The dog training advice we will be dealing with in this post is centered on ensuring that your dog associates good things – happy and fun emotions – with all aspects of its life.

So what do we mean by this comment?

So often we allow our dogs to associate bad memories with certain key aspects of their lives.

Probably the easiest way to explain this concept is to talk about the most common problem that owners come across and that is their dog’s love affair with the car.  Just like human beings, dogs either love being in the car and travelling with you or the hate it.

Preventing your dog from having any fear of the car or travel sickness  can be very straight forward if dealt with from day one.

The first question to ask is where the problem starts?

It often starts the day you collect your new dog from the breeder.  You load them up in the car off you go to their new home – your home.

But let us just stop for a moment – this little guy has just been taken away from its mother – a traumatic experience – and it has been put in this car and taken to its new home.

Now its first impression of the car is that it ‘hurts’.

The need to start early with this re-education of your dog towards the car is the fact that so often the first thing your dog knows about the car is leaving its mother – as mentioned  – and the second is that they are loaded up again to visit the veterinary who, on arrival promptly sticks a needle in them for their first inoculation.

Nothing but bad events associated with the car. So how do we overcome the problem?

At the earliest opportunity load your dog into the car again, but this time it is going to be fun. Drive a short distance and unload your new friend – make a big fuss of them and then set off for a walk.  Back to the car and load up when you get back home unload and make a fuss of them again.

You are now starting to change the perception of the car.  Maybe it’s not so bad after all.

Now, if you want to be able to take your dog with you in your car for longer journeys – perhaps for walks well away from home then your building an excitement about getting into the car and your dog will look forward to jumping in the car – and become a good traveler.

This is the same for other aspects of your behavior towards your dog.

If your dog is going to live in a kennel, whether that is inside or outside be cautious of building to much of a routine into shutting them away in there home – away from you.  Ensure that you vary the time of the day that you do it if you can, try to stand in a different place when you call them and try to vary your tone of voice when you call them.  All these things minimize the risk of your dog building any association with a repetitive event in their life

In addition always make a fuss of them before you close the door on their kennel or when you do anything that they may have a dislike for.

Try to understand the things that your dog doesn’t like.  It could be
having their nails trimmed
having a bath – not all dogs like that
being combed and brushed – again not all dogs like that .

So always try to associate fun and good memories to overcome any reluctance your dog may have to any of these aspects of their life.