University and puppy training

Hi everyone, so this week I received all of my responses from my universities unfortunately I dint get an offer from Nottingham, which was my number one however looking back on it I think my other options of Liverpool, Bristol and Edinburgh, have the more all round university experience I'm looking for. Going forward I think I'm going to chose Edinburgh as my number one and Bristol number two for me they are both neck and neck so it's really difficult to chose. Anyway enough about me, this week I had no idea what to write about yet again so I decided to write about puppy training and my views on this, please note I am no expert and my views are purely based on things I've observed and experienced in my life.

First things first, I believe puppy training is of the upmost importance, it sets the puppy up for life teaches them vital interaction skills and how to behave generally. Training your puppy can seem difficult but I'm certain that if you put maximum effort and time in you will see the results. One of my friends dogs was said to be untrainable as a puppy however due to the mothers hard work and resilience it all paid off in the end and not only is this dog one of the best behaved dogs I know he now also knows some quirky tricks like bringing her a box of tissues when she sneezes. Puppy training should encompass many areas for a start toilet training this allows you to not have to come down every morning and have to clean out the create or mop the floor. Also teaching your puppy its name, for us we taught our dog her name by just saying it over and over and eventually when she started to respond we would give her small treats or praise. Note giving treat is all good but be careful that the treats you give your dog aren't too high in sugar you don't want your dog to have bad teeth or for your puppy to get fat. Now for our dog this wasn't a problem the is a pointer and for some reason was not fazed by treats in the slightest or toys so training her was rather difficult especially as she was in a class full of Labradors and retrievers who snapped up the food asap.

Some of the other important parts are teaching your puppy to sit and stay and lie down. These are all very useful skills as it allows you to control your dog in many situations. Another major one is teaching your puppy to walk to heal, this I believe is very important as it makes walk time less of a battle between the species and makes you look better as you wont be being dragged around by a puppy, to teach a puppy this I would walk this the puppy on a close lead and hold either a toy and a treat in your hand nearest them but not so that they can get to it, this keeps their concentration on you and  your hand rather than the other things around you. A vital skill is recall this is another useful one for walk time, the action f being able to let your dog off the lead a know with confidence that they will come back when you call is so reassuring, when teaching this make sure you do it in a closed in space and reward your dog a lot when they do what you ask.

If your dog is going to be a family job I would suggest that the whole family take part in training and this should be done at all times around the house just simple things like recall and teaching not to snatch and one major one not to beg at the table my dog is the queen of this and I believe that its because we didn't instil it as a rule as a whole family when she was a puppy. If your puppy is trained to be able to take commands from anyone it makes the dog better for families and if the dog is ever cared for by someone else you can know with confidence that the dog will respond and behave for them meaning minimum embarrassment for you and a more relaxing time for the carer.

Socialising a puppy when its young is so important, it teachers the puppy social standings in the dog world and how to respect their elders, it also means that when you are out walking your dog you don't have to worry about how your dog will react around other dogs. I know that as my dog was growing up she learnt to respect older dogs from my grannies dog who used to give her he occasional snap if she did someone that went over the mark, then my dog taught my grannies new dog respect by giving her the occasional snap when she did the same. I think it's interactions like these that are the most important as they allow dogs to learn where they stand and behave accordingly. A great way to socialise a puppy is through your vet, many vets run puppy classes in the evenings for all puppies to socialise and for owners to talk about struggles and training methods.

A topic like this is close to my heart because I once knew a lovely dog who as he grew up became bigger and more boisterous he was a husky. His owners never trained him properly and he didn't get the excise he needed I'm also not sure if he was socialised that much, all I know is as he grew older I used to walk through he field and by the age of 1 I was scared of him because he was so big and he didn't understand how big he was or how to behave. Anyway so he started to run off and kill sheep along with the families older dog, in the end the farmer gave them an option either train their dog or he would take them to court and get their dog put down, now this dog could have been an amazing pet but this family didn't want to train him and didn't have the time so he was put down in the end. its such a sad story but really highlights the importance of training your dog, please put in the effort and do it.

I hope this has been helpful, probably not but oh well, I just wanted to get across the message that training your puppy is so important and it is imperative you do it thank you.    

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