of positive reinforcement and a pinch collar, and the dog now behaves beautifully. He will never win any obedience competition, but then my friend was only looking for basic manners.

This is for all-creaters-great-and-small, what is a pinch colloar? I went to a pet store and talked to a man i met there about how he trained his dog and he mentioned one... But i didn't and still don't know what it is. If anyone else know what it is gim'me a buzz K?

I just want to say thanks to everyone who gave me a suggestion! I Really appreciate it!

A pinch collar is a collar designed to replicate a correction that a mother dog or littermate would issue when teaching bite inhibition or any other unacceptable behavior in the pack. It constricts around the throat quickly like a correctional "bite" and if used correctly should not be harmful. It looks scary, but is actually more humane than a traditional choke collar. It has a safety ring which will prevent the dog from being choked. It's particularly effective on larger and stronger dogs who might otherwise not be able to be controlled in certain situations by a smaller or older person. Or who go into heavy prey drive on a walk, and aren't quite disciplined to hold a stay in such a situation. There are controversal issues amoung trainers about all types of training collars, which I would advise anyone looking into this method to read up on. Some say it causes trachea damage, and it does, IF used improperly. The problem is, many novice trainers tend to let the dog continue to pull and choke without issuing a motivational correction, so the dog may begin to have throat problems. It's important to study and really understand any method of training before just jumping into it without pofessional advice. So, if you do try the pinch collar, and see that your dog isn't responding or improving, you are probably doing it wrong, or your dog is a softer dog that will develop more problems psycologically, and actually become upset and learn to fear you by the whole thing. It really comes down to the temperment of your dog, what type of training you are looking for, and what results you are getting with each given method. Whew, sorry for the long post!

Dangers of Choke, Prong and Shock Collars And this is what a prong/pinch collar looks like. Before trying to use any training equipment, try other ways. When you add training equipment you have that much more of things to fade. And I don't like the idea of relying on equipment for the dog's whole life- which is what a lot of people end up doing.
Many people do not spend the time to look into trainers for their dogs. That's the simple reason why I said Petsmart/Petco trainers could help. They're positive trainers, so it's unlikely that you'll harm your dog training with them (mentally or physically). The problems mentioned seem like they're pretty common and easily fixed. As I said earlier, it just depends on the particular trainers.
With any trainer you think about going to, ask to watch a class and decide if that's the way you want your dog to be trained. You can also talk to some of the students after the class and ask their opinions of the trainer and if what they've suggested doing has worked for their dogs.

peoplepacks and erl1391 summed it up pretty well. And like they both said any training tool can be misused. Your best bet would be to observe various trainers and their training methods and find one that can work with various types of reinforcements to find what will work best with your dog.

that is a pretty good suggestion, but my dog is only 5 months old and i don't know if she or i am ready for somthing like that just yet. but i'll keep that in mind if her behavior starts to geet really bad. Thx!

Sorry but have to disagree each trainer at each petsmart is different. I can say for sure that the woman at the Petsmart here is one of the best trainer's around, she's got great patience and loves spending time working with the dogs.

It all depends on who is working there, that's why you watch a class to decide if you like their training style or not, it called using common sense. Saying because one Petsmart trainer is bad that they all are frankly is fairly ignorant. That's like saying because one Burger King has bad service they all do -rolls eyes-

quote:

Originally posted by badkittyamy:
Saying because one Petsmart trainer is bad that they all are frankly is fairly ignorant. That's like saying because one Burger King has bad service they all do -rolls eyes-

LOL. I do think that all Burger Kings have bad service. I think it has something to do with it being fast food.

To wo-mansbestfriend:
Keep in mind it's easier to train good behavior than try to fix bad habits.

Thanks but i dot think that burger king has anything to do with my problem! LOL! But thanks for the other suggestions!

Some petsmart trainers are good, some are bad, I've seen both.

A doggie boot camp actually won't help you that much. The only way to get a well behaved dog is if you learn how to train your own dog. You can take a dog away from it's owners and it's house, train it and it's perfect, but if the owners aren't trained along with the dog, it'll turn right back into the monster it was once it goes back home. So it's essential that you are the one being trained how to train your dog.

Pinch collars, don't even bother with them because it's not worth the potential harm it can cause your dog and long term behavioral effects. Stubborn dogs require a different training approach yes, but it's not force. Using force and corrections or making the dog do what you want actually is what creates an even bigger stubborn streak. The trick with stubborn dogs is to trick them into thinking that behaving and obeying is their idea and is to their benefit. Correctional collars like that on a stubborn breed sounds like a good idea, but it's really not in the long term.

You've pretty much been given good advice on training your dog. If you have any questions or anything, don't be afraid to ask. I wish you the best of luck in successfully potty training your dog