How to Train a Dog

Written by Little Malt Schitz

Learn about dog training

Hi, I’m Little Malt Schitz and I’m going to do this introduction about how to train a dog. The other dogs on the Pawsome dogspeaking team at www.dogspeaking.com will have something more to say later. Jerry Shep, especially, who thinks he knows it all just because he enters dog training competitions.

We at the Pawsome team talked about the best way to help you humans get started in training your fur buddies because all of us at dogspeaking know that if we are a good, well-trained dogs, we will also be a happy and contented dog. Of course, doing as we are told, makes life a lot safer for us too in a world full of cars and other dangers.

Where to start - at the beginning!

So where do we start? You might think it’s best to start with the basics like “sit,” “stay,” “down,” “leave,” and “come,” and you could be right but there are some other things you’ve got to know at the same time while teaching these basics.

Love Security and Comfort

We dogs have more love than most humans can understand. I’d just die for my human mom and I know she loves me, so I like to make her happy by doing what I am asked (most of the time). I think it must be difficult, even for humans, not to love a little puppy but we need a little bit more than love. You might like to read what Bull Staffy said in “Dog Care—How to take care of a puppy.”

Lots of good experiences to make us feel safe and secure

Even when I was tiny (well I’m still small but you know what I mean), I was taken lots of places in the car and on my walks, even though I wasn’t very good at walking with a leash.

I was taken to:

• The dog park where I met lots of other dogs
• Puppy classes
• To morning coffee in other human homes where I met lots of little human pups
• Lots of different places in the car
• The local outdoor café
• Down to the store

Most of this was good fun but I remember the first time I was taken to the café. It was quite scary because strange people would come to the table and I got quite frightened with a lot of big trucks making loud noises on the road. My first visit wasn’t very long but I was taken back, and I got to know the friendly waitress and I began to get used to some of the sudden street noises.

Patience and understanding

The café is now one of my favorite places and the waitress is now one of my favorite humans. Outings to a cafe would’ve been easy for my human mom to stop after my first short outing, but she was patient and took me back. She understood that it takes a while to get used to new things and new places and she made sure I had happy time and enjoyed these new experiences.

Often she’d give me a nice treat because I was not as frightened of something as I used to be. She kept me away from busy places like street markets and loud human parties, but she made sure I got to know a lot more about the world. This was important in making me feel safe and secure in many different places and with new people and new dogs.

Puppies don’t like being left on their own

Since the first dogs roamed the earth, they have moved around in big families or packs because they have always enjoyed company. When we are sent to a new first home, we are taken away from our mom and usually brothers and sisters for the first time and we feel frightened and alone.

Don’t EVER LEAVE A BRAND-NEW PUPPY ON ITS OWN for eight hours or more, be prepared to take some time off work if necessary until we "settle in.” If you do this properly when we are small puppies, it can save lots of anxiety problems later. As we grow older, anxiety problems caused by being left alone as puppies, will cause you and maybe your neighbors some problems so fix it early!

How to avoid anxiety problems

A dog gate or dog pen can be useful here to give us a space that feels secure and safe but please don’t leave us in a small crate.

Before you place a pup in its place, it’s good to play, give it attention, take it for a short walk and make sure the pup is tired. A Quizel or a Kong filled with treats can keep a pup happy and amused for a while, but a human should remain close.

It’s good to stay within sight but do your own thing, watch TV or play with the computer. Each day move a bit further away and leave us for a bit longer and soon we can feel quite secure, calm and relaxed all on our own.

If you want to find out how to house train a puppy, how to teach "sit" and "come" and much more—Little Malt has all the answers at—"How to train a Dog - introduction" so read more!