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Dog Training for Dummies
Make your buddy a top dog for life, be your Best Friend's "Friend," by training together.
Obedience training is one of the most important aspects of raising a dog. In fact, a well-trained dog is a FREE dog! Why? Because a trained dog requires fewer restrictions. The more reliable the dog, the more freedom he is given.
Dog Training for Dummies shows dog owners how to select the right training method for their puppy, adult, or senior dog. Whether you want to teach Buddy to sit or master retrieving, this hands-on guide provides training to ensure a mutually respectful relationship with your four-legged family members.
Eliminate unwanted behavior Find step-by-step instruction on basic commands Strengthen your bond with your dog Build communication, understanding, and mutual respect Based on positive reinforcement, trust, and obedience, the tips and tricks inside will help you bring out the very best in your beloved pet.
Obedience training is one of the most important aspects of raising a dog. In fact, a well-trained dog is a FREE dog! Why? Because a trained dog requires fewer restrictions. The more reliable the dog, the more freedom he is given.
Dog Training for Dummies shows dog owners how to select the right training method for their puppy, adult, or senior dog. Whether you want to teach Buddy to sit or master retrieving, this hands-on guide provides training to ensure a mutually respectful relationship with your four-legged family members.
Eliminate unwanted behavior Find step-by-step instruction on basic commands Strengthen your bond with your dog Build communication, understanding, and mutual respect Based on positive reinforcement, trust, and obedience, the tips and tricks inside will help you bring out the very best in your beloved pet.
- GenresNonfictionAudiobook
408 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 7, 2020
111 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 7, 2024
There are a few good things in here, hence the 2 stars and not one. But while treats are used, so is punishment, and there's no justification for that with the amount of research that demonstrates the problems with it. Also, the author isn't a veterinary nutritionist, but spends a lot of time recommending diet and supplements and that didn't sit right with me.
November 14, 2024
Really amazing and easy to understand book!
Gives tons of examples for how to train you dig as well as other informational tips about a dog’s diet and healthy.
Now this is a huge over view and you might need to bring in other resources to get the full picture, but if not this could be a one stop shop.
Dog training take aways
- positive vs negative reinforcement (really depends on the dog, one way is not better that the other)
- A dogs name and how you say it greatly effects the dogs behavior
- Your behavior and mood while training effects your dogs
- Food (avoid brands high in corn)
- Food (don’t add in raw vegetables right away, started with Cooke then slowly move to raw)
- Food (to much protein is not good, to much carbohydrates is not good, to much and to little both have bad effects on your growing puppy/ dog
- Beef based foods are the most recommend overall, or specialized food for the bread
- Chicken is great for a sick or recovering dog
- Water is the most important thing, a dog can survive for 3 weeks on water alone
- Wash the food container after it is empty/ before you refill it if you use a different container besides the dog food bag
- 50% date of cancer for dogs who have middle only diets, try and find a brand with 15% carbohydrates or less
- You can enhance kibble with a vitamin or supplement, they recommend one called endurance
- Or you can add fresh food to kibble, which will reduce cancer likelihood by 40%
- Rawdiet.com/mixed/researched (if you go raw make sure to do a lot of research)
- When changing diet, start to ad new food in with the old until you are entirely in the new diet
- Bones help your dog’s teeth and gut health
- Regular buckle collars are no good for training, they recommend a choke or a pinch collar
- A snap around collar should fit snuggly right behind the dogs ears (won’t work on most dogs that are not touch sensitive)
- Careful when training with the collar on, if you take it off the dog might not respond when the collar is off
- Toys can be used as effective training tools in place in treats, depending on your dog and there motivation
- When introducing puppy to your home, start by carrying him in the house and putting him in a small safe area, have several toys scattered around
- Train for 10-30 minutes a day,overstimulating can lead to behavioral problems
- Feed him in the crate, slowly start to open the door so he’s knows the crate is a safe place
- Puppies hate isolation, they will screen for you if they can’t see you the first few weeks. Animals
- Can be left together after introduction if there are multiple in the house hold
- Need to brush your puppy once a day to once a week depending on the breed
- Play with your pups ears and feet to get them ready for future cleaning, give him a test after cleaning to train him
- When poppy training, make sure to take the lumpy out often and to the same spot giving him praise right after he goes
- This also goes with outside places
- Jumping up, trying the puppy to sit when people go to approach him versus jumping
- Practice letting the dog in and out of the crate several times a day
- So the same with the come command come, make sure to do it during training and play and not when you only need to leave because the pup will think it’s a punishment
- During training don’t call come to retrieve the dog, go to Jim and out on the lease .. the more you call come then less effective the training of dog does not obey
- Let your dog out in a fenced area, call come. If he doesn’t come don’t call again, put on leash and walk over to where you called him then reward him
- Work on secondary distractions on Leah’s first then, off leash. Have a friend help you in an enclosed area
- Practice place when the dog is tired to have better results
- For the sit or down stay, mainly down stay. Start close by for short times then longer times then longer times at a further distance
- 3 D
- Duration
- Distance
- Distractions
- Always walk your dog on the left for the proper heal format
- Pleasure walk, he should always know where you are. If he looks up make sure to reward him
- Start with short walks then expand every day
- Add in healing a little at a time during the walk
- For automatic sit, start with encouraging sit with the automatic walk over time make sure it’s a full sit
- For his bed or place, Train to get on the bed first with praise and/ or treats
- Then you can increase how long he has to stay in the bed, let him know you need up realize him if he is sent to bed, start with 30 seconds then increase
- If he gets off, lead him back in. Do not say the command again
- The training is similar with stairs, make sure to start with shorter ones then the whole stair case. Do not reward if he goes up on his own/ before release
- Teaching fetch
- Start with putting a light item like a wooden spoon in the moth to get use to the gorge in object in the dogs moth
- Add in a larger item and put the items where the dog can see them
- “Take it” - open for food
- Praise and make a big deal when the dog does it
- Hold it and food command (dont bend over)
- Practice the force fetch, or hold with new items. Let the dog open his moth and put the item in and then close his month , followed by giving him food and praise with the item in his mouth
- If nothing happened, go back to step one and try again
- Made sure he holds it until you say give, we don’t want him dropping it
- When using distracting training never use your dogs name
- Buntch of stuff for trick dogs
- For aggressive dogs, practice the long down a few times a week to show dominance
- Control your emotions as much as possible, emotions travel down the lease
- Train to a middle if needed (slowly), if this does not work then seek professional help
- If the dog growls at another dog getting your attention or your partner when they show affection do the long sit and down every day until they understand the leader of the pack or you can try and spray bottle or a nose wipe with a drop or two of the appropriate essential oils
- Aggression around the food boil, don’t take the food away, give him a little at a time while sitting next to him
- Possible change the environment if it is needed, make sure he isn’t stressed while eating and put him in a safe place to eat and digest
- Separation anxiety (try a dap diffuser)
- Do not tel your dog your leaving and great him with a “awe did you miss me” attitude as it increases his anxiety
- If none of the above work consider a doggy day care
- If you have a submissive dog do not hover over him, if he dibbles do not scold him because it
- Don’t try to pet right away, give the palm of the hand and let him come to you
- Riding in the car (don’t leave him loose.
- Practice putting him on leash and giving him the okay to enter the car
- He will also need an okay to get in and out, open a crack and close if he moves to get out. Continue until you open the door he needs to know he has to be release before he can get out
- Don’t reassure your dog, it will increase his anxiety with driving
- Open all the doors to let him in the crate and when he gets in give him a treat
- Continue this while closing doors, when you can close all doors leave him in for a minute
- Continue this with the car in and then go for a short ride
- Do kit leave your dog in the car on a hot day
Gives tons of examples for how to train you dig as well as other informational tips about a dog’s diet and healthy.
Now this is a huge over view and you might need to bring in other resources to get the full picture, but if not this could be a one stop shop.
Dog training take aways
- positive vs negative reinforcement (really depends on the dog, one way is not better that the other)
- A dogs name and how you say it greatly effects the dogs behavior
- Your behavior and mood while training effects your dogs
- Food (avoid brands high in corn)
- Food (don’t add in raw vegetables right away, started with Cooke then slowly move to raw)
- Food (to much protein is not good, to much carbohydrates is not good, to much and to little both have bad effects on your growing puppy/ dog
- Beef based foods are the most recommend overall, or specialized food for the bread
- Chicken is great for a sick or recovering dog
- Water is the most important thing, a dog can survive for 3 weeks on water alone
- Wash the food container after it is empty/ before you refill it if you use a different container besides the dog food bag
- 50% date of cancer for dogs who have middle only diets, try and find a brand with 15% carbohydrates or less
- You can enhance kibble with a vitamin or supplement, they recommend one called endurance
- Or you can add fresh food to kibble, which will reduce cancer likelihood by 40%
- Rawdiet.com/mixed/researched (if you go raw make sure to do a lot of research)
- When changing diet, start to ad new food in with the old until you are entirely in the new diet
- Bones help your dog’s teeth and gut health
- Regular buckle collars are no good for training, they recommend a choke or a pinch collar
- A snap around collar should fit snuggly right behind the dogs ears (won’t work on most dogs that are not touch sensitive)
- Careful when training with the collar on, if you take it off the dog might not respond when the collar is off
- Toys can be used as effective training tools in place in treats, depending on your dog and there motivation
- When introducing puppy to your home, start by carrying him in the house and putting him in a small safe area, have several toys scattered around
- Train for 10-30 minutes a day,overstimulating can lead to behavioral problems
- Feed him in the crate, slowly start to open the door so he’s knows the crate is a safe place
- Puppies hate isolation, they will screen for you if they can’t see you the first few weeks. Animals
- Can be left together after introduction if there are multiple in the house hold
- Need to brush your puppy once a day to once a week depending on the breed
- Play with your pups ears and feet to get them ready for future cleaning, give him a test after cleaning to train him
- When poppy training, make sure to take the lumpy out often and to the same spot giving him praise right after he goes
- This also goes with outside places
- Jumping up, trying the puppy to sit when people go to approach him versus jumping
- Practice letting the dog in and out of the crate several times a day
- So the same with the come command come, make sure to do it during training and play and not when you only need to leave because the pup will think it’s a punishment
- During training don’t call come to retrieve the dog, go to Jim and out on the lease .. the more you call come then less effective the training of dog does not obey
- Let your dog out in a fenced area, call come. If he doesn’t come don’t call again, put on leash and walk over to where you called him then reward him
- Work on secondary distractions on Leah’s first then, off leash. Have a friend help you in an enclosed area
- Practice place when the dog is tired to have better results
- For the sit or down stay, mainly down stay. Start close by for short times then longer times then longer times at a further distance
- 3 D
- Duration
- Distance
- Distractions
- Always walk your dog on the left for the proper heal format
- Pleasure walk, he should always know where you are. If he looks up make sure to reward him
- Start with short walks then expand every day
- Add in healing a little at a time during the walk
- For automatic sit, start with encouraging sit with the automatic walk over time make sure it’s a full sit
- For his bed or place, Train to get on the bed first with praise and/ or treats
- Then you can increase how long he has to stay in the bed, let him know you need up realize him if he is sent to bed, start with 30 seconds then increase
- If he gets off, lead him back in. Do not say the command again
- The training is similar with stairs, make sure to start with shorter ones then the whole stair case. Do not reward if he goes up on his own/ before release
- Teaching fetch
- Start with putting a light item like a wooden spoon in the moth to get use to the gorge in object in the dogs moth
- Add in a larger item and put the items where the dog can see them
- “Take it” - open for food
- Praise and make a big deal when the dog does it
- Hold it and food command (dont bend over)
- Practice the force fetch, or hold with new items. Let the dog open his moth and put the item in and then close his month , followed by giving him food and praise with the item in his mouth
- If nothing happened, go back to step one and try again
- Made sure he holds it until you say give, we don’t want him dropping it
- When using distracting training never use your dogs name
- Buntch of stuff for trick dogs
- For aggressive dogs, practice the long down a few times a week to show dominance
- Control your emotions as much as possible, emotions travel down the lease
- Train to a middle if needed (slowly), if this does not work then seek professional help
- If the dog growls at another dog getting your attention or your partner when they show affection do the long sit and down every day until they understand the leader of the pack or you can try and spray bottle or a nose wipe with a drop or two of the appropriate essential oils
- Aggression around the food boil, don’t take the food away, give him a little at a time while sitting next to him
- Possible change the environment if it is needed, make sure he isn’t stressed while eating and put him in a safe place to eat and digest
- Separation anxiety (try a dap diffuser)
- Do not tel your dog your leaving and great him with a “awe did you miss me” attitude as it increases his anxiety
- If none of the above work consider a doggy day care
- If you have a submissive dog do not hover over him, if he dibbles do not scold him because it
- Don’t try to pet right away, give the palm of the hand and let him come to you
- Riding in the car (don’t leave him loose.
- Practice putting him on leash and giving him the okay to enter the car
- He will also need an okay to get in and out, open a crack and close if he moves to get out. Continue until you open the door he needs to know he has to be release before he can get out
- Don’t reassure your dog, it will increase his anxiety with driving
- Open all the doors to let him in the crate and when he gets in give him a treat
- Continue this while closing doors, when you can close all doors leave him in for a minute
- Continue this with the car in and then go for a short ride
- Do kit leave your dog in the car on a hot day
January 16, 2025
The cover says it will use positive reinforcement - this is a lie. The book is entirely about using a different range of punishment tools to shove, push, force, correct, drag, coerce and bully dogs into the most basic and easy skills.
If the author can't teach a PUPPY how to SIT in an EMPTY ROOM WITH FOOD without also needing a collar, lead and manhandling. Then they should not be writing books on dog training.
In the book we have:
Anti-vaccination rants.
Raw feeding rants and chronically inability to stay in their lane and leave diet to the specialists.
Advocating to shake jars of pennies at dogs for sniffing.
15 pages of punishment tools and methods to use them, 2 pages on rewards. Those 2 pages are the most the book talks about rewards.
Dominance theory.
Fixation with electrics fences, the statistically most unreliable method of dog containment.
Although shout out for teaching me about some cruel and inhumane tools I didn't realise existed because I would be fined and banned from pets if I did that. Amazing creativity in finding new and unique ways to frighten and force dogs. Utter lack of that creativity applied to learning how to use food, toys or premack to train in happy and gentle ways.
On page 265 was the first item taught entirely with positive reinforcement and without starting/continuing/finishing/adding unnecessary punishment.
Friends and I had a huge laugh about the "teaching" sit section and how that method would absolutely teach your puppy to be hand-shy and reluctant to approach you. Quickly followed by a parody of "teaching touch" to teach your dog to approach you and not be afraid of touch. You made your own problem there with your poor training methods that rely on force. If you taught the sit with positive reinforcement your dog wouldn't be afraid of touch would it?
EVERYTHING in this book required a lead correction. EVERYTHING. Sits. Downs. Come. Leave It. This is Dog Training for Dummies and they've used the most ridiculously complicated methods of lead corrections and physical force to teach the basic skills of sit, drop, leave it, go to bed, recall. All things that are very easy to teach with rewards and much faster to get successful enthusiastic dog from. You could have a dog who understands the exercise from the very first rep with positive reinforcement but the book brags about dogs that stop moving (learned helplessness) after 5 or so corrections, like that's some kind of achievement?
Just another punishment trainer using positive reinforcement marketing to trick people into using punishment methods instead of teaching them what you want.
And no Linda, you're not "gently" controlling your dog when you are administering collar corrections with a collar set around the most sensitive part of the neck. You are rattling the brain about and jarring the neck. That's why they're not looking away from you, because they can't trust you.
I'm not including this book in my 2025 reading challenge because it is too shit to be counted.
If the author can't teach a PUPPY how to SIT in an EMPTY ROOM WITH FOOD without also needing a collar, lead and manhandling. Then they should not be writing books on dog training.
In the book we have:
Anti-vaccination rants.
Raw feeding rants and chronically inability to stay in their lane and leave diet to the specialists.
Advocating to shake jars of pennies at dogs for sniffing.
15 pages of punishment tools and methods to use them, 2 pages on rewards. Those 2 pages are the most the book talks about rewards.
Dominance theory.
Fixation with electrics fences, the statistically most unreliable method of dog containment.
Although shout out for teaching me about some cruel and inhumane tools I didn't realise existed because I would be fined and banned from pets if I did that. Amazing creativity in finding new and unique ways to frighten and force dogs. Utter lack of that creativity applied to learning how to use food, toys or premack to train in happy and gentle ways.
On page 265 was the first item taught entirely with positive reinforcement and without starting/continuing/finishing/adding unnecessary punishment.
Friends and I had a huge laugh about the "teaching" sit section and how that method would absolutely teach your puppy to be hand-shy and reluctant to approach you. Quickly followed by a parody of "teaching touch" to teach your dog to approach you and not be afraid of touch. You made your own problem there with your poor training methods that rely on force. If you taught the sit with positive reinforcement your dog wouldn't be afraid of touch would it?
EVERYTHING in this book required a lead correction. EVERYTHING. Sits. Downs. Come. Leave It. This is Dog Training for Dummies and they've used the most ridiculously complicated methods of lead corrections and physical force to teach the basic skills of sit, drop, leave it, go to bed, recall. All things that are very easy to teach with rewards and much faster to get successful enthusiastic dog from. You could have a dog who understands the exercise from the very first rep with positive reinforcement but the book brags about dogs that stop moving (learned helplessness) after 5 or so corrections, like that's some kind of achievement?
Just another punishment trainer using positive reinforcement marketing to trick people into using punishment methods instead of teaching them what you want.
And no Linda, you're not "gently" controlling your dog when you are administering collar corrections with a collar set around the most sensitive part of the neck. You are rattling the brain about and jarring the neck. That's why they're not looking away from you, because they can't trust you.
I'm not including this book in my 2025 reading challenge because it is too shit to be counted.
September 12, 2025
While we've had many dogs over the years, it had been a long time since we brought a new dog into our family. I read this book in preparation to do so. There are some good tips for first time dog owners. In light of the emphasis that the book is specific to positive reinforcement, I was a bit surprised that the suggested training techniques combined positive reinforcement with punishment. I was surprised how much information there was about nutrition, as this was not the focus of the book; and, I'm not sure the author is the best qualified person to provide this information.
September 16, 2024
Poradnik jak szkolić psa. Dużo interesujących porad i faktów. Dopiero zaczynam próbować szkolić własnego więc ciężko ocenić czy rady są dobre czy nie ale sama książka jest napisana w sposób zrozumiały i prosty.
June 21, 2021
Very informative!
July 5, 2021
Answers all the questions we had ... and plenty that we didn't!
After completing, felt a lot more prepared for training our dog.
After completing, felt a lot more prepared for training our dog.
June 1, 2022
Great refresher course and good train of thoughts throughout.
April 23, 2025
Lots of great info. I really enjoy the way the book is set up and the easy way things are explained. I will be referring back to it a lot.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews